The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-11-26

porters, and the suicide theory was strongly
missing man was a Very reticent, mysteri-
Gus fellow. and even his wife and daughter,
his only family. knew absolutely nothing OF
circumstances. IL was found that all he left
his family was an insurance policy for a
large, amount. This seemed to confirm the
applied for payment of the insurance the
companies started an investigation.
One of the first things they learned was
away from home for the past five years.
Even his wife never knew where he was
CHARACTER ansa aHSe of his an' business nas n s.a n9s S vepy few
friends and acquaintances Of the missing
man who could be found knew nothing OF
as a retired merchant. He belonged to no
clubs or lodges. and had no intimate friends
positive m proof wo Of Suicide sTnfd ana Snt There ise cC wnS nV
contested payment Of the insurance policy
IN the hope that something In their favor
the matter stood, when I one day ran
across my friend Stallworth. Almost his
nrst question was to ask what / thought of
the disappearance OF the man from the
Fall River boat.
A BEAUTIFUL CASE.
Il told him that | had paid little atten-
ton to the matter.
Why that is a wonderful case,' he ex-
claimed. with more animation than usual.
~ have been studying that very closely.
1t is a splendid mystery; no evidence at all
of bungling. so far. The insurance company
~ill have to pay the money unless they can
produce the man alive.
Il told him that I failed to see anything
remarkable In the case. as men had disap-
peared I'm that way before. some commit
ting suicide perhaps. others falling over
board by accluent. and still others having
escaped from the boat without detection.
XIII In h ~ oa.o rox- .-~.- II
ways FOUND, he replied.
We'll. this man will be found if alive l
.Neter.' Stal.worth exclaimed with en-
hasis. This man planned too well. All the
PROOF that he went on the boat, was seen
Iate at night. and did not leave the vessel
Wnen she landed was we'll supplied. The
man has vanished. The mystery is COM
plete."
The manner of the man surprised me. /
had never before seen him so emphatic, but
concluded that 1t was due to the fact that
this affair seemed to come up to his idea
of a complete and perfect mystery.
"A month passed before l saw S~tailworth
again. One day l was assigned to a case Of
mysterious disappearance. and ] turned TO
him for assistance, knowing that he would
thoroughly enjoy the work.
"A woman from Brooklyn came to head
quarters and reported the disappearance or
her husband. He had been gone for three
months, and she had been unable to find
any trace of him with the aid of private
detectives. She did not want the matter
made pubic. but wanted the police to aid
her In the search as best they could.
The story told by the woman was so re-
markable that We first investigated TO find
II IL was true. She was a woman past fifty,
and was a widow five years before, when
she met a man who gave the name of Ed
ward James. He represented himself as d
lawyer i'm practice in this city, but OF his
family or his past history the woman knew
nothing. She did not know his address OF
the names of any of his friends. As she
confessed herself. the man exercised some
strange influence over her, and she ac>
cepted all his statements without question.
They were married within two months
of their first meeting. and had lived very
happily together, although the husband was
even more of a mystery after marriage than
before.
He would frequently remain away from
home for days at a time, telling his wife
that he was absent on business, but never
her, not even for a walk in the street, tell
ing her that he cared for no society ex-
cept her own
THE woman was quite wealthy when she
married James, and she gave him money
whenever he asked for 1t. He had induced
her to give him large sums to invest, as he
said, and told her afterward that the money
had been lost in bad Investments.
"She accepted all he said and did without
question. and the result was that he got
possession of all her money. L learned that
on the day he left home she had given him
$4,000 in cash, which he said ne wanted for
"A safe and sure speculation. With this mon
ey he came over TO the city. and that was
the last she had seen or heard of him.
Il told the woman frankly that l thought
she had been deceived and robbed by a
clever swfhdler, and that she would never
see the man again. She would not believe
this and / promised TO do what I could 10
find him.. / had the woman give me an ac-
curate description of the man, and ! was
startled by tine likeness TO my friend Stall
worth, although, according to her account,
her husband was a younger man by ten
years than the amateur detective.
REVEALED BY DEATH.
There was little chance Of finding any
trace of the fellow. / thought, but next day
1 called on Stallworth and gave him an out
line of the case. emitting the name.
Splendid. Splendid he exclaimed. rub
bling his hands in glee when i had finished.
Very clever fellow, evidently. but If he has
bungled the job anywhere we will find him..
What is his name"
she knew him by the name of Edward
James / replied slowly, looking Stallworth
straight in the eyes.
James. James. Edward James. Seems
10 me l have heard the name somewhere
he replied, never swerving in his gaze nor
showing the slightest trace OF surprise.
Up TO that moment i had a theory. l
need not say what IL was. but the manner
of my friend convinced me that / was
wrong. The double eyes o. the man were
looking straight into mine, one pair of them,
while the others seemed TO look into space
beyond me without a quaver. i thought at
the time that II my theory were right and
the man was acting, he was the greatest
actor living.
my vague suspicion that this man STALL
worth would one day commit a crime Of
some mysterious character had never left
me w TO that day, but his manner at the
time / told him of the disappearance of
Edward James came very near TO convince
ing me that / had done him a great wrong.
I'VE talked over the case for some time,
and he suggested various lines OF inquiry.
One of his suggestions was that a man OF
the character described would likely specu-
late in Wall street In a small way and
that there we might find some trace of him.
He closed his desk and said that he
would go with me to some brokers with
whom he was acquainted and see IL we
1t was a cold winter day and the streets
were covered with ice. We were crossing
Broadway directly in front of a truck when
Stallworth slipped and fell. Before the
driver of the truck could pull up his horses
they were upon the PROSTATE man and a
heavy iron-shod hoof struck him in the
head. breaking his skull.
ii saw at once that the man was fatally
injured. He was still conscious. however.
and while waiting for an ambulance l
asked him for the address of his family.
have none he answered slowly. while
a grim smile played over his pale face.
is there anything ] can do for you-any
message / can deliver i asked.
He shook his head and was silent for a
moment. Suddenly ne looked at me with
that strange expression like two pair OF
eyes I'm one. and said, This last case of
yours Is a good one. | don't believe you will
find the man you are looking for. Sorry i
cannot work with you ON the case. There
may be a blunder somewhere. but | think
not. II seems 10 be a complete mystery