The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-06-15

he had reformed and had grown virtu-
Gus. The country merchant obtained
the money elsewhere, got drunk, and
became talkative. The refusal of his
former friend rankled in his bosom, and
out Of revenge he gave away the whole
scheme. He repented Of it afterwa ard,
for he suddenly realized that in betray-
ing bis friend he had betrayed himself,
and then he denied the truth of the dis
| closure, saving that he had only been
fooling. Out of mere curiosity-noth-
| ing else-I worked st the case, and
found it was Just as have told YOU"
Both parties alive to-day?" 'Both
| parties alive to-day as far as l know.
One of them is. surely, unless he has
died within two hours"
There are great many strange oc-
currences in large cityp"
''Yes, and the public never sees nor
hears Of one-quarter of them. l was
once called upon by a prominent and
wealthy business man who wanted me
to take case for which he offered to
| pay me literally. He said that on the
| previous morning his wife's trunk had
been broken open and large amount
OF jewelry and other valuable property
| had been taken. / stepped into his car
| riage and went to his residence, an ele-
| giant, aristocratic mansion in fashion,
| able quarter Of the city. | went up to
| his wife's room-a front room-the sec
| oGd stOry-and there, sure enough, was
| the trunk with the hasp of the lock
| pried of and the contents, consisting OF
| dresses and finery of all kinds, tumbled
| about as though hurried search had
been made. The lady told me that on
the previous morning she went down to
breakfast, leaving the trunk locked, and
when she came back she found itbroken
open ana the stuff gone. She said that
she had heard no one come into the
| house nor leave it, and had forgotten to
see whether the front door was open or
not. ! carefully examined the room and
the trunk. watched the lady's manner,
catechized the servants, and decided to
give up the case. | did not tell the mer-
chant OF my decision, but worked on the
matter for day or two. I was satisfied
| as to the case almost at once, but on the
following day / discovered that on the
| evening prior to the alleged robbery
| man had raped at the lady's door, had
! been admitted to her room, remained
| there less than five minutes. and had
| left the house. The next day / inform
| ed the merchant that the case was hope
| less, and that | would retire from it.
! My reason for doing so was this: found
that at some time in her early life this
| lady had committed an indscretion
which was known to only one man,
whom she supposed was dead. She
| kept the secret locked in her bosom,
| knowing that its disclosure would de-
| stroy her husbands confidence in her,
| break up her family, and ruin her So
| cially. One day this man, supposed to
| be dead, turned up in St. Louis, met the
| lady, demanded money of her, and
| threatened to blow the secret unless she
complied. She could not raise sufficient
money from hvr Iusb.tIId rirIIvttu aiUus-
! ing his suspicious, so she decided to
give her jewelry and some other valua-
bles to the blaekmailer. He came to the
| house by appointment, she handed over
| the stuff to him, and according to
promise made ne left the city. Then,in
| order to clear herself. she concocted the
story of the robbery, and it was badly
t built one, too, / can tell you. OF course
did not dare to tell the true state Of
affairs to tho husband, because it would
have ruined the wife, so l withdrew.
He is ignorant to this day of the facts,
and probably thinks I am very poor
| detective"
"Well, you haven't reached the end
of the rope yet, said the reporter as the
detective stopped and looked out of the
window. Give me another one, / am
being interested
| "We!l, here's one which is perhaps
| the strangest occurrence of the kind that
| ever happened here. There was bus
| iness man in this city, very wealthy, very
industrious, and very highly respected.
He had one fault, which came near ruin
ing him several times. He was strictly
| temperate, never touched drop of liq-
nor except at intervals of from two to
five years, but when he did got drunk
he was sure to do some outlandish, ,reck-
less thing that a sane man would never
think of. He had not taken drink for
nearly three years, when one day of he
goes and climbs into drunk. He kept
It up for two or three days, and one
night he strayed into disreputable
house, took three of the inmates and put
them into hack. They were in con-
dtion of undress unfit for the street, but
they drove out into the suburbs and all
around town, stopping at every drink
ing-place open and having drinks sent
out to the hack. Strange to say, they
were not arrested, but returned to the
house just before daylight in fearful
condition. The merchant recovered
from bis spree and resumed his business
again as if nothing had happened. A
young man of rather an enterprising
turn of mind heard of the case, and be-
gan to investigate it. He talked with
the hack-driver, and worked quietly un-
til he had secured documents to show
beyond doubt that the merchant had
been seen riding in the hack with three
females. and that the quartet did rot
have clothes enough on them to wad q
IN. 1t was hot summer night and
they were probably not uncomfortable.
One day this young man called upon
the merchant at his place of business,
went into his private Office with him and
closed the door. The merchant thought
the proceeding was strange. but the
young man quieted him by saving:
Il have a very interesting story to
tell YOU and don't want anyone else to
hear it."
.They sat down. and the visitor be-
I gan ~ tSii luc SGUi li tiS OICc upon =
time style. Before he had half finished
the merchant jumped up excitedly and
said:
Its id he.'
Hold on said the young man
quietly; listen to the rest of it.
Then he went on and completed the
story, and the merchant said it was
falsehood- He denied it most emphati-
cslly, and threatened to have his visitor
arrested for attempting to blackmail
him. He changed his mind. however,
but ordered him to leave the Office.
"'Wait minute said the visitor.
very coolly. pulling packing of papers
from his pocket, until you look at some
of theseN Here Is an affidavit from -
-. who keeps saloon at -. Here
Is another from --, another from
- aud so on until he had ex-
j IL L. ryr