The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-07-21

DETECTIVES AND DIAMONDS.
a great forgery having been committed
whereby 9 bank was robbed of Ge3O, 200, til,
culprit succeeded in getting safely out o
England, and escaped to the Argentine Re
public, where there was no extraditio,
treaty. He was believed to have taken tn,
whole Of the plumber with him, as his wifi.
who was narrowly watched certainly hai
no portion of it, and no letter addressed t.
him hi had passed through the postofice; SO
private detective of great reputation was
employed by the bank authorities to 20 out
to the Plyer Plate, and endeavor either &c
recover the money, or to lure the forper in
% position where he might be captured.
ms detective was an educated man, and
We'll lifted to carry out the role he assumed
.tnat OF Major K ----, travelling for his
health, and intending to pay short visit to
Bueno ' Ayres before proceeding to Val
para,se and Peru. Unlimited powers, of
neal and unofficial, were conferred on him
ne was supplyed with letters of introduce
ton to the leading people in the Republic;
and, OF course, there was to be no question
OF expense. Thus furnished, he sat out
On arrival in Buenos Ayres he discov-
cred that his man had gone some leagues
up country. Following up the track, he
found him living in apparent great poverty,
employed as shepherd by an English es-
tanctero, to whom the would-be Major
R--happened to have letter Of introduc-
ton. In this way he had no difficulty in
making acquaintance with his intende d
prey-gr gradually and casually, to avert sus-
plclon. One day he asked him openly
whether his position in life haa not been
very different from that in which he found
him, as his speech and manners were those
OF gentleman; and after little hesitation
the shepherd confessed that such was the
presently telling plausible tale of
misfortune In business, etc. Processing
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 men
toned to him conidentially that he wished
to invest considerable sum in land out
there, and promising to install him as man
ager OF the estate. All this time the thief
was supposed to be carrying the money hid
about his person, and it was to devise some
strategy for obtaining this with certainty
ard safety that the detective postponed the
de7ouemeat Of the plot SO long.
At length, when he had excluded every
other possible place of conceal
ment, and seemed to have won
went to the captain of the British man
of-war lying there, and revealed himself in
his own character-for nobody, till then,
had the least inkling of the truth-and to-
gether they arranged a very nice little trap.
The officers of the gun boat were to give a
grand picnic, followed bya dance on board;
and all the best people in Bueno Ayres
were invited Major r - and his friend
among the rest. The friend" was delight.
ed at the prospect, and drew largely on the
major for the wherewithal to present be-
fitting splendor Of appearance on the event.
full day. AS they strolled down to the wharf
together, arm -arm, you may be sure that
Major R s heart beat high with the tri-
umph already in his grasp one of the clev-
crest captures ever planned by an emissary
Of Scotland Yard. Hiring boat, they soon
arrived alongside of the man Of war. where
the poop was already crowded with ladies'.
Jump up" said the major, as the gang
way ladder was lowered; ''we're just in
time" ra SfTa
well, no, Mr.. c." returned the
forger, calling the detective by his real
name. II 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"
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 wife-who joined him soon afterward-.
were obliged to work for their board until
the arrival of their governess- had
never been suspected of complicity-with
the whole sum. But how he discovered
his adversary was never known.
By the way, this same detective is said to
have had another s'sell" few DAYS later
He Went on board the mail steamer just
come in from Brazil, as 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, ana he had to undergo the hor-
rors of seclusion at Ensenada for three
weeks!
A well known London diamond merchant
went out to Brazil to buy precious stones,
seeking them, naturally, not in the big
cities, but at the smaller places along the
coast. The local steamer to which he had
rams shipped was one day about to leave
some out-of- the way port -Maceio, I think
when an Indian came on board selling
skins: he also displayed some little shining
pebbles, which he did not seem to set much
store by, The merchant -reputed to be
one of the best judges of stone in Eng
land-saw at q glance that they were small
and carelessly offered few reis
apiece for them, which the Indian gladly
took; then, appearing to have thus discov-
cred new branch of commerce, he pro-
duced an immense one attached to q string
around his neck one SO large and valuable
that the dealer, in his eagerness to obtain
it, was thrown off his guard, and offered SO
much for it that the dusky possessors sus-
picions we've excited. When say so
much I do not suppose the sum was in
trinsically great, perhaps not more than a
shilling or two; but it was out Of all pro-
portion to what he had paid for the others.
The Indian refused. More and more
money was promised, and displayed, be-
fore his eyes in giittering piles. Rum,
knives. shawls and all sorts Of commodities
were thrown in; but without avail. If the
pale face wants this bit Of stone SO much,
he might be supposed to argue, it must
be Of some great power or value perhaps