, 1892-03-11

from a trip to Polk county, and noticed
quite a handsome woman at breakfast
She wore some elegant diamonds, and l
looked at them closely enough to see that
they were genuine, for | have a taste for
gems and think | know something Of them
IL seemed to me that had seen her before
somewhere, but | couldn't locate her. !
asked Charlie who she was, but he said he
didn't know; that she had registered from
New Orleans, and appeared to have plenty
of money and was waiting for her husband.
81 was out on another trip next day and
didn't get back for a week. When / re-
turned ] found a most decided sensation
on hand. Charlie Mack WIS in Jail on a
charge of having stolen this Mrs. Wilson's
iewelry. Having been very friendly with
Charlie, | went to see him and he told me
what he claimed was the whole truth. 1t
seems the woman had made some advances
which he had not met-he was devoted to
his wife, a lovely little woman-and n few
days after complaint had been made
against him and a search warrant secured.
When the officers came to his room and
demanded the key to his trunk he was 80
indignant that he refused to let them open
II. They did so, however, forcibly, N
Mrs. Wilson gave n scream of delight as
she Jaw her diamonds in the bottom.
THE officers refused to let the woman
nNtH Wv ktAAAR oah Sh%eAAA. AANAA N1tAA
selves, and when Charlie recovered himself
sufficiently to go with them he found in
his pocket n note reading; Raise $1,000
within twenty four hours Prosecution
will be dropped In his anger and indig-
nation he foolishly displayed the note, ac-
cused her OF having written 1t and gave
her an opportunity of showing her own
writing, which was entirely different, and
OF bringing n counter accusation against
liz, % la,4,, ,sVta, NN Lsn,aalf n,I te
did look more like his writing than hers.
''Well, this was the situation. 1t looked
bad and the preliminary trial was only
twenty-four hours of. went to the officers
to get a look at the jewels, but was refused.
As i was leaving one Of them dropped the
Information that the prosecuting attorney
had them, and going to him | was enabled
to look at them. | had examined the
woman's diamonds pretty closely. especial
ly a handsome cross. l knew it was gen.
uine, but there was n flaw In the second
gem from the top which ! wanted to see
closer. To MY amazement every stone was
perfect and every one paste.
1T was evident to me at once that she
had put an imitation lot of jewels into
CharliS's trunk. 1t was equally evident,
however, that it would be difficult to prove
she had two sets. | at once told my sus-
picions to the prosecuting attorney, N
we went to the two or three jewellers in
town to see il she had been to any OF them.
At the last place we visited she had taken
her cross to ave the pin fixed, and this
jeweler bore me out in my assertion that
the diamonds she wore were genuine, but
that this lot held by the officials was not.
w went quietly back to the court house
and secured a warrant and sent the officer
10 arrest her, when we found the bird had
flown. She had had me Swallowed, and
getting uneasy had left. The driver got
back with his team in about a week and
said he had taken her to Rolla, where she
TOOK the train for st. Louis. 1t was then !
remembered where ! had seen her before.
1t was In Saratoga, as the companion Of a
well known sport. In 1853"
What about the hotel clerki" asked one.
"Of course he was released" was the re-
ply, but she had managed 70 ruin him
after all With devilish ingenuity she
wrote him a letter and sent 1t TO his wife,
In which she said she would accept the
money he inclosed her and would go away,
so as not to prosecute him. She upbraided
him for robbing her after the happy even
ings they had spent. and closed with q
highly moral lecture, in which she urged
him to henceforth be true to his wife.
His wife believed the contents OF the
letter. she refused to see him at all; he
got drunk and lost his position; she
brought suit for divorce and he left the
country. The last time / ever saw him
was in the French market of New Orleans,
where he begged me for a quarter"
d l ever hear of herr met her last
year in San Francisco. She is the wife OF
one of the wealthiest and best customers
my house has out there. She is an elegant
entertainer, and as perfect a hostess as |
ever saw. | met her ut one OF her dinners
to which | had been invited by her hus-
band. and she took pains to inform me thas
she was born on the Pacific slope and had
never been east of the Rocky mountains"
HARRY w. C~ocKER.LL