CRIME: At Night in Mattoon

The Mad Anesthetist of Mattoon, Ill. (pop. 17,500) is a tall, thin man who wears a black skullcap, and carries an instrument not unlike a Flit gun. He moves through the night as nimbly and secretly as a cat, squirting a sweetish gas through bedroom windows. His victims cough, awaken with burning throats, and find themselves successively afflicted with: 1) nausea, 2) a temporary paralysis, and 3) a desire to describe their experiences in minutest detail. This latter result often enables them to overcome their symptoms with startling dispatch.

None of them...

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