Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1891-11-19
HIS s % CESS.


.t Man Throws Away His,
Greatest Chance.
~ threw away . great chance Of
,ssss and has been 9 happier man
VA since! 81
Ssere is no one but myself in Eng
s.,d now who knows exactly how it
Isnened, and as / was thinking over
|. 'ppn;eht-s omething in the papers
9hol,t 8 clever detective in New Y ork
sssnoht it all fresh back to my mind
u sasemed to me such q queer story
!. .s1,ooether that / think it will interest
sIhers to know it. 81 q.
Imust Just alter one or two Of the
,.mes. that's all, because it is not so
,sry long since it happened, and it
.sme out in one or two papers at the
Inc, hut all more or less wide Of the
maIk. None Of them had just the
tights of it.
Sou see, no one could make out how
iIlan got away SO easily-no one
Inows except my friend and I, and
Ana man over the seas. and not even
fhe cutest Yankee could ever guess
T. n { :
II II Is stranger than fiction, as you
iii find. But this is the story.
nut it short enough, for writing is
not in my line. ! can think things out
n nv head and turn them over and
over till there is not much left OF them
that has not been put through the
sieve, so to speak, but when it comes
to pen and ink Pm q poor hand. 1t
means sitting down indoors for hours,
and that am not used to. No, thank
heaven | can earn my bread by some
thing else, or very little bread would
come to me, and no chance OF butter
or cheese.
This is not my story at all; I mean,
mot about my own life. 1t is about q
friend of mine, George Markson.
II Itold you his real name, you
would probably remember it at once,
he was one of the best known detec-
tives of the time. Talk about five
senses, George had ten at least. He
could see round case and through a
!. man, and into your mind almost, and
tell you what you were thinking of,
better than you knew yourself.
And all so quiet-you would not
( think he saw much, but he had seen
everything at a glance and forgotten
/ nothing. [ have known him to look
into a room that he had never seen
before, and in the evening when we
we're sitting together, he would de-
scribe that room down to the makers
name on the clock, as infinitely as if
he were holding a picture Of it in his
hand at the time.
He worked on his own account, and
he had constant and well paid en-
ployment, since the day he tracked
the man who robbed the bank OF
Westminster; you may remember the
case-a daring daylight robbery.
He traced him after q long search
to Paris, and spotted him there as a
garcon in a cafe-a good disguise, too.
George was in Spain after that for a
long time. and then went to Cairo, so
did not see him for more than a
year. He came back with a reputa-
ton more brilliant than ever, and
settled down into the same rooms he
had shared with me before he left.
He was a middle aged man when I
knew him, and the severe mental
strain of his employment, together
with home troubles, made him seem
older than he was!
His wife, to whom he had been
much attached, had died many years
ago. His only son, too, had turned
out badly, got into debt (tl,e old story
of a weak will influenced by bad COM
panions), and then had emigrated to
the gold diggings and was believed to
have died there after a few more
wasted years of riot and dissipa-
ton.
His father had built many hopes
on his only son, and had carried
about an unhealed wound caused by
the bitter disappointment of all his
expectations.
At the time I am writing about, I
saw there was something more than
usual on Georges mind.
He never talked about what he
was engaged in, and took care never
to plague him with questions, but it
happened that a chum of mine, named
Miles, told me that George had missed
a good clue, and that another man,
named Smollett was beginning to
make a name, and was now bent on
outdoing George.
Once run to the earth some one
whom George had failed to trace, and
his reputation was secure.
10 outshine one of the best men
then at work was q high game to try
Tor, but Smollett was trying no
less.
Not long after I met Miles again in
Oxford street. He told me that Smo-
!lett had scored again, and that George
had missed a find he had made pretty
sure of.
l pooh poohed the whole thing.
Chance, all chance. Fine thing for
Smollett, more luck than good man
agement, no doubt" ] said, feeling
rather nettled, I own. b.
:, Wait a bit, you will see which is
the best man Of the two
Ill back SIN said Miles, but
remembered that George was my
friend, and said no more.
l came across Miles in very nearly
the same place next day. Heard the
n <<s.l u Il