The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-27
THE SHIPS THIEF.

Mrs. Melhurst's compliments, sir, ant
would you please come down to her state
room immediately"
I had Just shut myself into my littlt
Office on deck, having run through thu
ships accounts before turning In thai
night. 1t Is quite q mistake, by the way
to think that we pursers have no more
onerous duties to perform when at sea
than to watch over the passengers com
fort, read prayers on Sunday and keep q
store of nautical information at our finger
ends for the benefit of every curious voy.
ager. Nowadays the purser Of crack
American liner-making perhaps record
passage Of Elk days or so-has his work
pretty well out out for him during the en-
tire voyage.
On the present occasion I had scarcely
got my accounts fairly In hand when !
I arose at once and opened 1t, and there
stood Mrs. Melhurst's Canadian maid,
with flushed faoe and nervous, agitated
l manner.
SIS there anything wronga" asked,
with some surprise, when she had deliv-
cred her message.
"There lie. SIR" she replied hastily.
"All know''-
She was about to make some other state.
ment, but pulled herself up suddenly and
tripped along the deck without another
word.
Iswitohed of the electric light, locked
the door and hurried away after her. When
got to Mrs. Melhurst's stateroom, ! saw
at once that something had occurred to
cause her serious anxiety. The berth, the
couch, and even the floors were Uttered
with the contents Of cabin trunks and
hand bags In the midst of tho confusion
stood the lady herself, looking decidedly
perplexed and annoyed
"This is very singular, Mr.. Morse" she
said. pointing to an empty jewel case
which lay open on the upper berth. "My
diamond ornaments are missing"
"You don't say sol'' l exclaimed in
sheer establishment.
II do say So" she replied sharply. "You
can see for yourself that they are gone"
"How did 1t happen2"
~ cannot possibly tell you. At dinner
this evening I happened to mention to
Mrs. Latimer that had picked up a GER
tain crescent shaped brooch on the conti-
mont. She expressed wish to see It, When
the tables were cleared, came In here
took out the brooch and left tho jewel case
lying on the berth, but when got back
tho Case was empty"
"How long were you ABSENT"
mot more than half m hour"
"You are sure you had the key of your
cabin in your possession all the timer"
positive. ! never let 1t out Of my
hnpl yyhila T in the sp1non ~
was totally staggered. examined the
lock carefully, but there was absolutely
nothing to show that 1t had been tam
perod with / could hit upon no better
suggestion than that Mrs Melhurst might
possibly have mislaid the jewels some
where. This had the sole effect Of exas-
perating the lady to such degree, for 1t
seems that she had already searched every
nook ard corner in the cabin, that was
glad to beat retreat In order to lay the
matter before the captain.
had just got to the head of the saloon
stairs when heard some one bounding up
after me three or four steps at time. I
turned and saw Mr.. Carter, who, by the
way, had made several voyages with us on
previous occasions
II say, Mr.. Morse" he said, taking mo
oonfdentially by the arm, you've got
some queer customers on board this trip"
"How so9"
why, some ones gone and walked of
with my silver cigarette case, couple Of
rings and pair of gold'-
"Tell INC exactly what has happened"
"My dear fellow, how can ~ It is
enough to puzzle q Philadelphia lawyer.
You sec, went to my stateroom after din.
ner-I can swear to that-and remember
slnging my cigarette case, rings and
pair Of gold sleeve links on the upper berth.
Thon Iput ON my dressing gown, stretched
myself upon tho couch and had down.
right good snoozo. When got up about
five minutes ago, found my trlnkets had
vanished"
'Pon my word things were beginning to
look serious and no mistake lost no
time in hunting up the captain and made
him acquainted with tho state of affairs.
Ho was just as much puzzled as was my
self. The first thing next morning he
sent a message to Mrs. Melhurst, request
ing a private interview In his cabin on
deck. Flo also signifled his wish that |
should be present. We both questioned
the lady closely, but her replies did not
tend to throw any light upon the singular
occurrence.
Nevertheless we determined to keep
close watch upon the stateroom In future
1t was pretty evident wo had q "blaok
sheep" on board--probably an old hand at
the business. For tho next few days we
had no further complaints. The thief was
evidently lying low" waiting until tran
quillity was restored before making fresh
attempt. Meanwhile kept my eyes open.
/ observed the little peculiarities Of tho
different passengers, and took particular
note Of the manner In which they occupied
their time.
We happened to have a passenger on
board-a Brazilian named De Castro
who was q bit Of mystery to me all
through the voyage. But for the fact TINT
had conclusive evidence to show he could
not have been directly concerned in the
for inquiries proved he had re-.
manned on deck the whole evening, he GER
tainly would have been treated to pri-
vate interview in the captains cabin. As
It was, was forced to conclude that black
hair, swarthy complexion, SLOUGH hat and
cloak were quite compatible with mans
innocence.
Nothing further occurred to excite sus.
picion until the last day or two of the voy-
age. Then, one evening after dinner,
word was brought to me that three other
'taterooms had been rifed in the same
mysterious manner. Watches, jewelry,
md even money had disappeared, though
n all three oases the passengers stoutly
declared they had left their doors looked.
When the alarm reached me, happened