Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE SOCIAL GANGSTER THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES BY ARTHUR B. REEVE FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON Copyright, 1916, by HARPER & BROTHERS Printed in the United States of America [Illustration: JUST BEFORE WE WERE OFF A TELEGRAM CAME TO HER, WHICH SHE READ AND HASTILY STUFFED INTO A POCKET OF HER RIDING HABIT] CONTENTS I. THE SOCIAL GANGSTER II. THE CABARET ROUGE III. THE FOX HUNT IV. THE TANGO THIEF V. THE "THÉ DANSANT" VI. THE SERUM DIAGNOSIS VII. THE DIAMOND QUEEN VIII. THE ANESTHETIC VAPORIZER IX. THE TWILIGHT SLEEP X. THE SIXTH SENSE XI. THE INFERNAL MACHINES XII. THE SUBMARINE BELL XIII. THE SUPER-TOXIN XIV. THE SECRET AGENTS XV. THE GERM OF ANTHRAX XVI. THE SLEEPMAKER XVII. THE INTER-URBAN HANDICAP XVIII. THE TOXIN OF FATIGUE XIX. THE X-RAY DETECTIVE XX. THE MECHANICAL CONNOISSEUR XXI. THE RADIOGRAPH WITNESS XXII. THE ABSOLUTE ZERO XXIII. THE VACUUM BOTTLE XXIV. THE SOLAR PLEXUS XXV. THE DEMON ENGINE XXVI. THE ELECTROLYSIS CLEW XXVII. THE PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE XXVIII. THE CANCER HOUSE XXIX. THE QUACK DOCTORS XXX. THE FILTERABLE VIRUS XXXI. THE VOODOO MYSTERY XXXII. THE FLUORISCINE TEST XXXIII. THE RESPIRATION CALORIMETER XXXIV. THE EVIL EYE XXXV. THE BURIED TREASURE XXXVI. THE WEED OF MADNESS THE SOCIAL GANGSTER CHAPTER I THE SOCIAL GANGSTER "I'm so worried over Gloria, Professor Kennedy, that I hardly know what I'm doing." Mrs. Bradford Brackett was one of those stunning women of baffling age of whom there seem to be so many nowadays. One would scarcely have believed that she could be old enough to have a daughter who would worry her very much. Her voice trembled and almost broke as she proceeded with her story, and, looking closer, I saw that, at least now, her face showed marks of anxiety that told on her more than would have been the case some years before. At the mention of the name of Gloria Brackett, I saw that Craig was extremely interested, though he did not betray it to Mrs. Brackett. Already, with my nose for news I had scented a much bigger story than any that had been printed. For the Bracketts had lately been more or less in the news of the day. Choking back a little suppressed sob in her throat, Mrs. Brackett took from a delicate gold mesh bag and laid on the desk before Kennedy a small clipping from the "Lost and Found" advertisements in the _Star_. It read: "REWARD of $10,000 and absolutely no questions asked for the return of a diamond necklace of seventy-one stones which disappeared from a house at Willys Hills, Long Island, last Saturday or Sunday.