Date: Fri 15-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Laslo-Zimmermann-crime-fiction

Full Text:

FROM THE CASE FILES OF DETECTIVE LASLO BRISCOE: 17th Installment in Series

By Andrea Zimmermann

As the year 1931 wanes, I indulge my inclination to study and review the

events of recent past and note some of the changes in our fine town of

Newtown. Although mechanized advances have fascinated me, I am not among those

swept up by the notion that we are better for a hot dog set on our plates

instead of roast, or a hand of bridge dealt to us at a social affair rather

than Whist. But, as one yields to new knowledge and change, we must be as

clams -- filtering everything that surrounds us and digesting only that which

we find fit for personal consumption.

Change persists in the community, however, and some things we are forced to

digest against our will no matter how they might offend the palate and the

perspicuity of that which is right and good. By way of illustration of my

point, I predict expenses will continue to rise as increased business and

wealth attracts those of high character as well as cheap bandits and cruel

villains. By example of the latter sort, consider the shooting of Edgar

Cummings last month.

Case No. 1025 --

Catching A Bullet

Beneath The Heart

Edgar Cummings might prefer to think the incident which occurred at 3:30

Sunday morning was merely a manifestation of a restless mind in the throes of

a nightmare. After all, it is custom for him to snatch only bits of sleep on a

cot in between attending customers at his Mount Pleasant Service Station. But

if there is any doubt, he has only to reference his wound and an X-ray picture

to prove a bullet, indeed, entered his side and came to rest beneath his

heart.

The main players in our late-night drama are three rogues from Torrington

(Fred Root, age 29; James Peters, age 21; and Delphis Young, age 24), station

manager Edgar Cummings, Constable Beers, Deputy Sheriff Keane, Dr Kingman, and

myself. Before I begin, let all proprietors in Newtown rest assured as the

villains are each detained on a $10,000 bond.

The Torrington trio had decided to hold up Cummings' station, but when they

arrived, a New York car was getting gas. Young, the driver, remained in the

car at a distance. After the other car drove off, Root and Peters walked to

purchase cigars. At that point Root's nerve failed, although Cummings'

appearance seemed to bolster him. The car was not very near the pump, so

Cummings told the men they would have to back up closer.

Cummings testimony: "I stepped off the cement stoop to my left, on account of

the car being where it was. Without a word, one of the men put a gun against

my left side and pulled the trigger. He did not say a word; just let me have

it. I felt something touch me; then I heard the report and felt a prickly

sensation. It all happened in a second."

It was Root who shot Cummings, although he claims he said to the manager,

"It's a stick up!" and ordered him to hold up his hands. In any case, Cummings

followed suit by pulling his own gun out of his coat. That sent Peters dashing

back into the car while Root fled across the road and disappeared among the

trees.

Although Cummings had an old-fashioned revolver that did not shoot true, two

of his bullets found their mark in the car. The third cartridge misfired. One

bullet struck the right side of the car just above the middle hinge of the

rear door; if it had been slightly higher, it would have shattered the glass

and hit Peters as he entered the auto. The second shot, fired as the car was

going away from Cummings, went through the cover of the spare tire, penetrated

the tire, and fell to the ground after flattening out on the rear of the car.

Cummings called the night operator in the telephone exchange and told her to

call me, the police, and send a doctor. He then called the state police in

Ridgefield, to report the assault and attempted robbery.

I arrived at the scene to find Doc Kingman. Moments later, Beers and Keane

appeared, and our injured man pulled his clothes apart to show the wound in

his side. While having his wound dressed and while traveling to Danbury

hospital, the injured man displayed courage and, although seriously wounded,

did not collapse. Beers, Keane, and I wasted no time in traveling the main

roads with the hope of catching the two who had rolled out of the station. We

had no luck with those two, but nabbed Root, whose pants were wet around the

ankles from going across the bridge. I got out and covered him with my gun,

while Beers wrested Root's gun away from him.

Root, apparently the mastermind of the failed plot, has served time for

breaking into a store at Cornwall Bridge and for stealing an automobile. It

wasn't long before the State Police from Ridgefield and Beacon Falls and

police from Bridgeport were able to squeeze a full confession out of him along

with the names of his cohorts.

Due to the fact the bullet had a steel jacket, the tissues were not ripped and

torn when it entered Cummings. And his condition is so favorable for his

recovery, no operation will be performed to remove the bullet. He will,

forever, it seems, carry a bullet beneath his heart.