River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-10-02

/ answer the question. IL William
stopped in the hall this morning yoI
must tell the gentleman what for"
Then, if you must know, he stopped
/ to kiss me-" With this she ran out o.
/ the room.
now understood the relationship be
tween the two servants, and why eact
thought the other incapable of stealing
/ also saw a motive for William want
| ing the money that the earrings nigh
bring him. and felt that il would be diff
/ ficult TO either recover the diamonds OIL
! discover evidence enough to convict the
thief.
The first thing was to put an assistant
on the track of William and to pump tn,
pawn-shops. He might have visited one
on his way 70 my Office. told Mrs
Harris that would return by car, and
that she might soon expect to see me
| again.
William showed me to the door
/ After he had closed it behind me stood
a moment on the step and glanced a.
the front of the house. AS | did so
caught sight of woman's head at ;
window in the house next door. WheI
she saw me looking toward her she
sprung back and closed tho blind.
must have frightened her.
rang the bell at Mrs. Harris door
and surprised William by my sudden
return. l asked for Mrs. Harris, and
inquired of her how the door had beer
locked the night before.
1T was only on the night latch" she
said MIR. Harris is out of the city
and / thought he might return, and
left the door SO that he could get in"
At my request Mrs. Harris gave me
the night-latch key, and again l left
the house. looked at the windows OF
the next house, and saw no one. Then,
stepping to the front door. inserted
Harris-hOuse key. and was able to oper
the door with it. l knew that the key
of that lock would open Mrs. Harris
door The key was put in my pocket
and | rang the doOr-belL There was nc
immediate answer, and | rang again.
Then heard a slight noise inside, as
though something had fallen to the
floor. The door was opened by the
same woman who had been at the win
dow. | walked in On the floor was a
silver-plated card-receiver and a num-
Der of cards. The girl had evidently
thrown it from the table near by.
inquired for the lady of the house,
and said that | would take a seat in the
hall until she came. The woman took
my card and assembled the stairs. The
mistress of the house appeared to be in
no hurry. AS my card showed me to be
only detective | suppose she thought
| could wait / wanted her to know who
/ was.
The minutes began to pile, and
amused myself by reading the names on
the cards scattered about the floor and
on a steel-wire mat that was just in
side the front door. / did not read
the names Of any Of the -four hundred
on them.
One card on the mat that seemed to
bear a remarkably long name attracted
my attention, and / picked it up. As
raised it l dropped to my knees, for
near il, in the meshes of the mat, was
one of Mrs. Harris diamond earrings.
1t was no sooner in my vest pocket than
the lady of the house descended the
stairs.
l told her of Mrs. Harris loss-the
fact of which she had heard before
through the servants-and said that |
had called to learn if her employees
could give me any information about
the Harris servants. She proved to be
quite talkative, and answered all OF my
questions. and, at my suggestion, she
sent for the woman who had admitted
me 20 the house. Her name was Marga-
ret Newell.
Margaret was also ready with informa-
ton, and. in the course of her remarks,
she informed me that 1.-THE Harris help
was a thieving set" | made up my
mind that / would learn something
more of Margaret.
After expressing my thanks for the
information left the house, and, walk
ing to Broadway, entered a south-bound
car, which soon took me to my office.
" hen h~d removed my boots, which
were wet from the snow. and placed
them under the wash-stand. in the
place Of a dry pair, sent for walUv.
Savage. Walter is the smartest young
man that | ever had in my employ.
I soon acquainted him with all the
facts that ! knew, and also with my
suspicious. and started him off to look
up the pedigree of Margaret Newell,
and TO do any work that his fertile
mind might suggest
4 week passed, and Walter said moth
ing TO me about the case. Twas little
surprised. for E-knew he would come to
me and report any new developments,
and ask my advice before taking any
action In the meantime Mrs. Harris
was kept in ignorance of the fact that
had one of the diamonds.
1t was about eight days after nv visit
to the Harris house-and just such an
other day-when l jumped from a car
in front OF my Office, landed in pool
Of slush. and entered my room with wet
feet, as Walter was about leaving. He
turned back.
There is nothing in it," he said.
in what?7 I asked.
In your theory about the Harris dia-
mond case" he said.
DO you think l am wrong?" l in
quired.
Dead wrong. have worked on your
theory until there is nothing left of it
You are away of
do you know any more about it than
l told yOu?" ] asked.
mo" he said. there is no accounting
for the diamond you found in the hall
or for any thing else In the case. 1 am
entirely beat"
Haven't you s.cuck any clew at alls"
| asked him.
Not the shadow cf one. IL beats any
case that ever tot, he'd. can't even
find a smell of suspicion
1t won't do TO give it up" I said.
Here. help me of with ,hese wet boots.
and get me that pair under the wash
stand, and We will start rev on this
matter
He helped me off with the boots. and,
IS he got the other pair from under the