San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-26

such an audncious burglary ana expect'
one-half of the booty for its return. Here
is the room, and yonder is n list of thu
stolen property. believe You are hon
est, and I leave the entire affair in youl
own hands. Call upon me for whatever
money you require in an attempt to re
cover the property or to detect the
thieves. If You succeed within a montl
] will pay you thirty thousand dollars
If you fail will pay your expenses fol
the month and place the case in YOU
hands. Are you satisfied"
Igasped systematically. Thirty thou.
sand dollars! A fortune-more than the
price of my happiness! And then the
pride of my profession came to my aid,
and I told him that I should succeed.
/ examined the apartment. The bur
glary had been affected very simply, APP
parently. Edward, the footman-a tall,
lank specimen of humanity-had heard
II noise in the night in the library, but
had paid no attention to it, as Mr.. Day
ton was in the habit of writing very late,
and he thought it was his employer.
What puzzled me most was the means
of entrance and egress adopted by the
burglar or burglars. The library was
fully fifteen feet from the ground, had
a bay window, and, except the broken
pane of glass, there was not the slight
est sign to show how the window had
been gained. A ladder would have done
it, but no marks of a ladder, no signs of
footsteps exhibited themselves in the
damp-ground, wet from recent rains.
l was sorely puzzled. examined the
servants one by one, but could find no
clue to Justify the slightest suspicion of
completely in the affair on their part.
The work had evidently been done by
scientific burglars, and they had worked
mt their leisure ......
| inquired into the antecedents of Ed
ward, the footman; but Mr.. Dayton
averred that he would allow no suspic-
ion to rest on so faithful servant to the
family. L resolvedto inquire more about
him. however; but I found nothing
against the man, and temporarily dis
missed him from my mind as having any
connection with the case.
"You heard no noise on the night of
the robbery?" inquired of Mr. Dayton.
"None. / slept unusually sound last
night
| went away thoughtfully, for had
found in the library an empty bottle
which from the scent 1 knew to have
contained chloroform, and I had noticed
the marks of muddy boots leading from
the apartment, while around the window
none were to be seen. The glass, too,
had been broken by quick blow, not
cut out. Altogether, it was most mys-
FERROUS piece of business.
] watched all dives frequented by the
cracksmcn of the city, and worked like
a beaver. | could not obtain clue to
tho perpetrators of the daring burglary,
and, after three days of unremitting toll,
1 was considering if it would not be as
well to call in professional assistance,
when the advertisement i'll the Herald
Mt the head of this story, attracted my
attention. Instinctively / OWNED some
connection with the CROOKED" business,
and whether it referred to my case or
not l resolved to ascertain its meaning.
l went down to the Herald Office that
morning, and, introducing myself, at
tempted to obtain some description of
the person who had handed in the adj
vertisement. The clerk stated that 1t
had been received by mail, in letter in
closing the amount requisite for its in
sertion in the paper. Could l see the
original copy? He would see; and a
message was sent to the composing room.
Luckily. the copy had been preserved.
II was written in disguised hand on Il
little scrap of paper. | asked leave to
retain it. and permission being granted
to me. | returned to my room ut once.
/ pored over the cipher for long
time. and discouraged at my inability to
make ont one word ofit.was finally about
tu abandon it. when l Glanced TO look
ut the reverse side of the paper. There
were figures and words on it, and read