Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-07-25

CHAPTER XVII.
! 81 will endeavor not to make it long"
said the detective, drawing chair to the
! table, which l observed he placed in such
| position that could not leave the room
! without passing HIM. ''In our profession
| it is as well to waste as few words as DOS
sible. When you gave your commission
| to my comrade I had just left the force
with the intention of starting private
| business of my own. and was in London
and III my comrades Office at the time you
| called upon him. l heard all you had to
say, and the description you gave of your
wife's personal appearance aroused my
curiosity. You left portrait of her with
| my comrade, and when you were gone
| looked at the picture, and was surprised
to find that it was woman whose face I
was acquainted with. She had occupied
| position as a kind of governess and com
panion in the house Of rich gentleman in
Sevenoaks, where | was stationed when in
| government service, and understood that
| she was single woman. A Frenchwo-
man, too; she went by the name of Mdlle.
Rosalie. Your statement to my comrade
| that she was your wife, and an English
| woman, proved to me that in Sevenoaks
| she had been sailing under false colors.
| made proposition to the officer you en-
| gagged, and we agreed to go partners in
| this affair, and to share and share alike
| whatever was got out of it. There was
more depending upon it than you were
aware of at the time. In the house in
which Mdlle. Resale, your wife, was en-
ployed, murder had been committed
An old gentleman, Mr.. Wilmot, was found
strangled in his bed, and a large sum of
money was missing-no less than five
thousand pounds; five hundred of which
was IN gold, and four thousand five hun
dred in Bank of England notes. Don't
miss word of what am saying, gentle
men; you will soon see the Importance Of
1t. Now, there was mystery in connec-
f'"'. ''T'+" this murder. A man whose
name was Samuel Fleetwood, who all his
life had borne the best of characters, and
had been employed in the service of Mr..
Richard Pardon, the gentleman in whose
house the murder was committed, had
disappeared on the night of the murder.
Suspicion naturally fell upon him, and at
the coroner's inquest verdict of guilty
was pronounced against him. Of course
that was not conclusive. Before he was
found guilty he had to be tried before he
could be tried he had to be caught. We
could not catch him, but eventually he
gave himself up at the police station in
Sevenoaks, and confessed to the murder.
He was in dying state, and in point of
fact he died in the pOlice-statiOn a few
hours afterwards, having first made
written declaration of his guilt, which he
duly signed in the presence of clergy
man.
"On the following morning the town
was startled not only by the publication
of the news of this confession, but by the
mysterious disappearance of Mr.. Pardon
and Mdlle. Rosalie. They had both been
seen the night before by Mrs. Pardon, the
lady of the house, Mdlle. Rosalie at about
eleven o'clock, and her husband at one or
two o'clock in the morning. Her husband
was then in his study, and by cunning
questioning q myself went to see Mrs.
Pardon, at her request, to endeavorto find
the missing gentleman by cunning ques-
tioning, say, l learnt from Mrs. Pardon
that when she last saw her husband in his
study, at that late hour in the night, he
appeared to be greatly disturbed in his
mind. She ascribed this to his having
been completely upset by the dreadful
murder which had taken place in his
house; did not agree with her, but | did
not tell her so. [ was greatly put out by
Mr.. Pardon's disappearance, because he
had offered large reward for the appre-
hension of the murderer of Mr.. Wilmot,
and he had promised me, notwithstanding
that Samuel Fleetwood had voluntarily
given himself up, that this reward should
be paid. Up to this moment it has not
been paid, but live still in hopes.
"Of course the natural conclusion peo-
10 Oh hot
thing not exactly proper between Mr.
Pardon and Mdlle. Rosalie-begging your
pardon for speaking SO of your wife"
'Not at all, - said Stanmore, blandly; sT
happen to know the lady"
1.-The natural conclusion, then, was that
those two had run off together, and that
they both were no better than they should
be- AS I did not agree with what Mrs.
Pardon told me about her husband, so now
did not agree with the general verdict
pronounced upon the missing pair. How
ever, kept my opinions to myself for the
reason that had an idea that the reward
offered by Mr.. Pardon for the discovery of
the murderer of Mr.. Wilmot would one
day find its way into my pocket. How is
that perhaps you will ask, when Samuel
Fleetwood had confessed to the crime,
and the gentleman who offered the reward
had disappeared, partly because he wished
to save his monev?' Well, now, you will
think it strange when / tell you that had
| my doubts as to the commences of Sam
uel Fleetwood's confession. 1t seems that
| he had given the clergyman a private let
| ter, which he implored should be conveyed
to his master, and that he had placed a
| most extraordinary and unnatural import
ance upon the safe delivery of the docu-
ment The clergyman informed me that
| Mr.. Pardon had called upon him in the
| evening in a state of great agitation, and
| said that the letter had not reached has
| hands Now, the clergyman was positive
| that he had enclosed it in packet, con-
| tanning, BESIDES letter from himself and
! q copy of Samuel Fleetwood's confession.
| which he had delivered to Mdlle. Rosalie.
| I kept thinking to myself, What could be
| In this missing letter. and l was not at all
! satisfied with things as they stood. l was
| confident that there was a mystery which
| it might pay me to clear up. Another
circumstance led me to this conclusion.
A man of the name of Redwing, who had
been taken on by Mr.. Pardon for a few
| weeks TO assist the gardener, had also dis
| appeared. What was there singular in
that? you will ask Well-begging your
pardon again. Mr.. Stanmore-I had seen
| enough to convince me that Mdlle. Resale
and Redwing were lovers. | caught them
more than once in Ivybush Lane kissing
and embracing. There was but one con-
clusion to draw from that
''This, gentlemen, is how matters stood
on the day of the disappearance of Mr..
Pardon, Mdlle. Rosalie, and Redwing
| The first fbinU to ba done was To tract