Old Cap. Collier
Library

FIVE-CENT EDITION.

Old Cap. Collier Library is Issued Semi-Monthly.—By Subscription $2.00 per Annum.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by NORMAN L. MUNRO, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.—[Entered at the Post Office, N. Y., as Second Class Matter.]

THE SPRUCE STREET TRAGEDY:

OR,

Old Spicer Handles a Double Mystery

BY THE AUTHOR OF "OLD SPICER."

WHEN AT LAST HE RELEASED HIS HOLD HER SPIRIT HAD GONE TO JOIN THAT OF HER MURDERED HUSBAND.

The Spruce Street Tragedy;

OR,

OLD SPICER HANDLES A DOUBLE MYSTERY.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "OLD SPICER."

COPYRIGHTED 1887, BY NORMAN L. MUNRO.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. THE SPRUCE STREET MURDER.
CHAPTER II. OLD SPICER VISITS THE SCENE OF THE MURDER.
CHAPTER III. OLD SPICER BEGINS AN INVESTIGATION.
CHAPTER IV. OLD SPICER CONTINUES HIS INVESTIGATIONS.—THE SECRET VAULT.
CHAPTER V. SETH STRICKET MAKES HIS REPORT.
CHAPTER VI. HORRIFIED WATCHERS—IN THE TUNNELS AND VAULT.
CHAPTER VII. TWO IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING CHARACTERS.
CHAPTER VIII. BARNEY HAWKS REVEALS A TERRIBLE SECRET—TRAPPED.
CHAPTER IX. THE SITUATION CHANGED—OLD SPICER STARTS FOR NEW YORK.
CHAPTER X. ON THE EVE OF A TERRIBLE CRIME.
CHAPTER XI. A DOUBLE MURDER—AN UNCEREMONIOUS VISIT.
CHAPTER XII. BARNEY AND JAKE START FOR NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XIII. OLD SPICER AND KILLETT IN TAYLOR'S SALOON.
CHAPTER XIV. JIM TAYLOR MAKES HIS APPEARANCE.
CHAPTER XV. THE TRUE STORY OF THE MURDER.
CHAPTER XVI. OLD SPICER INTERVIEWS CORA BELL.
CHAPTER XVII. JIM TAYLOR IS ARRESTED.
CHAPTER XVIII. OLD SPICER'S SPEAKING-TUBE.
CHAPTER XIX. DETECTIVES IN A TIGHT SPOT.
CHAPTER XX. JAKE KLINKHAMMER'S POCKETBOOK—OLD SPICER SURPRISED.
CHAPTER XXI. CHAMBERLAIN'S MYSTERIOUS FRIEND—A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.
CHAPTER XXII. CHAMBERLAIN'S CAPTURE.
CHAPTER XXIII. ON BOARD THE BOUNCING BETSEY.
CHAPTER XXIV. IN NO MAN'S BAY—MAG'S HOVEL.
CHAPTER XXV. A SURPRISE PARTY.
CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUSION.

CHAPTER I.

THE SPRUCE STREET MURDER.

"Hark! I thought I heard the outside door open and shut."

"No, it was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure, Seth."

"What time is it now, Spicer?"

"Half-past seven."

"Half-past seven, and George not here yet!"

"He don't seem to have shown up, that's a fact."

"What can be keeping the fellow?"

"There you've got me, Seth. He's usually prompt enough, you know."

"That's so, old man; but I tell you what, if we're going to take hold of this case at all, we ought to be getting to work."

"I fully agree with you, and am most anxious not to lose the next Eastern-bound train."

"Confound it. I wish George would come. I don't want the regular men to get in ahead of us."