The Bemidji pioneer., 1896-05-07
PUMPKIN And PRUNE. .
Fage OF Experience Frem an ES-
Detectives Note Book. s

/ led in d Well known, aud popular hotel
| N one cf cur large cities. These rob-
I beries We're. OF a very mysterious char
acter and batlled all ordinary devices
,or their detection That they We're
4 al the work Of one man, or set Of men,
4 was apparent from their similarity AS
/ descriptive of the two which preceded
1t, let me tell the story OF Mr.. and Mrs.
/ Pascal.
4 They registered in the hotel which
! may call the aGawnlor house. and Sc
lected room No. 10, on the second floor.
! which was also the apartment which
had been despoiled twice before. The4
4 were accompanied hy Miss .Iine.
Regis, Mrs. Pascal's niece she having
a communicating room, which fronted
i he street. The landlord cautioned the
guests to be careful of their valuables,
which, OF course, they promised to do
/ Mr.. Pascal, the day following their
4 arrival, having business to look after
4 in a neighboring town, left the ladies
Ito themselves. After late dinner
they came up stairs. and partly dis
1 robing, each retired to her own room, \
madame to nap and Miss Regis to read,
the door between the two rooms. how
ever, being opened wide and the ont
| side doors carefully lock ed and bolted.
1T was a o'clock when Mrs Pascal
/ aWoke from her sieSta and both ladies'
began to dress Miss Regis hid not
4 been asleep for a second, Il late novel
i having enchanted her attention. The
! madame, previous to lying down, had
i taken off and placed upon the dressing
/ stand her handsome diamonds. valued
Mt nearly $4,000. This article of furni
ture was but Il few feet away from the
/ bed and in full view from She couch in
nearly all positions. A person stand
ing or seated opposite the door Of the
{. other chamber had them in sight also.
! Mrs. Pascal, having robed herself in
/ another dress, sought her jewels, and
i after a few moments search the con-
i yiction was forced upon her that they
i had been stolen. Instantly she sum
moned the clerk, and he called in the
hotel proprietor. and a fuller inyesti-
i cation was made. but the diamonds
were nowhere to be found, nor could
the detective who had been employed
j by the hotel since the second opera
4 ton. and who remained in the house
MS a guest, give any solution Of the
matter. There was absolutely no cleW
i to-, the robher.
Yhe proprietor WAS almost at his
wits end, for well he knew that unless
this We're ferreted out his hotel would
soon become an Improbable concern.
Rejecting on the matter, he concluded
/. to apply to a well known detective
agency, and after his story had been
4 related my chief concluded to under
4 take the case and placed me in charge.
i with instructions to spare neither zeal.
4 nor money in discovering the thief. I
/ insisted upon the retention Of The hotel
i detective as Ia cover. h and stimulated
/ that he should ostensibly be iii charge.
4 Of the case. and that the proprietor
/ himself should maintain the secret and
not interfere in any way whatever UNI
less called upon by my chief
/ When sat down 10 think over the
matter | was struck by the exceeding
difficulty Of tile case. had no clew
upon which to work. and that a thief
should be able to effect an entrance
i into a bed chamber. with syide-awake
person in sight and hearing. staggered
my experience. i saw that had n
I most crafty person to deal with and
some entirely new trick to understand
The longer thought over it the more
puzzled became, for I knew Sam
j Pence, the hotel detective must lave
4 made a pretty thorough canvass of the
/ operation. examined the windows.
| closets and. doors, as well as been on
the alert for suspicious characters. He,
knew, was Il good enough man for
/ any ordinary business, but outside OF
that had no imagination or skill Clear
", this was a case for a most delicate
operation. But / made up my mind
rs to a course of action. and resolutely
followed it out with what result the
reader may learn a t the close of this
narrative.
The Pascal party left after weeks
sojourn and room No. 10 was vacant
for day. when q Mrs. De Lancy
Moore and her maid occupied it. Mrs
Moore was one of those ladies' who
| may be described in muSic-symbolism
rs f. f. &, or flair, fat and forty Ra-
ched, the maid, and All old maid at
that. might be catalogued as p. p. p,
| 81, patient, pale and prudish.'' Mad
anle Moore owned an +. f. +. voice, but
| Miss RaehePs was q planissimp
squeak. Poor Rachel was ir complete
| subsection to her mistress and walked
behind her in the softest, mcekest pos
| sii5ie manner.
! They We're not many days In the
| hotel before Sam Pence displayed his
| wit in styling them Pumpkin and
! Prune. sam saw the gorgeous dis
| play Of diamonds, iewelry and many
solored silks which Madame Moore
wore. and in quiet way warned RAJ
| .hel of the danger Of leaving va1uabIes
| .arelessly around in their room. Poor
| Rachel hardly vouchsafed an answer
to his impudence, but all ut once it
/ struck upon his benighted intellect
hat it would be a good thing to show
4 her some little attention and secure
her cooperation in the watch for the
| thief. Acting upon that suggestion he
became quite gallant; and while Ra-
1 .hel appeared very coy and exceed
| ngly meek, Sam concluded to trust
her. should be find an opportunity to
nave an uninterrupted talk.
/ MGlame Moore came up stairs on a
tai NEndrncJay 70 fII,, IA Ia yi,,s, NTH,