Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-08-22

regardless of the old saving that listeners
seldom hear anything to their advantage, |
did my best to make ont the conversation.
| distinguished the voices to be those of
two men and one woman. The latter [ at
once recognized, or at least my magma
ton led me 10 believe. to be the voice OF
the person who had called on me year
ago to make her will. The voice OF one of
the men was strange to me; but after the
discovery l had already made, | was not
greatly astonished at recognizing the voice
of the other man 10 be that of Simpson.
the legaiee in the. will The whole thing
flashed across me at once, and / saw | had
been made the innocent machinery for
carrying through a clever and daring piece
of impoSture. J. however, listened atten-
lively to the conversation, in order to
fathom the whole affair
The first sentence | made ont came from
the stranger q told you young Sinclair
was the very man TO do the work for you.
These young lawyers never ask any ques-
tons rs long as they get the business"
: Well, well, said Simpson, that is all
right now. But the present question is.
what IS to be done in the way of hurrving
him up with the realization of the estate
without exciting suspicion? The sooner
We all get away from this the better am
glad that young fellow Howard didn't ask
any questions. But one things certain
we must get the old woman away from this
Immediately, or she's sure TO yet recog-
nized. She's been keeping pretty close
lately, but I dare say she's getting tired of
it. Aren't you, old lady?"
" Indeed" was the reply. " I would be
glad to get away from this place tomorrow
II could. I'm sure I only wish you could
have been content with half the estate with
Mr.. Edward, instead Of burning the Will
when you found it was TO be divided be-
tween you and him, and getting me to do
what did. I'm sure it's a wonder my mis-
tress doesn't rise from her grave and de-
nounoe us all"
Keep that cant for another occasion, old
woman; it's no use getting religious now.
But I'll tell you what-I've got an idea
Here the conversation got so low that I
could not catch more than an occasional
word, and what that idea was | never found
out, as he never got the chance of irving it
on me, for / had heard enough To know
that next door to me were three of the
most daring conspirators | had ever come
across who had duped me. and made me
though unwillingly, the chief actor in the
conspiracy. My first idea was to lock the
door Of the room they were in and 90 for
help, but as that was likely to cause a dis
turbance, determined to slip out and
trust to being back in time for their arrest
As luck would have it nearly the first man
| met outside was detective whom had
known very well in connection with some
criminal trials in which | had been on
gagged y few words explained my pur-
pose, and signaling to the nearest police
man he placed him at the door OF the shop.
and both of us walked in. He nodded IA
miilarly to the bartender, and leaning over
the counter, whispered in his ear. The
shopman started, and gave vent to long,
low whistle.
g You'll do it as quietly as YOU can for
the credit of the house" said he
of course" said the detective. "Show
us in
In another minute we were inside the
room, with our backs to the door, the de-
tectiye dangling a pair of steel bracelets
and nodding Smilingly round the room.
The woman tainted. We had no difficulty
in securing the men: and in half an hour
we had them safely housed in Jail.
Before their trial came on we had worked
out the whole story. The woman who had
called on me and signed the will was Mrs.
Simpson, Miss Towards housekeeper. the
mother of Simpson, in whose favor the will
was made and the other man was law
yer's clerk who had suggested to them the
feasibility OF such scheme. The fact of
Miss Towards self-coufinement and my
own imprudence had nearly made the
plot a success, but for my acct
dental recognition of the housekeeper
Each of the prisoners offered to turn
Queens evidence, but as we had no diff
Guilty in proving the case this was refused,
and they were sentenced TO various periods
fpenal se-yitude. | had then the pleasure
of handing over the estate to the rightful
heir young Edward Howard, who, not
withstandilg that l bad nearly been the
means of depriying him OF his inheritance,
made me his agent.
The estateturned out to be much larger
than / had at first thought, as | succeeded
in proving that large number of invest
ments in Simpsons name really belonged
TO Miss Howard, and the management of
SO large property fairly put me on my
feet as regards to business. ! have had
many good clients since then, but ! have
often thought that my Yelled Client was
my best one, as she was the means of Civ
ing me my first lesson in prudence and my
first start in iife.-[Chambers' Journal