"Well, this depression in the market comes along. At once rumours
are spread about the weakness of the trust companies; runs start
on both of them. The System,--you know them--make a great show of
supporting the market. Yet the runs continue. God knows whether
they will spread or the trust companies stand up under it
to-morrow after what happened to-day. It was a good thing the
market was closed when it happened.

"Kerr Parker was surrounded by a group of people who were in his
schemes with him. They are holding a council of war in the
directors' room. Suddenly Parker rises, staggers toward the
window, falls, and is dead before a doctor can get to him. Every
effort is made to keep the thing quiet. It is given out that he
committed suicide. The papers don't seem to accept the suicide
theory, however. Neither do we. The coroner, who is working with
us, has kept his mouth shut so far, and will say nothing till the
inquest. For, Professor Kennedy, my first man on the spot found
that--Kerr Parker--was--murdered.

"Now here comes the amazing part of the story. The doors to the
offices on both sides were open at the time. There were lots of
people in each office. There was the usual click of typewriters,
and the buzz of the ticker, and the hum of conversation. We have
any number of witnesses of the whole affair, but as far as any of
them knows no shot was fired, no smoke was seen, no noise was
heard, nor was any weapon found. Yet here on my desk is a
thirty-two-calibre bullet. The coroner's physician probed it out
of Parker's neck this afternoon and turned it over to us."

Kennedy reached for the bullet, and turned it thoughtfully in his