The crooked crossDutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
General
The crooked cross
Dutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
Bartley, John (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
“Now I do not know much about Woods. He was forced out of England and
came to this country. He made money, we do know. But the fact he built
this church tells a good deal. It was, no doubt, his gesture to the
Almighty—his attempt to win forgiveness for the sins of the flesh.
To-day we know another thing. Any textbook upon heredity will tell you
that children inherit their qualities more from their grandparents
than their parents. And here was the minister, and in his blood was
that unbalanced make-up of the English schoolmaster. In his case it
made him a bigot without friends and also whipped him into queer
reform movements. It also explains the horrible books I found in his
case. And I might add that I found the missing volumes of the De Sade.
“The genealogy told more. The minister's father married a woman named
Wright. After the minister was born she was placed in an insane
asylum, where she died. You can see from the standpoint of heredity
what took place. The sadistic strain in the blood of the grandfather
mixed in the unbalanced blood of the woman—and the minister was the
result. From such a type you look for your odd reforms—your fantastic
crimes.”
In the silence which followed there came the plaintive voice of the
chief:
“But still I don't understand why he killed Warren.”
“Well,” came Bartley's voice, “let us start at the beginning. Here you
have the minister. His heredity is very bad. His entire life, that is,
the things he did, showed that he was a sad neurotic. He hated
pleasure; he hated all things which normal people enjoy. In fact most
of the wild, rabid fanatics are the same type. But with him there was
a double danger.
“We know to-day that there is not much difference between the person
who reacts violently in a sexual manner and the one who goes to a wild
extreme in religious matters. Our psychology has proven they are
alike, from hundreds of cases. You had here an unbalanced man. The
anti-evolution group, of which he was a member, had read Warren's
statement—the last proof of evolution had been found. Now to him that
would be absurd; and, at the same time, he would look upon Warren as
an enemy of God.
“Let us suppose he brooded over the matter day after day. He might
have even prayed that Warren would be found wrong. Then to add flame
to his unbalanced thoughts came the news that Warren was to write his
book in the very place where the minister lived. That did not improve
matters. So one day he went to see Warren. I think I can picture what
happened.”
“What?” came the chief's eager voice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account