stounding
information to the world.

Jason Carse was a brilliant and respected criminologist, and at the
time of his arrest he was recognized as one of the greatest
students of the modern world, a fact which has made his case one of
unparalleled notoriety. I was his roommate during the several years
we spent in law school, and, although he shot to the pinnacle of
his branch of jurisprudence while I was left to more prosaic
routine, we never lost the contact which has now become so valuable.
Our correspondence was frequent and regular since we were graduated,
and I can say with justifiable pride that Carse respected my
friendship as much as that of any other acquaintance, if not more.
It was this intimacy with his personal life which has enabled me, as
friend and confidant, to witness the revolting atavism which
resulted in such outrageous crimes.

I obtained my first hazy acquaintance with the crimes three months ago
when I received Carse's letter from Vienna. He had just discovered
sensational evidence in a famous criminal case--one of recurrent human
decapitation--and his consequent enthusiasm was so rabid that I was
afraid the morbidity of such matters was beginning to pervert his
senses. For several years I had become progressively aware of Carse's
melancholic attitude, and I had often recommended that he take a
vacation from criminal cases. His indefatigable enthusiasm for
research was all against my advice, and he had gone relentlessly ahead
to the tragic climax which my greatest fears could not have imagined.
This letter from Vienna, so eager with indomitable _il faut
travailler_, confirmed my suspicion that Carse had descended into the
depressing rut of monomania.

When he returned to America shortly afterward I crossed the country to
spend a few days with him, but he was so sickly and irritable that I
could do nothing to cheer his spirits. He continually brooded over the
case he had been investigating, and I should have known at that time
there was a dangerous neurotic compulsion stirring in his subconscious
mind.

Less than a week after my departure from the city the first of the
horrific head-hunting crimes was committed and the actual drama got
under way. I can recall reading the sensational accounts in the
newspapers and my anxious fear that this fresh display of criminal
perversion would excite Carse into a state nearing hysteria. I
telegraphed him that same day, begging his refusal to bother with th