Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-10-10

| now understood the relationship be-
tween the two servants, aud why each
thought the other incapable of stealing.
nlso saw u motive for William wanting
! the money that the earrings might
bring MIN, end felt that it would be
d:llicnit to either recover the dia-
mouds or discover evidence enough to
convict the thief.
The first thing was to put an assist
ant on the track of William, and to
pump the pawn-shop' He might have
visited one on his way to my office. L
told Mrs.. Harris that would return by
car, and that she might expect soon to
see me again
William showed me to tho door.
After he had closed it behind me I
stood a moment on the step, and glanced
at the front of the house. As did so
I caught sight of woman's head at q
window in the house next door. When
she saw me looking toward her she
spraug back and closed the blind. L
must have frightened her.
I rang the bell at Mrs. Harris door,
and surprised William by my sudden
return. asked for Mrs. Harris, and
inquired of her how the door had been
locked the night before
ut was only on the night LATCH" she
said. "Mr. Harris is out of the city,
and / thought he might return, and 1
left the door so that he could get ill.,"
At my request Mrs. Harris gave me
the night-latch key, and again I left
the house. 1 looked at the win
dows OF the next house,
and saw no one. Then,
stepping to the front loor, I inserted
the Harris-house key, and was able to
open the door with it. knew that
the key of that lock would open Mrs.
Harris door. The key was put in my
pocket, aud ] rang the door bell. Then
I heard slight noise inside, as though
something had fallen to the floor. The
door was opened by the same woman
who had been at the window. I walked
III. On the floor was silver plated
card-receiver and number of cards.
The girl had evidently thrown it from
the table near by.
1 Inquired for the lady of the house.
and said that I would take 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 I suppose she
thought that could wait. I wanted
her to know who was.
The minutes began to pile, and I
amused myself by reading the names on
the cards scattered about the floor and
on steel-wire mat that was just inside
of the front door. I 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, aud picked it up. AS I
raised it I dropped to my knees, for
near it, in the meshes of the mat, was
one of Mrs. Harris diamond earrings.
It was no sooner in my vest pocket
than the lady of the house descended
the stairs.
1 told her of Mrs. Harris loss--the
fact of which she had heard before
through the servants. She proved to
be quite talkatiye, and answered all of
my questions, and, at my suggestion,
she sent for the woman who had adj
4A1VtCA AC W UE0 uCllSOs a0r name
was Margaret Newell.
Margaret was also ready with inform
alton, and, in the course of her remarks,
she informed me that "the Harris help
was thieving set. I made up my
mind that l would learn something
more Of Margaret.
After expressing my thanks for the
info. nation I left the house. and. walk.
ing to Broadway, entered south
bound car, which soon took me to my
Office. When had removed my boots,
which were wet from the snow, and
placed them under the wash-stand, in
the place of q dry pair, Isent for Wal
ter Savage. Waiter is the smartest
young man that ever had in nv en-.
pioy.
l soon acquainted him with all the
facts that I 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.
A week passed, and Walter said moth
ing to me about tho case. Twas little
surprised, for knew he would come
w aug anu AolSoIt auy lew O0V0lOp.
ments, and ask my advice before taking
any action. In the meantime Mrs.
Harris was kept inignorance of the fact
that had one Of the diamonds.
ltwas about eight days after my visit
to the Harris house-and just such an
other day-when jumped from car
in front of my Office, landed in pool OF
siush, and entered my room with wet
feet, as Walter was about leaving. He
turned back.
sThere is nothing in it," he said.
in what?" asked.
I'm your theory about the Harris dia-
mond case," he said.
sDo you think I am wrong?" I 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
told you?" I asked.
NO." he said, "there is no accounting
for the diamond you found i'll the hall
or for anything else in the case. Lam
onfiro11, l,oo&