Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-06-25
THE DRAGOMAN'S TALE.
DISPLAY OF ORIENTAL CUNNING IN
The DETECTION OF A THIEF.


An English Consul VII" Lost His silver
/ ware at Anniversary Dinner The
CaVsss NoVeI Plan-Pul Ing at a Don
| keys Tail.
Our dragoman, MIR. GarSuilo, who IS
well verscd IN the X Urnn and familiar with
the cou /, here, broAe the reserve Ii" had in
! duged and after "a few whIfls OF his cigar
ette and twinkle III his I.evunt no eye
| grayuly remarked hat not only the IA /
| ministI alton Of JustI, COndu ted with "A
! curious ami humorous turn IN The east. tut
| the detection of criminals often display cd
Il cunning that InsPe, tor Bucket might
! envy or Gabol iau emo In Illustration,
| he said, let me give. not romantic IN
| cident, but veri able narrative-aS 1t was
| gwen me some years II o when was trying
a case at kharIoo
| As the court was not to convene for IN
| hour, the patience OF the Ottoman was called
TO the front, and the dragoman began his
recital
"A few years ago said he, ION the Oc
| Casion of the anniversary OF Queen Ic
| to. las accession to the throne, Mr. j. Ii.
| Skene, English consul at Aleppo, gave Il
! dinner he held an evening re option,
here the creme OF the society at Aleppo
was gathered. \ large number OF guest,
were invited to the consul table Great
pains were taken to make the dinner a.
! pleasant as possible In AllePo nothing
speaks as eloluently as display. Flowers IN
| profus' on decorated the table and the apart
ments Every piece of silNerware had Teen
! brought out to add to the sp!ondor u. the
festivity. The tab e service was soil silver
| The cavaSses OF the consulate wore their gor
! geous .rll trim ell Il thes and their inlad
| pis OILS an l4.a5haL-. After dinner the
party left the dining room They went
| int the salons, where a large number ot
gusts wers ASSENT led, The party was a
success The servants Of the house had been
! occupy ing themselves with serving the
| guests-passing coffee to one, tea to an ther,
| narghile to a third, and Chibouk TO u
| fourth and so on, SO that everything i'll the
dining room was apparently trusted to the
! care of the cavasssS But what was the
surprise OF the consul when on the day
! after the fete he found that the sIlverware
had disappeared Search was made III every
part Of the house Not single piece could
be discovered There was general Conster-
nation, not SO much on the part Of the con
sui himself Us on the part OF thU>e IN his
| service After mature re. ton upon the
mishap, the consul called the most int Iii
gent Of his cavasSers He questioned him
| The cavass insisted that he did not steal the
silver, AMI tnat he did not know who did
but the consul was a very good detec
tive, and ready in his knowledge Of men
| and things lie was also a 'oOl tempered
man he said to his cavass: There Is no
USE to swear | am not going to change my
opinion / have good reasons TO suspect you
to lie the thief, and mean that you shall
bring my silver to me within twenty -Eour
hours, else you will be put i'll the hands OF
the authorities, nd you will not get away
until find my property. There Is no other
! alternative
NOVEL PLAN OF DETECTION.
MIR Consul. said the cavass, i have al
ready told you that l. did not steal your
silver, but still you SUSPECT mr. will how
ever, do all IN my power to detect the rob
ber. | only beg OF you to do for me pas
sively all will ask you to do
"Ihe consul replied: 1 will do 80, pro
vided you bring back the property.
The cavass asked Tor two or three hours
| time and left In an hour he came aca,
| hringing with him by the bride a littl
| donkey. This he presented to the consul,
stating that the donkey would hnd the thief
| il he would allow the donkey to be placed
| in one If the rooms and the window shut
| tiers TO be closed, SO As to da ken the room
DO so, said the consul, who became Gu
| rious to see what would result
After the donkey was placed in the dar n
| room the Cavass asked the consul to call
| every body in the house, masters, employ ee,
| CavAsses and servants They came, anu
wele placed in front of the door of the room.
where the donkey was When all were
present the ass said: Now We are to
enter this room one by one, and as son a.
| We get in We are to take pull at the don
key S tail The donkey will make no sign
| say nothing unless the roOber Is among us
| I hen you may depend apon it be will bray
and indicate who has stolen your goods. Oh
| do not laugh | have had occasion to max,
use of that remedy. 1t never fails Now,
said he to the consul, you 80 in first and
| pull the tail We Will all follow you, on
| by one
The singular proce sion began, the COnsu.
in the lead Every one entered the room
and pulled at the donkeys tai, but tn,
donkey never brayed. Alter the perform
ance was over and all came out he asked II
| all Of them had really pulled at the tail All
responded emphatically, Yes
AlON ohl ~ - ot-iu Nhdt LAS
donkey did not bray. 1t seems that the
thief Is not to be found among us. l can not
! explain II otherwise.
He then formed them in circle around
him Now, ladies and gentlemen he said
hands up, please
livery one obeyed
Here IS your man, Mr. Consul SAID
he, ali at once, pointing at one of the party
| "a servant y ou see every one who en-
tered the room pulled at the tail, and thu.
| got his or her hands blackened, while thi.
man did not pull on the tail as he was SURF
the donkey would bray. Conse4 uently hi
hands are clean
The fact is, said our dragOman in con
cluSion, there is 50 much superstition
among the common people of the east that
such devices are sure to make an almost
! supernatural impression. However the
man confessed and the silve- was returned
We generally concurred in the opinion
that such modes of detection woulI not
operate successfully in London, Paris, New
York or COnstantinople, where no such
childish ruses would produce the re luired
result but the simple Arab OF the interior
shrank from the eNperimentum Crucis as If
it were not a donkeys tail powdered with
charcoal but an or. !eal of fire, under the
Judgment of Alian,-S : Cox's Constant
nopIe Letter in New York Sun
Defects OF the English Yacht.
An article which appeared few weeks
ago in The Field was by no means pleasant
reading for those who are Interested in
English yachting, as it showed that the
American fleet will shortly possess four
great centreboard cutters of the very latest
type, No doubt English yachtsmen have a
very strong and perfectly Just objection to
centreboards, which ought not to Ue allowed
to compete for the Americas cup, and they
may therefore be inclined to despiss these