NICK CARTER STORIES
New Magnet Library
PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS
_Not a Dull Book in This List_
Nick Carter stands for an interesting detective story. The fact that the
books in this line are so uniformly good is entirely due to the work of
a specialist. The man who wrote these stories produced no other type of
fiction. His mind was concentrated upon the creation of new plots and
situations in which his hero emerged triumphantly from all sorts of
trouble, and landed the criminal just where he should be--behind the
bars.
The author of these stories knew more about writing detective stories
than any other single person.
Following is a list of the best Nick Carter stories. They have been
selected with extreme care, and we unhesitatingly recommend each of them
as being fully as interesting as any detective story between cloth
covers which sells at ten times the price.
If you do not know Nick Carter, buy a copy of any of the New Magnet
Library books, and get acquainted. He will surprise and delight you.
_ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_
850--Wanted: A Clew By Nicholas Carter
851--A Tangled Skein By Nicholas Carter
852--The Bullion Mystery By Nicholas Carter
853--The Man of Riddles By Nicholas Carter
854--A Miscarriage of Justice By Nicholas Carter
855--The Gloved Hand By Nicholas Carter
856--Spoilers and the Spoils By Nicholas Carter
857--The Deeper Game By Nicholas Carter
858--Bolts from Blue Skies By Nicholas Carter
859--Unseen Foes By Nicholas Carter
860--Knaves in High Places By Nicholas Carter
861--The Microbe of Crime By Nicholas Carter
862--In the Toils of Fear By Nicholas Carter
863--A Heritage of Trouble By Nicholas Carter
864--Called to Account By Nicholas Carter
865--The Just and the Unjust By Nicholas Carter
866--Instinct at Fault By Nicholas Carter
867--A Rogue Worth Trapping By Nicholas Carter
968--A Woman’s Hand By Nicholas Carter
969--A Network of Crime By Nicholas Carter
970--At Thompson’s Ranch By Nicholas Carter
971--The Crossed Needles By Nicholas Carter
972--The Diamond Mine Case By Nicholas Carter
973--Blood Will Tell By Nicholas Carter
974--An Accidental Password By Nicholas Carter
975--The Crook’s Bauble By Nicholas Carter
976--Two Plus Two By Nicholas Carter
977--The Yellow Label By Nicholas Carter
978--The Clever Celestial By Nicholas Carter
979--The Amphitheater Plot By Nicholas Carter
980--Gideon Drexel’s Millions By Nicholas Carter
981--Death in Life By Nicholas Carter
982--A Stolen Identity By Nicholas Carter
983--Evidence by Telephone By Nicholas Carter
984--The Twelve Tin Boxes By Nicholas Carter
985--Clew Against Clew By Nicholas Carter
986--Lady Velvet By Nicholas Carter
987--Playing a Bold Game By Nicholas Carter
988--A Dead Man’s Grip By Nicholas Carter
989--Snarled Identities By Nicholas Carter
990--A Deposit Vault Puzzle By Nicholas Carter
991--The Crescent Brotherhood By Nicholas Carter
992--The Stolen Pay Train By Nicholas Carter
993--The Sea Fox By Nicholas Carter
994--Wanted by Two Clients By Nicholas Carter
995--The Van Alstine Case By Nicholas Carter
996--Check No. 777 By Nicholas Carter
997--Partners in Peril By Nicholas Carter
998--Nick Carter’s Clever Protégé By Nicholas Carter
999--The Sign of the Crossed Knives By Nicholas Carter
1000--The Man Who Vanished By Nicholas Carter
1001--A Battle for the Right By Nicholas Carter
1002--A Game of Craft By Nicholas Carter
1003--Nick Carter’s Retainer By Nicholas Carter
1004--Caught in the Toils By Nicholas Carter
1005--A Broken Bond By Nicholas Carter
1006--The Crime of the French Café By Nicholas Carter
1007--The Man Who Stole Millions By Nicholas Carter
1008--The Twelve Wise Men By Nicholas Carter
1009--Hidden Foes By Nicholas Carter
1010--A Gamblers’ Syndicate By Nicholas Carter
1011--A Chance Discovery By Nicholas Carter
1012--Among the Counterfeiters By Nicholas Carter
1013--A Threefold Disappearance By Nicholas Carter
1014--At Odds With Scotland Yard By Nicholas Carter
1015--A Princess of Crime By Nicholas Carter
1016--Found on the Beach By Nicholas Carter
1017--A Spinner of Death By Nicholas Carter
1018--The Detective’s Pretty Neighbor By Nicholas Carter
1019--A Bogus Clew By Nicholas Carter
1020--The Puzzle of Five Pistols By Nicholas Carter
1021--The Secret of the Marble Mantel By Nicholas Carter
1022--A Bite of an Apple By Nicholas Carter
1023--A Triple Crime By Nicholas Carter
1024--The Stolen Race Horse By Nicholas Carter
1025--Wildfire By Nicholas Carter
1026--A _Herald_ Personal By Nicholas Carter
1027--The Finger of Suspicion By Nicholas Carter
1028--The Crimson Clew By Nicholas Carter
1029--Nick Carter Down East By Nicholas Carter
1030--The Chain of Clews By Nicholas Carter
1031--A Victim of Circumstances By Nicholas Carter
1032--Brought to Bay By Nicholas Carter
1033--The Dynamite Trap By Nicholas Carter
1034--A Scrap of Black Lace By Nicholas Carter
1035--The Woman of Evil By Nicholas Carter
1036--A Legacy of Hate By Nicholas Carter
1037--A Trusted Rogue By Nicholas Carter
1038--Man Against Man By Nicholas Carter
1039--The Demons of the Night By Nicholas Carter
1040--The Brotherhood of Death By Nicholas Carter
1041--At the Knife’s Point By Nicholas Carter
1042--A Cry for Help By Nicholas Carter
1043--A Stroke of Policy By Nicholas Carter
1044--Hounded to Death By Nicholas Carter
1045--A Bargain in Crime By Nicholas Carter
1046--The Fatal Prescription By Nicholas Carter
1047--The Man of Iron By Nicholas Carter
1048--An Amazing Scoundrel By Nicholas Carter
1049--The Chain of Evidence By Nicholas Carter
1050--Paid with Death By Nicholas Carter
1051--A Fight for a Throne By Nicholas Carter
1052--The Woman of Steel By Nicholas Carter
1053--The Seal of Death By Nicholas Carter
1054--The Human Fiend By Nicholas Carter
1055--A Desperate Chance By Nicholas Carter
1056--A Chase in the Dark By Nicholas Carter
1057--The Snare and the Game By Nicholas Carter
1058--The Murray Hill Mystery By Nicholas Carter
1059--Nick Carter’s Close Call By Nicholas Carter
1060--The Missing Cotton King By Nicholas Carter
1061--A Game of Plots By Nicholas Carter
1062--The Prince of Liars By Nicholas Carter
1063--The Man at the Window By Nicholas Carter
1064--The Red League By Nicholas Carter
1065--The Price of a Secret By Nicholas Carter
1066--The Worst Case on Record By Nicholas Carter
1067--From Peril to Peril By Nicholas Carter
1068--The Seal of Silence By Nicholas Carter
1069--Nick Carter’s Chinese Puzzle By Nicholas Carter
1070--A Blackmailer’s Bluff By Nicholas Carter
1071--Heard in the Dark By Nicholas Carter
1072--A Checkmated Scoundrel By Nicholas Carter
1073--The Cashier’s Secret By Nicholas Carter
1074--Behind a Mask By Nicholas Carter
1075--The Cloak of Guilt By Nicholas Carter
1076--Two Villains in One By Nicholas Carter
1077--The Hot Air Clew By Nicholas Carter
1078--Run to Earth By Nicholas Carter
1079--The Certified Check By Nicholas Carter
1080--Weaving the Web By Nicholas Carter
1081--Beyond Pursuit By Nicholas Carter
1082--The Claws of the Tiger By Nicholas Carter
1083--Driven From Cover By Nicholas Carter
1084--A Deal in Diamonds By Nicholas Carter
1085--The Wizard of the Cue By Nicholas Carter
1086--A Race for Ten Thousand By Nicholas Carter
1087--The Criminal Link By Nicholas Carter
1088--The Red Signal By Nicholas Carter
1089--The Secret Panel By Nicholas Carter
1090--A Bonded Villain By Nicholas Carter
1091--A Move in the Dark By Nicholas Carter
1092--Against Desperate Odds By Nicholas Carter
1093--The Telltale Photographs By Nicholas Carter
1094--The Ruby Pin By Nicholas Carter
1095--The Queen of Diamonds By Nicholas Carter
1096--A Broken Trail By Nicholas Carter
1097--An Ingenious Stratagem By Nicholas Carter
1098--A Sharper’s Downfall By Nicholas Carter
1099--A Race Track Gamble By Nicholas Carter
1100--Without a Clew By Nicholas Carter
1101--The Council of Death By Nicholas Carter
1102--The Hole in the Vault By Nicholas Carter
1103--In Death’s Grip By Nicholas Carter
1104--A Great Conspiracy By Nicholas Carter
1105--The Guilty Governor By Nicholas Carter
1106--A Ring of Rascals By Nicholas Carter
1107--A Masterpiece of Crime By Nicholas Carter
1108--A Blow For Vengeance By Nicholas Carter
1109--Tangled Threads By Nicholas Carter
1110--The Crime of the Camera By Nicholas Carter
1111--The Sign of the Dagger By Nicholas Carter
1112--Nick Carter’s Promise By Nicholas Carter
1113--Marked for Death By Nicholas Carter
1114--The Limited Holdup By Nicholas Carter
1115--When the Trap Was Sprung By Nicholas Carter
1116--Through the Cellar Wall By Nicholas Carter
1117--Under the Tiger’s Claws By Nicholas Carter
THE STOLEN BRAIN
OR,
A WONDERFUL CRIME
BY
NICHOLAS CARTER
Author of the celebrated stories of Nick Carter’s adventures,
which are published exclusively in the NEW MAGNET
LIBRARY, conceded to be among the best
detective tales ever written.
[Illustration]
STREET & SMITH CORPORATION
PUBLISHERS
79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York
Copyright, 1914
By STREET & SMITH
The Stolen Brain
(Printed in the United States of America)
All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian.
THE STOLEN BRAIN.
CHAPTER I.
STARTLING INFORMATION.
“There goes another, chief. That makes five so far. There surely is
something going on to-night,” the young man at the window declared
excitedly.
It was Patsy Garvan, Nick Carter’s second assistant, and he who was
addressed was the great New York detective himself.
The closest friends would have known neither of them, however, unless
they had been in the secret, for both were cleverly disguised.
Moreover, the room in which they seemed to be so much at home was not
one of those in Nick’s handsome Madison Avenue residence in New York.
It was, in fact, a room in a house miles away from there, to the
northward, in the Bronx section of the great city, a short distance from
the New York Zoölogical Park.
On the first of the month, about ten days before, a family, which went
by the name of Webb, had moved in there. The family consisted of three
persons: The father, Charles Webb; a grown son, William, and the
latter’s young wife, Mildred.
Such, at least, was the understanding of the neighbors. As a matter of
fact, Charles Webb was Nick Carter, his “son” was better known as Patsy
Garvan, the famous detective’s clever assistant, and “Mildred” was
Adelina Garvan, Patsy’s pretty Chilean-Spanish wife, whose woman’s
intuitions had materially assisted in solving more than one difficult
problem in the mathematics of crime.
It was a peculiar case which had brought them to that out-of-the-way
neighborhood, and required delicate handling.
Their interest lay in the house next door, a big, rambling wooden
structure, which, with theirs, stood somewhat apart, with vacant lots
all about.
The house in question was occupied, and had been for years, by its
owner, Doctor Hiram A. Grantley.
Grantley was well known in New York medical circles. Indeed, his fame
was at least twenty-five years old.
He was accounted one of the most skillful surgeons in the State, which
necessarily meant in the United States as well. He had a long list of
remarkably daring and successful operations to his credit, and might
have been one of the wealthiest and most honored men in his profession
had it not been for certain unfortunate peculiarities, which had grown
upon him as the years passed.
People were afraid of him--that was the sum and substance of it.
He was altogether too daring and ruthless in his methods, too ready to
operate on the slightest provocation. He was never satisfied with the
conservative methods of his colleagues, but was always seeking new ways
of carving up the human frame. The individual patient meant nothing to
him. It was a matter of supreme indifference to Doctor Hiram Grantley
whether his “cases” lived or died, so long as they gave him a chance to
test his theories.
Of course, he recognized as clearly as any one that a surgeon’s ultimate
success must lie in saving life, not in taking it. That was his goal,
but, being apparently heartless, and looking upon the individuals who
sought his services much as other surgeons looked upon guinea
pigs--merely as subjects for experimentation--he usually preferred to
try something new rather than follow a safe-and-sane procedure which had
proved its worth in hundreds or thousands of cases.
That was the quickest way to advance the science of surgery, according
to Grantley, and the result was that, years before, people who knew of
his tendencies had ceased, for the most part, to go to him, unless they
were in such desperate straits that they were willing to take a last,
supreme chance.
Consequently, his practice had fallen away to a very marked extent, and,
despite his acknowledged brilliancy and the many improved methods he had
introduced from time to time, he had come to be looked upon with more or
less distrust, even by the members of his own profession.
His income had once been a very large one, however, and when it
dwindled, he gave up his house in one of the fashionable sections of the
city and moved to the Bronx, where he turned the house he bought into a
sort of private hospital.
His treatment at the hands of the public and his brother surgeons seemed
to aggravate his tendencies rather than curb them, and he became more
and more eccentric and ruthless, a sinister figure in appearance and in
reputation.
When Nick Carter interested himself in Doctor Grantley, the latter was
about fifty-five years of age. As a young man he had had jet-black hair
and eyes. His hair was now almost white, and it was always brushed
straight back from his forehead, although worn rather long.
His brows were gray and shaggy, and under them gleamed his piercing
black eyes. His forehead was high and denoted great intelligence. His
nose was thin, prominent, and curved like the beak of an eagle, or the
nose of an Egyptian mummy.
He was nearly six feet in height, very spare in build, and his long,
sensitive fingers resembled claws at times, as they curved out from his
bony hands.
For two or three years, Grantley had been at odds with the latest owner
of the house next door, a certain John D. Wallace.
Wallace was an intelligent man of means, a retired business man, who was
an ardent antivivisectionist, whereas Grantley had always been
famous--or infamous, as you please--for his experiments on living
animals.
The former had bought the smaller house, next door, at a time when the
surgeon had tried to get hold of it, probably because he did not care
for such near neighbors unless he could choose them himself. Ever since
then there had been bad blood between Grantley and Wallace.
Wallace had complained of Grantley more than once, alleging that the
doctor’s private hospital was a nuisance, and that the howling of his
animal subjects was intolerable.
Nothing further had been done about it by Wallace, however, and
Grantley, in retaliation, had made it as uncomfortable as he could for
Wallace’s tenants.
At last, Wallace had done some spying on his own account, and he had
finally come to Nick Carter with a startling theory.
He believed that Doctor Grantley was not only using animals in his
experiments in vivisection, but human beings as well, and he offered the
detective a tempting fee to look into the matter.
The fee did not hold out as much interest to Nick as Wallace’s story
did, for it bore out many more or less vague rumors which he had heard.
According to Wallace and others, Doctor Grantley had recently made a
surprising move. Although he was about the last man in the world who
would naturally be thought of as a philanthropist, he had begun to offer
his services to the poor of the East Side, and without charge.
More than that, Wallace claimed to have spent hours in the house he
owned, which was vacant at the time, and had seen several patients enter
the private hospital, all of whom seemed to be foreigners and far from
prosperous enough to pay Grantley’s regular fees, which had always been
large.
Wallace also reported that he had reason to believe that bodies were
carried away from time to time, under cover of darkness.
Finally, he declared that several young men, who looked like doctors,
frequented the place, especially at night. From this circumstance he
argued that Grantley had a following among young and unscrupulous
surgeons, who came there to witness or take part in the older man’s
gruesome experiments.
In answer to Nick’s inquiries, Wallace informed the detective that
Doctor Grantley’s regular establishment included Grantley himself,
Doctor Siebold, his young assistant; a nurse of perhaps thirty-five,
Miss Rawlinson, and a German manservant, named Hoff.
The latter was the doctor’s only servant, and, apparently, did
Grantley’s cooking. Wallace was inclined to think that Hoff had seen
army service.
It will readily be seen that the case was no ordinary one. There is no
law which covers the employment of living human beings in such
experiments, for the simple reason that until lately there has been no
demand for it and no suspicion that the practice existed anywhere.
If a death could be proved to have occurred under such circumstances,
however, and not in the ordinary course of medical or surgical practice,
the person responsible could be arrested and tried for manslaughter, or,
failing in that, he might be exposed and driven into retirement, if
definite proof could be obtained that he used men, women, or children in
his ruthless pursuit of forbidden knowledge.
The detective saw that John Wallace was not a visionary crank but a
practical man of affairs, who was not likely to exaggerate. Grantley’s
reputation lent color to the possibility, for another thing, and,
finally, the detective had strong convictions on the subject of
vivisection, even as practiced upon animals.
In most cases he was willing to believe the claims of the
vivisectionists that the living animals which they strapped down and cut
open were generally under the influence of some drug, but, to Nick’s
mind, that did not alter the fact that, after the poor creatures had
been mutilated in a hundred different ways, they were frequently turned
loose, suffering acutely, and with their wounds uncared for.
Nick’s kind heart led him to abhor such cruelty, especially when it was
indulged in so freely and constantly that its oft-reiterated excuses
lost most, if not all, of their original weight.
“A certain amount of vivisection, carried on under proper restrictions,
may be an important factor in the advancement of science,” the detective
was wont to say. “I don’t say it is, but it may be. Even so, it should
be permitted only in the case of a few men, not indulged in by the
wholesale in every medical school.”
It may be imagined, therefore, that he was more than interested when it
was hinted to him that Doctor Hiram Grantley had gone farther than any
one else was known to have dared to go, and had extended his experiments
to the defenseless and ignorant poor of the East Side.
Nick hoped that Wallace was wrong, but he determined to find out for
himself as soon as possible, and made his plans accordingly.