The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-01-24
NY FIRST CASE.
BY AN ENGLISH DETECTIVE.

Yes. sir, I call it my first case, be-
cause it was the first of any Importance
in which I was engaged, and because,
thanks to the happy chance of which I
going to tell you, it gave me a start
III my career which I have never lost.
It was one morning several winters
ago when a diamond merchant who had
reported q loss of diamonds worth $780,
900. Further than that the house was
in Soho, I need not give any particulars
of this gentleman's name or address.
/ was then very young to be entrusted
with so important q case, but we We're
busy at the time, and my chief was kind
enough to express his faith in my
ability.
I had not been ten minutes in the
house before I saw that I had before me
a task of no little difficulty. The room
in which I stood was oblong in shape.
One end was occupied by a large win
dow looking on the street. Standing
with your back to the window, on the
right hand side, was q fireplace. on the
left the door; between them stood a
large square table; above which was
the chandelier with four OF five lights.
Against the right hand wall some little
distance from the fireplace stood alarge
safe facing into the room. Save one or
two chairs there was no other furniture
in the reem.-Itw was from the safe that
the diamonds in question had been
stolen. But there was the puzzle-the
safe had been drilled open, work which
must have taken at least an hour and n
half, and the room remained all night
with the blinds drawn up and the gas
lighted, in full view Of the passers-by
in the street and of the policeman on
the beat, who passed every half hour.
There were two keys of the safe-one
in the possession of Mr. and the
other belonging to his son. The custom
was that the old gentleman left the
office first and went home to his place
at Dulwich, the two clerks, left at 6
O'clock, and the son was usually the
last to leave, locking the safe and see
ing that all was left in security. The
other rooms in the house were let out as
Offices, but all the tenants left before s
o'clock, and when Mr.--'s office was
locked up the only occupants of the
house We're the %caretaker and his wife,
who lived in the attic.
The robbery had been discovered by
Mr.. - OF his arrival first at. the Of
flee on the morning in question. He
had been followed by his clerks and his
son in the order named, and [ found all
four present when I reached the house.
On making inquiries I found that Mr..
himself had locked the safe on the
previous evening. The clerks had
gone us usual at 6, and Mr.. -, hay
ing had to remain later than usual, saw
everything clear before his departure.
Heand his son left together, the father
going home and the son going to dine
with a friend, with whom he went to
the theater and at whose house he
slept. The housekeeper had swept
and cleaned the Offices as usual and had
finished work by 8 o'clock, at which
hour she and her husband went up
stairs to their own rooms at the top of
the house. They did not come down
again that night and heard no noise.
felt little difficulty as to the en-
trance or exit of the thief. He might
have entered the house at any time on
the previous afternoon and, rs there
was more than one unoccupied room in
the house, have lain perdu till it was
time to commence operations; and, as ]
found q window at the back of the
house unfastened, I concluded he had
made good his escape through the yard
and by way of q low wall into an adj
joining court. But how had he been
able to work so long without attracting
attention from any one? The street was
not a busy th%oroughfare, but there must
have been some wayfarers, despite the
fact that the night had been an inclem-
ent one, and, as 1 have said, a police
man passed every half hour. I made a
careful inspection of the room, but
found nothing q Y q broken piece OF
amber from the mouthpiece of a pipe.
On looking at the walls I noticed at op-
posite sides of the room, high up near
the cornice, two marks, as though nails
had been torn outsof the plaster, but
on pointing these out to Mr.. - he
could give me no information. He had
never noticed them before, but they
might be old marks for all he knew.
then proceeded to make inquiries
first as to the whereabouts of the clerks
on the night in question. Mr.. - had
told ME he had no suspicious as to their
integrity, but, of course it was my bust.
ness to make sure, and / found they
We're able to account fortheir time quite
satisfactorily. The policeman who had
been IN duty could not help me. He
had passed each haif.hour but had seer
nothing suspicious. A number of per.
sons had passed up and down the street
but he had only recognized one man, Q
chemist, who lived on an adjoining
street. Applications to this gentleman
ELECTED nothing further. Ha had passed
down the street between 10 and i
on his way home and had looked at the
lighted window as usual but there wa.
certainly no one in the window then.
returned to headquarters to make my
a.eara and directed tina