The Poisoned Pen(Fiscle Part-3) - Arthur B. Reeve (best detective novels of all time TXT) 📗

Do Not Accuse You,

Sir,  Of Anything. But A Photograph Has Come Into The Possession Of

Mr. Travis In Which He Is Represented As Standing On The Steps Of

Your House With Yourself And Mr. Cadwalader Brown. He And Mr.

Brown Are In Poses That Show The Utmost Friendliness. I Do Not

Hesitate To Say That That Was Originally A Photograph Of Yourself,

Mr. Brown,  And Your Own Candidate. It Is A Pretty Raw Deal,  A Fake

Part 3 Chapter 12 (The Campaign Grafter.) Pg 149

In Which Travis Has Been Substituted By Very Excellent

Photographic Forgery."

 

Mcloughlin Motioned To Hanford To Reply. "A Fake?" Repeated The

Latter Contemptuously. "How About The Affidavits? There's No

Negative. You've Got To Prove That The Original Print Stolen From

Travis,  We'll Say,  Is A Fake. You Can't Do It."

 

"September 19th Was The Date Alleged,  I Believe?" Asked Kennedy

Quietly,  Laying Down The Bundle Of Metric Photographs And The

Alleged Photographs Of Travis. He Was Pointing To A Shadow Of A

Gable On The House As It Showed In The Metric Photographs And The

Others.

 

"You See That Shadow Of The Gable? Perhaps You Never Heard Of It,

Hanford,  But It Is Possible To Tell The Exact Time At Which A

Photograph Was Taken From A Study Of The Shadows. It Is Possible

In Principle And Practice And Can Be Trusted. Almost Any Scientist

May Be Called On To Bear Testimony In Court Nowadays,  But You

Would Say The Astronomer Is One Of The Least Likely. Well,  The

Shadow In This Picture Will Prove An Alibi For Some One.

 

"Notice. It Is Seen Very Prominently To The Right,  And Its Exact

Location On The House Is An Easy Matter. You Could Almost Use The

Metric Photograph For That. The Identification Of The Gable

Casting The Shadow Is Easy. To Be Exact It Is 19.62 Feet High. The

Shadow Is 14.23 Feet Down,  13.10 Feet East,  And 3.43 Feet North.

You See I Am Exact. I Have To Be. In One Minute It Moved 0.080

Feet Upward,  0.053 Feet To The Right And 0.096 Feet In Its

Apparent Path. It Passes The Width Of A Weatherboard,  0.37 Foot,

In Four Minutes And Thirty-Seven Seconds."

 

Kennedy Was Talking Rapidly Of Data Which He Had Derived From His

Metric Photograph,  From Plumb Line,  Level,  Compass,  And Tape,

Astronomical Triangle,  Vertices,  Zenith,  Pole And Sun,

Declination,  Azimuth,  Solar Time,  Parallactic Angles,  Refraction,

And A Dozen Bewildering Terms.

 

"In Spherical Trigonometry," He Concluded,  "To Solve The Problem

Three Elements Must Be Known. I Knew Four. Therefore I Could Take

Each Of The Known,  Treat It As Unknown,  And Have Four Ways To

Check My Result. I Find That The Time Might Have Been Either Three

O'clock,  Twenty-One Minutes And Twelve Seconds,  In The Afternoon,

Or 3:21:31,  Or 3:21:29,  Or 3:21:33. The Average Is 3:21:26,  And

There Can Therefore Be No Appreciable Error Except For A Few

Seconds. For That Date Must Have Been One Of Two Days,  Either May

22 Or July 22. Between These Two Dates We Must Decide On Evidence

Other Than The Shadow. It Must Have Been In May,  As The Immature

Condition Of The Foliage Shows. But Even If It Had Been In July,

That Is Far From Being September. The Matter Of The Year I Have

Also Settled. Weather Conditions,  I Find,  Were Favourable On All

These Dates Except That In September. I Can Really Answer,  With An

Assurance And Accuracy Superior To That Of The Photographer

Himself--Even If He Were Honest--As To The Real Date. The Real

Picture,  Aside From Being Doctored,  Was Actually Taken Last May.

Science Is Not Fallible,  But Exact In This Matter."

 

Kennedy Had Scored A Palpable Hit. Mcloughlin And Hanford Were

Speechless. Still Craig Hurried On.

 

"But,  You May Ask,  How About The Automobile Picture? That Also Is

An Unblushing Fake. Of Course I Must Prove That. In The First

Place,  You Know That The General Public Has Come To Recognise The

Distortion Of A Photograph As Denoting Speed. A Picture Of A Car

In A Race That Doesn't Lean Is Rejected--People Demand To See

Speed,  Speed,  More Speed Even In Pictures. Distortion Does Indeed

Show Speed,  But That,  Too,  Can Be Faked.

 

"Hanford Knows That The Image Is Projected Upside Down By The Lens

On The Plate,  And That The Bottom Of The Picture Is Taken Before

The Top. The Camera Mechanism Admits Light,  Which Makes The

Part 3 Chapter 12 (The Campaign Grafter) Pg 150

Picture,  In The Manner Of A Roller Blind Curtain. The Slit Travels

From The Top To The Bottom And The Image On The Plate Being

Projected Upside Down,  The Bottom Of The Object Appears On The Top

Of The Plate. For Instance,  The Wheels Are Taken Before The Head

Of The Driver. If The Car Is Moving Quickly The Image Moves On The

Plate And Each Successive Part Is Taken A Little In Advance Of The

Last. The Whole Leans Forward. By Widening The Slit And Slowing

The Speed Of The Shutter,  There Is More Distortion.

 

"Now,  This Is What Happened. A Picture Was Taken Of Cadwalader

Brown's Automobile,  Probably At Rest,  With Brown In It. The Matter

Of Faking Travis Or Any One Else By His Side Is Simple. If With An

Enlarging Lantern The Image Of This Faked Picture Is Thrown On The

Paper Like A Lantern Slide,  And If The Right Hand Side Is A Little

Further Away Than The Left,  The Top Further Away Than The Bottom,

You Can Print A Fraudulent High Speed Ahead Picture. True,

Everything Else In,  The Picture,  Even If Motionless,  Is Distorted,

And The Difference Between This Faking And The Distortion Of The

Shutter Can Be Seen By An Expert. But It Will Pass. In This Case,

However,  The Faker Was So Sure Of That That He Was Careless.

Instead Of Getting The Plate Further From The Paper On The Right

He Did So On The Left. It Was Further Away On The Bottom Than On

The Top. He Got Distortion All Right,  Enough Still To Satisfy The

Uninitiated. But It Was Distortion In The Wrong Way! The Top Of

The Wheel,  Which Goes Fastest And Ought To Be Most Indistinct,  Is,

In The Fake,  As Sharp As Any Other Part. It Is A Small Mistake,

But Fatal. That Picture Is Really At High Speed--Backwards! It Is

Too Raw,  Too Raw."

 

"You Don't Think People Are Going To Swallow All That Stuff,  Do

You?" Asked Hanford Coolly,  In Spite Of The Exposures.

 

Kennedy Paid No Attention. He Was Looking At Mcloughlin. The Boss

Was Regarding Him Surlily. "Well," He Said At Length,  "What Of All

This? I Had Nothing To Do With It. Why Do You Come To Me? Take It

To The Proper Parties."

 

"Shall I?" Asked Kennedy Quietly.

 

He Had Uncovered Another Picture Carefully. We Could Not See It,

But As He Looked At It Mcloughlin Fairly Staggered.

 

"Wh--Where Did You Get That?" He Gasped.

 

"I Got It Where I Got It,  And It Is No Fake," Replied Kennedy

Enigmatically. Then He Appeared To Think Better Of It. "This," He

Explained,  "Is What Is Known As A Pinhole Photograph. Three

Hundred Years Ago Della Porta Knew The Camera Obscura,  And But For

The Lack Of A Sensitive Plate Would Have Made Photographs. A Box,

Thoroughly Light-Tight,  Slotted Inside To Receive Plates,  Covered

With Black,  And Glued Tight,  A Needle Hole Made By A Number 10

Needle In A Thin Sheet Of Paper--And You Have The Apparatus For

Lensless Photography. It Has A Correctness Such As No Image-

Forming Means By Lenses Can Have. It Is Literally Rectigraphic,

Rectilinear,  It Needs No Focussing,  And It Takes A Wide Angle With

Equal Effect. Even Pinhole Snapshots Are Possible Where The Light

Is Abundant,  With A Ten To Fifteen Second Exposure.

 

"That Picture,  Mcloughlin,  Was Taken Yesterday At Hanford's. After

Miss Ashton Left I Saw Who Came Out,  But This Picture Shows What

Happened Before. At A Critical Moment Miss Ashton Stuck A Needle

In The Wall Of The Studio,  Counted Fifteen,  Closed The Needle-

Hole,  And There Is The Record. Walter,  Hanford,--Leave Us Alone An

Instant."

 

When Kennedy Passed Out Of The Boss's Office There Was A Look Of

Quiet Satisfaction On His Face Which I Could Not Fathom. Not A

Word Could I Extract From Him Either That Night Or On The

Following Day,  Which Was The Last Before The Election.

 

I Must Say That I Was Keenly Disappointed By The Lack Of

Part 3 Chapter 12 (The Campaign Grafter) Pg 151

Developments,  However. The Whole Thing Seemed To Me To Be A Mess.

Everybody Was Involved. What Had Miss Ashton Overheard And What

Had Kennedy Said To Mcloughlin? Above All,  What Was His Game? Was

He Playing To Spare The Girl's Feelings By Allowing The Election

To Go On Without A Scandal For Travis?

 

At Last Election Night Arrived. We Were All At The Travis

Headquarters,  Kennedy,  Travis,  Bennett,  And Myself. Miss Ashton

Was Not Present,  But The First Returns Had Scarcely Begun To

Trickle In When Craig Whispered To Me To Go Out And Find Her,

Either At Her Home Or Club. I Found Her At Home. She Had

Apparently Lost Interest In The Election,  And It Was With

Difficulty That I Persuaded Her To Accompany Me. The Excitement Of

Any Other Night In The Year Paled To Insignificance Before This.

Distracted Crowds Everywhere Were Cheering And Blowing Horns. Now

A Series Of Wild Shouts Broke Forth From The Dense Mass Of People

Before A Newspaper Bulletin Board. Now Came Sullen Groans,  Hisses,

And Catcalls,  Or All Together With Cheers As The Returns Swung In

Another Direction. Not Even Baseball Could Call Out Such A Crowd

As This. Lights Blazed Everywhere. Automobiles Honked And Ground

Their Gears. The Lobster Palaces Were Thronged. Police Were

Everywhere. People With Horns And Bells And All Manner Of Noise-

Making Devices Pushed Up One Side Of The Thoroughfares And Down

The Other. Hungrily,  Ravenously They Were Feeding On The Meagre

Bulletins Of News.

 

Yet Back Of All The Noise And Human Energy I Could Only Think Of

The Silent,  Systematic Gathering And Editing Of The News. High Up

In The League Headquarters,  When We Returned,  A Corps Of Clerks

Was Tabulating Returns,  Comparing Official And Semi-Official

Reports. As First The State Swung One Way,  Then Another,  Our Hopes

Rose And Fell. Miss Ashton Seemed Cold And Ill At Ease,  While

Travis Looked More Worried And Paid Less Attention To The Returns

Than Would Have Seemed Natural. She Avoided Him And He Seemed To

Hesitate To Seek Her Out.

 

Would The Up-State Returns,  I Had Wondered At First,  Be Large

Enough To Overcome The Hostile