Hamilton High School - Hamiltonian Yearbook (South Hamilton, MA)

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: yoti-odwi- ' t; that money. I earned it, and I’m going to keep it. The inventor gave a nervous snicker and revealed a hidden gas :gun. Hammerstien immediately reached for his revolver and had it in his hand ready to check the invader’s moves, hut he was too late. Ho felt a sickening, smothering gas in his lungs; it v as all over for Herman Hammerstien. His hand fell with a thud on the desk with the gun clutched lightly. The killer rose and went noiselessly to the wall tapping its panels with the hutt of his gun. He fo and one small place with an unusually hollow sound. The thoughts of a wall safe ran through his mind. The craze to get that money v as showing in his alert, sparkling eyes. Without much exertion, he slid the panel open and sav; a safe, small and unique in appearance, but very complicated to the stranger’s eyes. Owing to his profession, the ends of his fin- gers were very sensitive, thus he could feel the tumblers in the dial drop into place. After securing the contents of the vault, he went to his car not suspecting anything of the deadly and horrible fate which avv ' aited him. As I described earlier in the story, the estate partly over- looked the swamps of Chile. The swamps are inhabited by the deadly venomous swamp cobra. One of these horrible creatures had entered the inventor’s car through an open window and had coiiif ortably wound himself around the steering post. The inventor started the car and sped out on to the avenue. Before ho had gone far, ho felt a warm slimy oil on the back of his hand. Looking down, he found the crea- ture had climbed half v ay up his coat sleeve and was preparing for a strike at his neck. It struckJ With a horrible cry of agony, the terrified inventor slumped over the steering wheel, the car careened to the side of the road, hit a tree, and lay there a smouldering wreck. The two watchmen, whom we left running after tha car as it sped up the avenue toward the house, heard the crash and stopped to in- vestigate. Both looked at each other in consternation and then rushed to the house, to 1 summon help;’ The police luere notified and upon arrival at the house, found not only Hammerstien dead, but his butler also. It was very evident that the butler was killed by a bullet from his master’s gun. Hammerstien had been dead well over three hours; neither his body nor his gun had been moved, and yet the butler lay there on the floor killed by a bullet from that gun which had been shot no. more than ten minutes ago. This completely baffled the police. The medical examiner had been called and he too was uncertain as to how the mysterious death could have happened but he did give the following possible explanation. A fev; hours after death, rigor mortis or rigidity sets in the human body, when this takes place, the muscles of the body contract. The butler entered the room, at the same moment this occurred, thus v hen the muscles of the hand and fingers contracted, the trigger of the gun, v hich v as still in Hammerstien ’ s hand, might have been pulled, releasing the bullet that killed the butler. Several people who heard this explanation thought it possible, but as many others thought it impossible; and to this day there has never been a satisfactory solution to the Mystery of the Third Death. Ernest Day ’41

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jViYST£KY orrfjr ' i ' fJjKD Dr Tfj -f- i... -1 . ' A - r ' ' 1 , i| K . c ! u J Li The swamps of Chile --the deadly, horrible, dank, but fantastically romantic lowlands of lower Chile J This unchar tered land v;as solely owned by Herman Hammerstien, a notorious German-American gambler who had retired from his business of fleecing his friends.’ The hoise, a large and modern one, sat on a knoll, the front overlooking the contrasting, horrible pres- ence of the swamps. The house was peppered with secret vaults and wall safes containing the huge sums of money Hammerstien earned or rather won from the roulette wheel known as the loaded dice wheel. Owing to his astound- ing success, he had made several jealous enemies, one of whom was a genius at his profession of inventing poisoned gasses. WOR The estate was reached by a long driveway bordered on each side by palm trees of many species. Hammerstien took great pride in his residence, although practically nobody viewed it excepting the grocery boy, the electrician, or somebody who would have business with the owner. The avenue v as guarded from undesirable strangers by two strong, muscular natives. A large car came speeding through the gate with the two bewildered natives chasing after it blubbering inarticulate cries which no doubt meant something in their native tongue. The car came to stop in front of the beautiful walk. A short, v;iry, white haired gentleman stepped out and made his v ay to the door. He was admitted by the butler and was ushered into the study. Hammerstien was sitting at his beauti.ful news from the stock market in New York. At the announcement of his guest, he dropped his paper and fixed his eyes on what used to be a familiar face. The servant was dis- missed. The man who had been welcomed to Hammerstien ' s house was the most dreaded of all his enemies, the crazed inventor of gas- es. For a moment neither spoke, then, to break the stillness, Herman what can I do for you? maple desk reading the laid, Well, The inventor stared at erman ipon whose brov were beads of perspiration, and said, I’ve come to settle that account of $150,000 which you h ave ov ed me since the days at Monte Carlo. I need the money and you will bo wise if you come across with it.