Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-07
A DETECTIVE STORY.

IL was your W ASAA
1t. sir. | am put out with you. sir"
"Well, am here, and now what can
do for you"
Resign your place here at once.'
"What;''
Cant you understand the English
language? Resign. sir"
For what reasonY'
THAT you may engage with me-"
He handed me his card, and saw that
his name was Ronald Terry. After bit
he informed me that he was an old bach
elor, with plenty of cash. and that he
had scheme on hand which he wished
TO work out. He offered to engage me
for two years at four times the salary
was then receiving. but would not tell
me what the work was. After two or
three interviews with him and after as
certaining from trustworthy men that
he was what he represented himself, l
closed with his offer. The day entered
upon his service he said 10 me:
You have been in most of the large
cities Of the United States. Did you
ever happen to notice q situation like
this: A street about fifty feet wide run
ming off business street at an angle,
but only two blocks long before it ended
at bluff? This short street is built up
with brick houses. On the first corner
on the right is drug store. The inter-
secting street is hardly wider than an
alley and is not paved"
Il think you will find something very
like it in almost any city, excepting the
bluff. 1t ia not unusual for streets to
come in that way"
But the bluff. II the short street
does not end at bluff our search will
be useless
I'VE shall have to go from town to
town until we find it,
Exactly, and we start tomorrow
Be at my hotel at y O'Clock in the morn
ing, shall lay out our route, and when
ever we arrive in city you will do the
searching That's what have hired you
for"
From the foregoing you will be pre-
pared to believe that | thought him
Light in the head" as the expression
goes. if no worse. However, as he had
the money and was his own master, and
as he was paying me big salary it was
not my business to find fault. | soon
discovered that he had his own peculiar
ideas in the most trifling matters. Fol-
instance, was not to know him when or
the train. | must. if possible, take the
front end of the car. while he took the
rear. At the hotel | must, if such ar
arrangement were possible, sleep on the
floor above him. ANY business between
us must be done as formally as if we had
never met.
At our first stopping place he planned
to stay just so many days. | was &c
cover only so much of the city per day.
A queer duck YOU will think him. but
couldn't record the tenth of his strange
doings and sayings.
We went directly to Portland, Me-, to
begin our search, and although | could
have covered the city in two days he
planned that we should stay sixteen.
Therefore, after the first two days, had
nothing to do but loaf around. On the
seventh day he sent his card to my room
with A request that call upon him on a
matter Of business. and when | entered
he asked
Veil what progress in your search!
81 can find no such street here, sir"
Very well; give you nine more days
in which to make sure"
spent the nine days in fishing and
sailing. and we went from Portland tc
Augusta. We put in six days there, and
then went to Montgomery, Vt. Wetool
each state in rotation, visiting every
city above 10000 population in eaot
state, and by the time we were through
with the state of New York the frs
year was up Every day found Mr.
Terry the same queer. quaint specimen
Of humanity The same formality was
observed. and once. in a railroad smash
up, when I ventured to address him te
inquire if he had been hurt, he looked
at me with a cold stare and replied:
Dem it, sir, you must have mistaken
me for some one else!'
We were well along in the second year
and were in Wilmington, Del. when
met an tiu liitHu Vic west dllu tOit
him what wildgoose chase I was on
He looked at the diagram for few
minutes and then said:
you'll strike this in Cincinnati.
could guide you to the exact spot"
He went fishing into his baggage snd
found an old map of Cincinnati, and in
five minutes we had located the rpot.
sent my card up to Mr.. Terry, and fol.
lowed it to inform him of my discovery,
but he sat down on me with:
Dem it, man. if you are tired of my
ways and wages, you can quit told
thing myself"
And to prove that he meant to, h<
planned a route which did not permit
us to reach Cincinnati for reaa.y foul
months He gave me to understand, OF
arriving there. that we should remain
thirty -one days; and. although l could
have found b street in an hour,
knew Mr.. Terry too well to object to his
plans. On the second day went owe,
the street. 1t was ancient and rather
queer, but no more so than many 9th
ers. 1t was tenanted by poor but 70
spectacle class Of people.
Naturally enough, had always had q
great curiosity to know why my queer
employer wanted to find this street, and
SO. day in and day out. pursued my in.
designations. asked every resident for
information of Terry. but no one had
ever heard of him. The last house on
the left hand side was chock up agains,
the bluff. One standing on the high hill
of which Cincinnati has so MANY, could
have dropped a stone down upon thu
roof Of this house. which was old and I'm.
tenanted. inspected it outside and in,
and saw from its condition that it had
been unoccupied for years. Il was q
frame, and the floors were about gone,
the plastering all off. and the doors and
much Of the partitions had been carried
away for fuel. 1t struck me that this
old house held the key to the mystery,
but though | searched high and low !
could find nothing.
On the morning of the thirty-first day
Mr.. Terry sent for me and inquired il
had found the street. This was the only
time he had spoken To me since our ar.
rival replied that had, and he then
said:
You Will 90 TO Your room, lock your
self in. and remain until send for YOU. /"
did nothing of the kind l skipped
out, reached "B street. posted nyself
in the hallway of n rsps,1spf anA -