



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 "THE 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.

     "LA RUE & CO., Jewelers,
     "---- Fifth Avenue."

I recognized the advertisement as one that had occasioned a great deal
of comment on the _Star_, due to its peculiar nature. It had been a
great mystery, perhaps much more so than if the advertisement had been
worded and signed in the usual way.

I knew also that the advertisement had created a great furore of
excitement and gossip at the fashionable North Shore Hunt Club of which
Bradford Brackett was Master of Fox Hounds.

"At first," explained Mrs. Brackett nervously, "La Rue & Co. were able
to keep the secret. They even refused to let the police take up the
case. But as public interest in the advertisement increased at last the
secret leaked out--at least that part of it which connected our name
with the loss. That, however, seemed only to whet curiosity. It left
everybody wondering