Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1876 — A DETECTIVE'S STORY. [ARTICLE]

A DETECTIVE'S STORY.

The most experienced and sagacious of 'detectives are not always successful. We of ®« force are like other men, fallible, and evenlhe best laid plans sometimes . wholly ftdl to achieve their purpose. I have Ufftr many years in the business, luthofigh I"have aided in bringing a number of noted criminals to justice, there, have been several instances in which my better judgment has been blinded and my most ehfoorate traps eluded by the rascals of whoifi I was in search. It Is a terrible aggravation to a detective to find but of all my failures I never had fine that so filled me -with ■ ,; 'dh&trrtlL-«ttd as one that I once made in New York. It made me appear the more ndi< ul. ■ ; because the case was a very simple one, and the chief actor in it was a woman. To be sharper is bad enough, but to have yourself ami your profession fanghod at by a Woman is too much for a detective, proud his sagacity, to bear with equanimity. I don't often care to fofok/of '1 •am not likely to be punght in a trap again, I don't yntntTtejiinigyoff the story in confidence. Tiw» Bmhionable generation may not J r.iwW 1 * t} fr firm of Stephens AJj* twe^erH ' M 'k° f <>rniel 'ly transbusiness on Broadway, not far stfoet. Their store was one day entered by aven- beautiful and ricldy dressed lady, who had left her carriage at the door, and who asked to be shown crosses. The salesman exhibited the tray containing a large '■ number oftWyvaluable trinkets of that description, studded with gems of exceeding jichoess and purity. After considerwhip heyitetton finally chose one and OwrK|W»*’ replied the sales--j will .take it,” said the lady. “Be good enough to do it up nicely." .; .**SJiaQ foifofft'-'itt’’’ asked the salesNo, thank you, I will take it with ■ .’T’ '' SliC tendered.for payment two crisp, new bills, one pf <I,OOO ami one of sr,t>o. y> wAtataMa WWW^* e,n tlic c;l - s hier, who examined them to see that they were genuine, pad bis drawer to return the necetaary change. To his annoyance he found himself short of small bills, and .j-pntf than pay out all his small emmge *'.htatadaiiy<wo?MUlaback to the customer ask if ahe had not the exact amount. TWWgr' BXWaygl her portemonnaie, but anything but three. ■ HM-fofe. These would not 1 Wafitef' an< i fi‘ e cashier paid out 'reluctant e. dashed the tw„ drawer and slammed ■te'foity fowr’tt* diamonds, swept ; ) c store, entered her t rapidly away. ■ o afterward the cashier, . rfxxtetafon-.to-opcn his drawer, was it ptoCuHar line on the $1,00(1 a..;.. !<.aytattlhed itclosely and at once iKs Mi i,u.Ht;ed il EMtoUnterfcit. The lady had v .;rU Doles when they had foogljjfo te ,la< 'e the fair swhtrtW-' 1 W fttfor by the firm, but an ux.oo v i.<■,b' ii.. KjjtS of the case did 1 otter any St,on;; lux.. j(i rr.mvr.itio jOpmonds or the *2oo. lie reim-rnben . V.iWdill blue silk With •jp recollect n Ilium tb at the c.-r-

■pokes. This was slight material, biit I made the necessary hotes in my memorandum book, and left the store. - For several days after that I kept a sharp lookout in the streets for a carriage •with gilded hubs. 1 visited all the livery stables and hackney coach stands that I could think of, but my search was in vain. At last, passing one day through Bleccker street, I met a carriage driving rapidly towards Broadway. Its description answered very well to that which Stephens & Martley’s salesman had given me, but a glance inside showed me that it was empty. I stopped it, however, and crossqestioned the driver. The carriage was a public one, and the driver remembered taking a lady In blue silk, four or five days previously, to Stephens & Martley’s. So far I was on the right track, but the trail was soon lost again. In answer to my questioning, the man said that the lady had taken his carriage at Union Square, where it was then standing, and, after visiting the jewelry store, had been driven to a ory-goods store on Chatham Square, when she dismissed him. He did not notice whether she entered the store or not, and he had never seen her since. I took the man’s numbef and looked well at his carriage and horses. Having thus mentally photographed his establishment, I gave him a quarter and let him go. There was nothing more to be done for the present except to telegraph <i general description of the woman and the diamond cross, to the principal cities of the country, and to keep an eve on the outward-bound steamers for Europe and elsewhere. This I managed to do without much difficulty while attending to other business. More important cases soon engrossed my attention, and tlie affair of the cross gradually fell into the background, when, after the lapse of several months I received a telegram from a detective in Boston, stating that a noted gambler named “Jumping Johnny,” who had twice been in State Prison for counterfeiting, had been seen in that city lately in suspiciously intimate relations with a woman residing in Columbus avenue, who answered in some respects to the description of our heroine. The house in Columbus avenue, and the appearance o the woman were altogether too respectable for such close connection with “Jumping Johnny” without mischief being in the wind. I had not the pleasure of “Jumping Johnny’s” acquaintance, but I started that same night for Boston to look at the woman, taking Stephens & Martley’s salesman with me to identify her. I procured a couple of officers from the Boston force and proceeded to the bouse in Columbus avenue. It was a large, handsome structure of brown stone, and I noticed that the curtains to all except the lower story were closely drawn. I suspected from this that the upper rooms wrerc all unfurnished, and that the lower and basement floors only were occupied by the inmates, who had doubtless their own reasons for choosing an innocentlooking dwelling in a fashionable quarter for carrying on a business that might not bear the' scrutiny it would be subjected to in a more public locality. But this, of course, was all guess work. I posted an officer on the curbstone before the house, and another in tlie rear alley, with instructions to keep his eye on the back gate and the roof. “ I don’t want ‘Jumping Johnny,’ ” I explained to these sentinels. “I am after the woman who stole our diamonds? If you see a woman come out, detain her.” I did not care to trouble “Jumping Johnny,” because, first, I had no evidence whatever that he was implicated in the diamond swindle, and second, because I was employed to recover Stephens & Martley’s property, and to find tlie party who stole it, and it was not my business to ferret out counterfeits. 1 reserved that part of the affair for a separate job. The name on the door plate was “D’Orsay.” I rang the bell, and after some delay, during which I detected a pair of eyes scrutinizing us from behind the basement blinds, the door was partly opened by a very angular servant with a shock of fiery red hair, who placed her anatomy in tlie passage and demanded our business. “ 1 would like to see Madam D’Orsay, if you please. Is she at home ?” “ I don’t know.” “ Be good enough to find out, if you please. Our business is very important.” “ What is it?” I placed my finger on my lips mysteriously. “It wouldn’t do to tell it here on the street,” I said“l sa# a cop on the sidewalk out here.” The girl looked wise and returned my wink. “Oh I you belong to them, do ye?” the answered. “Well, walk in.” She ushered us into a large parlor, handsomely furnished, and left us alone. In a few moments we saw through the open door an elegantly dressed lady descending tlie stairs. “By heavens!” exclaimed the salesman. “ That’s the woman who bought the cross.” I was on tlie right track, then, at last. She entered the room with a queenly- step and stood still looking at us inquiringly. She was certainly the most beautiful woman I ever saw before or since. She evidently had no remembrance of my companion, or if she did she concealed her recognition of him admirably. “ This gentleman,” I said, rising and pointing to my com panion, “is from the firm of Stephens <fc Baftfoyj of Kew York.” She turned very pal#, and grasped the back of a chair for support. “I, madam.” I continued, “am an officer of the detective police. We have called in relation to a certain diamond cross, purchased by you from Stephens <fc Martley several months ago, which was paid lor in counterfeit notes.” She sank into a chair, pale as death, and trembling in every limb. is tire penalty?” she asked. “ We will talk of that afterward,” I said. “Is the cross still in your possession ?”

“It is,” she said. “ Will you let me go if I return the cross and the money? Oh, sir, please let me go; You only want the property back, surely. I will pay you that and more tco, if "you will not take me away.” It was hard to resist this kind of talk. She sat there wringing her hands and with her beautiful "eyes suft’used with tears —a picture to melt a heart of stone. ‘ “You don’t know what it is,” she said, “to toe forced to lead a life like mine'; Y’ou don’t know what it is to be com’ pelled to it by one who owns your body and soul, as mine isowned. God knows! Would be betterifl could ?” “ Is Jumping Johnny your husband?” “ No,” she said, looking around her a little fearfully. “ Our object,” I said, “ is principally to recover our property; but I don’t propose to make any promises beforehand. Return the cross and the S3OO, and we will -consider your case afterward.” She arose to leave the room, and for the first time it struck me how short she was even for a woman. Her proud, queenly carriage had something to do, perhaps, with my first impression, for I had taken her for a tall woman. I now saw that she was of quite small figure, hardly larger than a girl of twelve. x She passed into a room immediately back of the parlor and closed the door. 1 told my companion to step into the hall, and keep his eye on the other door, while I remained in the parlor. I had no fear of my bird's escape, for I had a pretty accurate mental plan of the house in mj c,s4.;.'Ti J, 1 .-.■<, .. . ,'J>-

head, and I knew she could not leave it without being seen by men outside. 8h» was absent a very long time, during which I hoard an animated discussion going on in the adjoining room, in which the shrill tones of a child’fi voice could be plainly distinguished. Tire words, however, were unintelligible. I had become thoroughly tired' of waiting, and was on the point of qiaking a disturbance, when the door opened and a hideously deformed boy appeared, limping on a crutch. He was hjjmn-backed, and a dreadftil scrofulous'mark disfigured one-half of his ugly face. As he opened and closed the door I caught a glimpse of Madame D’Orsay seated in an arm-chair, with a lace handkerchief t,o her eyes, evidently weeping. “ Mother told me to give you this," said the dwarf, in the same shrill, cracked voice which 1 had lately overheard. “She will be out herself in a moment. You won’t arrest her, will you, sir?” “ I don’t know,” I answered, shortly, taking the diamond cross afid putting it in my pocket. “ Where are the two hundred dollars?” “ I am going to get this changed,” said the boy, holding up a five hundred dollar bill. “If you will wait a minute I will bring back the money.” 1 let him go and he limped out the front door and down the street, dragging his club-feet painfully. I was glad to have the hideous little monster out of my sight. I waited some some fifteen or twenty minutes after that, but neither Madame D’Orsay nor the boy put in an appearance. At last my patience became exhausted and I tried the door leading into the inner room. It opened readily, but there was no one in the apartment except madame herself, who still sat in the arm-chair, before the dressing-table, with her face buried in her handkerchief. “ Come, come,” I said, “this won’t do. “You’ve had time enough to cry in. Put on your things and follow me. I’ve some friends outside who are waiting for you." A loud, coarse laugh greeted this speech, as I tapped the woman gently on the shoulder. The handkerchief fell, and disclosed to me the features of the bony servant girl who had admitted us to the house. Her lovely person was dressed in her mistress’ clothes, and her fiery shock of hair was concealed by a blonde wig, the exact counterpart of the madame’s hair, which was a wig itself for all I know.

“Te thought it was the lady of the house, didye?” exclaimed the interesting female, jumping up. “Well, ye see, it isn’t. Thanks to your politeness in waiting so long, the madame has got well out of your way by this time, if her crutch and that beautiful club foot don’t interfere with her speed.” “Ten thousand furies!” I exclaimed. “Do you mean to say ” “ Yes, I do, she replied. “Ye couldn’t bring yourself to believe that her pretty ladyship could make herself so ugly, could ye? Mister Policeman, you’re nicely- sold.” I dropped her arm, and seizing the salesman, rushed out of the house. -“The bird has escaped us,” I said. Madame D’Orsay has given us the slip; but we have recovered the cross at all events.” I took the jewel from my pocket and handed it to him. He took it, and turned it over and over in the sunlight. “ It’s a beautiful thing,” I remarked. “Yes,” he said, “it is a beautiful thing!” “ These diamonds are of unusual brilliancy,” I ventured again, as he continued to examine it. “Yes,” he replied, “of unusual brilliancy—for paste! I never saw’ a better imitation.” “ Isn’t that your cross?" I exclaimed. “The setting is ours,” he said. “The diamonds are probably of ‘ Jumping Johnny’s’ own manufacture!”