, 1890-02-15
A DETECTIVE STORY.

One day, as l returned to police head
quarters. after having put in several
hours on a till tapping case, l found a
queer looking old man awaiting me.
He was, l should say, at least 50. He
wore a reddish wig, shaved clean, was
very precise about his clothing, and was
eccentric in speech and action. AS he
met me, he said:
Dem it, sir, but you should have
more manner than TO keep me cooling
my heels around a place like thisi'
But / didn't know you were here"
at was your business to knowi Dem
it, sir. l am put out with you, sir!"
"Well, l am here, and now what can I
do for your"
"Resign your place here at oncer'
"WhatY'
Cant you understand the English
language? Resign, sir"
For what reason?"
THAT you may engage with me-"
He handed me his card, and | saw that
his name was Ronald Terry. After a bit
he informed me that he was an old bach
elor, with plenty of cash, and that he
had a scheme on hand which he wished
to work out. He offered to engage me
for two years at four times the salary l
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, /
closed with his offer. The day / entered
Upon his service he said to me:
You have peer in most of the largo
cities of the United States. Did you
ever happen to notice a situation like
this: A street about fifty feet wide run
ming off n business street at an angle,
but only two blocks long before it ended
at a bluff? This short street is built up
on the right is a drug store. The inter-
secting street is hardly wider than an
alley and is not paved"
81 think you will find something very
like it in almost any city, excepting the
bluff. 1t is not unusual for streets to
come in that way"
"But the bluff. If the short street
does not end at a bluff our search will
be useless"
1--WE shall have to go from town to
town until we find it."
Exactly, and we start tomorrow.
Be at my hotel at 8 O'Clock in the morn
ing. l shall lay out our route, and when
ever we arrive in n city you will do the
searching. That's what l nave hired you
for"
From the foregoing you will be pre-
pared to believe that l thought him
Eight 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 a big salary, it was
not my business to find fault. l soon
discovered that he had his own peculiar
ideas in the most trifing matters. For
instance, l was not to know him when on
the train. / must, if possible, take the
front end of the car, while he took the
rear. At the hotel l must, if such an
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. l was to
cover only so much Of the city per day.
A queer duck you will think him, but l
couldn't record the tenth of his strange
doings and sayings.
We went directly to Portland, Me-, to
begin our search, and although l could
have covered the city in two days he
planned that we should stay sixteen.
Therefore, after the first two days, l had
nothing to do but loaf around. On the
seventh day he sent his caro- to my room
with a request that l call upon him on a
matter of business, and when | entered
he asked:
well, what progress in your search?"
81 can find no such street here, SIR
VERY well; l give you min more days
in which to make sure"
spent the nine days in fishing and
sailing, and we went from Portland to
Augusta. We put in six days there, and
then went to Montgomery, VT. Wetook
each state in rotation, visiting every
city above 1000 population in each
state, and by the time we were through
with the state of New York the first
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 l ventured to address him to
inquire if he had been hurt, he looked
at me with n cold stare and replied:
Dem it, sir, you must have mistaken
me for some one elsel'
We were well along in the second year,
and were in Wilmington, Del, when l
met an old friend from the west and told
him what a w~ildgoose chase 1 was on.
He looked at the diagram for a few
minutes and then said:
You'll strike this in Cincinnati. 1
could guide you to the exact spot"
He went fishing INTO his baggage and
found an old map of Cincinnati. and in
The fact has been ~abundantly proven