The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1896-01-03

'The deuce!~
wen, IL looks uncommonly like as
| II the individual you refer to had n
| hand IN the business, for / don't see
how any ordinary mortal could get into
ones cabin, with the door bolted ON
'he inside, unless he managed 20
squeeze through the portfolio"
Iell me exactly how it happened"
My dear fellow, how can /? Its
enough to puzzle a Philadelphia law
yer! You see, L went to my stateroom
after dinner-I can swear to that-and
l remember singing my cigarette case.
rings and pair of gold sleeve links on
the upper berth. Then l put on my
dressing gown. stretched myself upon
the couch and had downright good
snooze. When got up, about five min
utes ago, L found my trinkets had van
| ished."
'Pon my word, things were beginning
| to look serious and no mistake! | lost
no tine In hunting up the captain and
made him acquainted with the state, of
affairs. He was just as much puzzled
as l was myself. The first thing next
| morning he sent message to Mrs. Mel
hurst, requesting private interview in
his cabin on deck. He also signified his
wish that should be present. We both
questioned the lady closely, but her re-
plies did not tend to throw any light
upon the singular occurrence
Nevertheless, we determined to keen
a close watch upon the stateroom in fu-
ture. 1t was pretty evident we had
| BLACK sheep" on board-probably an
old hand at the business. For the next
few days we had no further complaints.
The thief was evidently Lying low"
waiting until tranquility was restored
! before making fresh attempt. Mean
while kept my eyes open. | observed
the little peculiarities of the different
passengers and took particular note of
the manner in which they occupied
| their time.
On board ship when you find a man
who shows marked preference lo1 his
own society above that of the loungers
on deck or habitues of the smoke
room one is inclined to jump at the
conclusion that he has some solid rea-
sons for his eXclusiveness. If, in addi-
tion to this, he happens to be of an M
communicative disposition, with black
hair and swarthy complexion, given TO
wearing slouch hat and long coat
| rightly or wrongly, you put him down
as decidedly suspicious character.
| Now, we happened to have passen-
] ger on board-a Brazilian named De
| Castro-who tailed in every way with
this description. But for the fact that
| | had conclusive evidence to show he
could not have been directly concerned
in the robberies-for inquiries proved
he had remained on deck the whole
evening-he certainly would have been
| treated to a private interview in the
| captains cabin. AS it was, was forced
| to conclude that black hair, swarthy
| complexion, slouch hat and cloak were
| quite compatible with a mans inno-
| cence.
Nothing further occurred to excite
| suspicion until the last day or two of
the voyage. Then, one evening after
| dinner, word was brought to me that
three other staterooms had been rified
| in the same mysterious manner.
Watches, jewelry and even money had
| disappeared, though in all three cases
the passengers stoutly declared they
had left their doors locked.
When the alarm reached me | hap
pened to be standing in my deck office.
I had in my hand 90 sovereigns, which
! had just taken in exchange for Ameri
l Sl,fe. zf
| passengers. | didn't wait to lock up
The gold; simply placed it on my desk,
switched off the light and hurried
away. / had no fear for the safety of
the sovereigns, my door having a par
| ticularly intricate lock, in which | took
good care to turn the key before leav-
ing.
| | remained below for an hour or so,
investigating these fresh complaints,
hut, as in the other cases, was utterly
unable to make head or tail of them.
| Vexed and bewildered, i went back to
my office, unlocked the door, turned on
the light, and mechanically stretched
out my hand to take the sovereigns
from the desk. My hand closed upon
nothing more solid than thin Army
little pile of gold had vanished!
For a moment or two | stood there
gazing blankly before me, SO utterly
confused and dismayed that | could
scarcely bring my wits to bear upon
the mysterious affair. Then | managed
to pull myself together, and took look
around my little cabin. In the course