Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-23
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

/
West End, and the newspapers were moi
slow to make use of dainty bit of scandal
When at last publicity had been given tc
the affair, the friends of Mr.. Constam issued
handbills to watermen, bargees and other:
among the riverside community, offering 6
handsome reward for the recovery of the
dead body of the missing squire.
1t was an excellent idea, on the theory
that Mr.. Constam had been foully dealt bv,
or had made away with himself But what
if neither supposition were correct? 1t wa:
at least possible that Mr.. Doggett's les:
tragic explanation of the strange disappear
ance was the right one. In that case il
seemed to us at the Universal, that it was
our duty Ito ourselves) to have the theory
OF murder or suicide set at rest one way ol
the other. 1t was to our interest to have il
made quite clear that the dead body of Mr..
| Constam was not lying in the Thames.
Accordingly the Universal stepped in,
doubling the reward; and the dual appeal
to the cupidity of the riverside men pro-
! duced such a scene as the Thames has sell
| dom witnessed.
From Westminster bridge to Beckton
| Gas Works, wherry men, attracted by the
large reward, were busy night and day in
| prosecuting the search. When the light
! failed, in the short interval between even-
| ing's twilight and morrow's dawn in those
early summer days, the chance passerby
crossing over Waterloo bridge would have
| his attention challenged by the dull red
| faring of lights moving ftfully to and fro
on the surface of the sluggish river, west
ward as far as Lambeth, and eastward be-
| yond London bridge. 1t was a weird scene
| gloomily suggestive of corpse lights" fit
ting about in an unearthly manner in some
country churchyard If the passerby had
been of curious turn of mind, he would
have learned that these lights, moving fit
fully hither and thither, came from the
links carried by the wherry men engaged in
their CHASTITY search.
MANY horrible burden was brought to
the surface which had long been hidden
from the light OF day, until the coroners
found themselves unusually busy holding
inquests on the bodies of persons whose
names were unknown and who had met
with violent death before being thrown
into the river.
And still there was no sign of Mr.. Con-
STAN.
The first light on the mystery came from
Mr.. Doggett. This lndefatigable agent had
been prosecuting his search for full fort
night in the riverside district, which he
stoutly maintained held the secret of Mr..
Constants movements after quitting the
Elysium. Having bent his steps in the di-
rection of Limehouse, his attention was at
tracted by a suit OF clothes which were de-
pendent from the rail of dealer in new and
secondhand clothing, principally of the
slop type, in the West India Docks road.
He was so completely wrapped up in the
examination of the suit, feeling the texture
of the cloth and prying into the lining, that
he did not notice the approach of the elderly
Jew who owned the establishment, until a
voice broke in upon his reverie.
'Vell, vat can do for you, my shild?"
"You can tell me where the hat is which
was worn by the gentleman who owned this
suit, and perhaps you can tell me something
about the gentleman himself" Doggett re-
piled sharply scanning the old mah's
features.
"Shentlemanr' cried the Jew, "vat shen-
tleman? No shentleman has worn dot suit. Z"
"No, suppose not, Doggett replied dry-
ly. 81 suppose the natives of Limehouse
wear best quality tweeds, silk lined, satin
quilted, Poole's make. Try again. That
tale won't wash.
II know nothing about any shentleman,"
the jew replied, stubbornly.
Look here, Isaac" Doggett went on,
"this pretense to be dark, like your Jewish
patter, is pretense altogether. You can
speak English as we'll as / can, and you can
tell me in plain English what you know
about this. Come, cast your eye over that
description, handing the Jew copy of the
particulars with which Doggett had been
furnished.
"You can see," he continued, ''the de-
scription tallies in every particular. These
clothes did belong to Mr.. Constam, whose
friends are looking for his corpse. II you
persist in your reticence l shall snap the
bracelets on your wrists and take you along
with me as an accessory before the fact, or
after; it does not matter which. In any
case you will have to go unless you tell me
what you know about this.
Mr.. Doggett's bold stroke brought Isaac
down from his perch. In few moments he
had told the detective that gentleman,
who said he was out for lark, had pro-
posed to exchange his garments for new
suit of fustian, such as stonemasons wear.
He had since sold the hat to some stranger,
whom he declared he would not recognize
again. Shown Mr.. Constants photograph,
he at once recognized it as the portrait of
the gentleman who was "out for lark"
He persistently denied all knowledge of any
jewelry. He fixed the date of his transac-
ton with Mr.. Constam as the day following
the nocturnal walk in the direction of Traf-
algar Square.
Clear evidence this that the day follow
ing the night on which he was supposed to
have met with foul play, Mr.. Constam was
alive and well; and that at the time when
his body was supposed to be within the
keeping Of Father Thames, he was, accord
ing to the Jews testimony, ''out for lark. !"
Where, then, was Mr.. Constam?
The day following his interview with the
Jew, Mr.. Doggett appeared at the Univer-
sal bringing with him the hat worn BY Mr..
Constam, which had been fshed out of the
Thames that morning. There was no mis-
take that this was genuine relic, for Mr..
Constants name was written in bold letters
on the lining of the hat 1t was OF no i'm
portance as a link in the case, and Doggett
was ALWAYS perplexed afterward to account
for the motive OF his action in bringing it.
seeing that it had already passed into the
hands of the Jew and some third person to
whom he had sold it, since it was in Mr..
Constants possession. The detail is, how
ever, of importance, as the reader will see
in moment.
Mr.. Doggett had barely finished giving
an account of his proceedings when Lord
Selincourt was announced. The nobleman
explained that he had heard that the Uni
versal were interesting themselves to un-
ravel the painful story attaching to the
strange disappearance of Mr.. Constam, and
he had called to inquire whether we could
throw any light on the matter At the
same time he wished to suggest whether
good results might not be obtained if we
were to join forces and assist each other.
As he completed his explanation his eve
was suddenly caught by the hat which |
Doggett had brought with him, and, seiz-
ing it from the table on which it was lying |
with a half muttered apology, be examined i