John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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'PONIGH'I S 'PHE NIGHT NORMA MORGILLO IT WAS a dreary, cold evening. The rain splattered on the window pane and in this atmosphere of mysterious surroundings a voice shrilly called Marian. A small wisp of a woman came hurrying into the spacious room where seated by the fireplace was an old woman wrinkled and gray. Her piercing eyes seemed to be held spellbound by an object above her. This is it, Marian-tonight is the night! The frightened looking woman in a very deceiving voice coolly replied, You've been saying that for live years now, Aggie! Oh, but tonight. I am positive! The black headlines on a drizzly night screamed the news of Ramsey Darpen's strange murder. The item said: Ramsey Darpens, aged 42, was found at 10 P.M., Monday night, by his wife, Agatha Darpens. Protruding from the base of his neck was ct sharp icicle-shaped piece of glass. The autopsy showed the death was due to the stab. Everyone was very puzzled as to the origin of the instrument. This mys- tery was solved soon enough, for at 4 P.M., a day later, a crash was heard in the library. The middle of the floor was covered with a gigan- tic mass of glass. The chandelier had fallen with a crash, bang to the floor below. This solved the origin of the crystal but why had the chandelier fallen? After careful investigation it was discovered that inserted in the body of the chandelier was a time clock. At 4 P.M. this was to go off releasing a pressure on the chande- lier which would cause it to fall. It was a daily custom that at 4 P.M. Mrs. Darpen had her tea in the library. This meant that someone had planned to kill Mrs. Darpens, but who? Thr. person in question solved his my tery herself by telling the story ot her nephew. It seems that she pos sessed a secret fortune. Only Iames McRally, her nephew, knew of this and upon her death he would inherit it all. He was on very poor terms with Mr. Darpens who cut him off entirely from his will. Mrs. Darpens felt someone should provide for her beloved nephew and felt the task was bestowed upon her He had come a week before the tragedy and imploringly asked for S20,00U. Of course, it was refused, not on the basis of denial, for the ridicu- lousness of the request, but because Iames would not give any reason for his immediate need. He stormed out in a rage, saying he'd get even. He had not been seen or heard from since then. If he was not entangled he would surely have shown his face when he read of the murder even if only out of respect for his aunt but this was not the case. There was no other evi- dence and that seemed logical so Iimmy was tracked down and brought to court on the circumstantial evidence introduced. He denied everything. He had not come to the funeral for he 12

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do was to glve h1m the slgnals or our play He sa1d he wouldnt say anythmg All he wanted to do was to wm and he dzdnt care how he won as long as h1s eleven won Not know mg how to get thls money we made the deal and he pa1d me part of the money Ln advance and he agreed to glve me the rest when I gave h1m the slgnals Yesterday afternoon I gave h1m the slgnals and I recelved the rest of the money I malled 1t to the gamblers I wlsh you fellows could know what Ive been through smce then All I can say IS Im sorry Sorry thats a whole lot 1snt 1t'-' sa1d Mackay scornfully Oh shut up sa1d Evans Whats done 1S done We cant help 1t now We got to th1nk of somethmg to do We must wm There must be some solutlon sa1d Evans Ive got 1t fellows shouted Shaw Sp1ll 1t qu1ckly only have a mm ute and a half left between halfs Well you all know how our sxg nals run on even numbers Smce they run on even numbers they run pretty hlgh Well 1f we reverse the numbers we w1ll have the Van Courtland team all m1xed up because they have our old plays What do you say asked Shaw when he fmlshed h1s explana txon Lets go yelled Fuller The Central H1gh eleven quickly trotted out onto the held and took thelr pos1t1ons They held Van Courtland for four downs wtthout any gam. Now came the test The srgnals rang clear 28 38 36 46 yelled Mackey The Van Courtland lme moved ll sw1ftly to the nght sxde ready for an off tackle play The ball came to Mackey and he moved towards the center of the lme There 1t was a hole as blg as the door of a bam wlde open Off he sped wrth Casey as h1s lnterference Down they sped unt1l only the safety man remalned between them and the goal lme Casey lunged and hut h1m squarely as Mackey went on for the touch down The extra k1ck and the score was t1ed 7 7 The crowds yells seemed to cheer the Central H1gh team on There the two teams battled unt1l elght mmutes of the last quar ter Van Courtland s ball on the1r own 20 yard lme A k1ck by the rlght half back on Van Courtlands team wh1ch traveled 72 yards before Casey got h1S hands on 1t Off Casey sped unt1l yard lme Only s1x mlnutes left to play FIISI down and four to go A play around end netted S1X yards carrled by Ben Fuller A plunge through the mlddle gamed two more yards the ball car ned by Casey The Central H1gh team l1ned up the ball IS touched by the quarterback and Shaw the center stands up and throws a 45 yard pass to Evans who grabs 1t and IS over for the wmnmg touchdown as he stra1ght armed the safety man The crowd cheers as the ftrmg of the gun ends the game Suddenly a cheer breaks out from the members of the team Shaw Shaw What s more We want more of SHAW SHAW The tears streamed down h1s face as he stepped mto lme w1th fnends h1s fnends . , I I , . Il 1 . 1 . 11 ' ' ' '- I I u u 11 1 l u 1 ' ' ' , I 1 I ' . ll I ' ' I Think, fellows, think, said Fuller. he was brought down on hw Own 48 ll . ll . ' l , . Ill ' ' I I I I I I . . 1 U 1 1 . , .. 1 il ' W I I I 1 I '

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thought rt hypocntrcal as he hated hrs uncle-but he d1d not murder hmm As for a secret fortune rf hrs aunt dld have one he never knew of lt She had from trme to trme grven h1m money but never any large amount The lawyers were very shrewd and the lury was bemg swayed by th small evrdence at hand The only polnt Mr McRalley had rn hrs favor was that Mr Darpens lawyer seemed to have drsappeared questromng the truth of the mottve for the cnme They say rt only happens rn the movxes but how wrong that theory 1S for one the last day of the trlal the defense presented an exc1t1ng w1t ness Mr Darpens law partner Tom Tenhem After the prelrmmary ques t1on1ng the rught of the kxlhng was brought up The WIIIIGSS sa1d At 9 PM one hour before the de ceased was murdered h1S w1fe de she wanted to read awhlle before ret1r1ng I left shortly afterwards and at the door we heard a tmklmg sound hke a glass breakmg Ram sey savd I guess Aggle broke glass excuse me Tom She mxght have cut herself I sa1d goodmght and that was the last tlme I saw Ramsey Darpens A tenseness hung over the court room hke a hlck fog and then Mrs Darpens dropped to the floor rn a dead faxnt Actron seemed swrft after that Notes were found showrng that she was III heavy debt Her servants told of an argument f1Ve years prevlou when Mrs D Kas they called herl was once more heavrly 1n debt Mr D sa1d rf xt happened agam she could go to 1a1l for he would not smk thousands of dollars lnto her fool 13 gambhng escapades Fmally M Darpens came to the stand Before fxfteen mxnutes had passed she be came hysterrcal and admltted her gruesome cr1me When Ram entered I knew I would be caught so I steadmly walked to hrm and fearlessly stuck the crys tal whlch had just broken from th chandeller 1nto my husbands neck I am not normally a cold heartless person but I knew t was erther he or I and decrded upon the former When hrs breathmg stopped I set the t1me clock for 4 PM the next day so 1t would look hke I was the sup possed v1ct1m I replaced the chande l1er whrch was small I d1d thls by means of a ladder as our ce1l1ng IS very low The mstrument releasmg the pressure I had mserted befor Ram entered and my cnme seemed perfect gullty after only three hours delrbera tron The sentence was l1fe rmpnson ment but fate played one of 1ts httle tncks and after two months Aggre s mmd left rmaglnary dart the1r tum She ce1lmg of small llght lmagmary her She 1S ternfled by chandellers whrch seem to crystals 1n her at every stares contmually at the her room where only shows She IIISISIS that an chandeller wlll fall on her and on rarny evemng her rage IS terr1fymg She screams and says now tomghts the nlght I dread these nrghts more than anythmg m the world for sometrmes I even feel a strange power over us all You see I am her nurse Marlan at thrs sam tarlum for mental cases There she goes agam MA RIA N Here It comes' oooh' ' ' ' ' . ' , rs. I - .. ' 1 I . . . 9 i - ' I u l 9 . I i ' I - I - -1 I ' I . . . . - I ' 1 ' 9 I ll - 1 ' I - - H -u parted mto the llbrary where she sard The jury came in with Q verdict of I ' ' I - . - 1-I 1 I ' ' a . l . .. l . . G . . . . I . . S I I I 1 1 -