The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-12-14
a DETECTIVES GREAT FEAT.

A great forgery had been committed.
whereby bank was robbed of thirty
thousand pounds; the culprit succeeded
In getting safely out of England, and
escaped to the Argentine Republic,
where there was no extradition treaty.
He was believed to have taken the
whole of the plumber with him, as his
wjfe-who was narrowly watched-cer-
tainly had no portion of it, and no let
tiers addressed to him had passed
through the post-office; so a private
detective of great reputation was en-
ployed by the bank authorities to go
out to the River Platte. and endeavor
either to recover the money, or to lure
the forger into a position where he
might be captured. This detective was
an educated man. and well fitted to
carry out the role he assumed-that of
Major R., travelling for his health, and
intending to pay short visit to Buenos
Ayres before proceeding to Valparaiso
and Peru. Unlimited powers, official
and unofficial, were conferred on him;
he was supplied with letters of intro
duction to the leading people in the
Republic; and of course there was to
be no question of expense. Thus fur
nished he set out.
On arriving in Buenos Ayres, he dis
covered that this man had gone some
leagues up country. Following up
track, he found him living in apparent
great poverty, employed as shepherd
by an English estdaaciero, to whom the
would-be Major R. happened to have a
letter of Introduction. In this way, he
had no difficulty in making acquain-
lance with his intended prey-graGual-
lU Qnd 09CnQlIxT n c1Ioniain1l
One day, he asked him openly whether
his position in life had not been very
different from that in which he found
him. as his speech and manners were
those of a gentleman; and after little
hesitation, the shepherd confessed that
such was the case-presently telling a
plausible tale of misfortunes in bust
ness, etc. Protesting pity for him, the
kind-hearted Major lent him money,
and took him back into the city, where
he entertained him at one of the best
hotels as his guest, having mentioned
to him confidentially that he wished to
invest a considerable sum in land out
there, and promising to install him as
manager of the estate. All this time
the thief was supposed to be carrying
the money hidden about his person;
and it was to devise some strategy for
obtaining this with certainty and safety
that the detective postponedithe deNoue-
naept of the plot so long.
At length when he had excluded ev-
cry other possible place of concealment, |
and seemed to have won the mans en-
tire confidence, he went to the captain |
of the British man-of-war lying there, |
and revealed himself in his own char
acter-for nobody till then had the |
least inkling of the truth-and together |
they arranged very nice little trap. |
The officers of the gunboat were to |
give grand pic mic. followed by a |
dance on board; and all the best people |
in Buenos-AYres were invited-Maior |
Z. and his friend among the rest. The |
friend was delighted at the prospect,
and drew largely on the Major for the |
wherewithal to present a beftting
splendor of appearance on the eventful |
day. As they strolled down to the
wharf together arm-in-arm, you may |
be sure that Major r. s heart beat high |
with the triumph already in his grasp
one of the cleverest captures ever
planned by an emissary of Scotland |
Yard. Hiring q boat, they soon arrived |
alongside the man-of-war, where the
poop was already crowded with ladies.
Jump up" said the Major, as the
gangway ladder was lowered: ''we're
just in time
s'Well, no, Mr.. G." returned the for
ger, calling the detective by his real |
name. Il don't think I'll go on board;
but I'll stay here in the boat and listen
to the music while you go up and
dance.n
If the officer did not feel sold at that
moment, no man ever did. The best
of it was the audacious robber had not
one penny of his booty with him, and
was much too wary to trust the post.
Both he and his w1fe-who Joined him
soon afterward-were obliged to work
for their bread until the arrival of their
goEerness-who had never been sus-
pected of complicity-with the whole
sum. But how he discovered his adver.
sary was never known.
By-the-way, this same detective is
said to have had another ''self' a few
days later. He went on board the mail
steamer just come in from Brazil, rs he
thought he might obtain an English
newspaper. If he got one, he certainly
had plenty of time to read it, for the
steamer happened to be in quarantine,
and he had to undergo the horrors OF
seclusion st Ensenda for three weeks.