Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-02-16
A NICE LITTLE TRAP.

A NICE LITTLE TRAP.
A great forgery had been committed,
whereby bank was robbed of 10000
pounds; the culprit succeeded in get
ting safely out of England, and es-
capped to the Argentine Republic, where
there was no extradition treaty. He
was believed to have taken the whole
of the plunder with him, as his wife
who was narrowly watched-certainly
bad no portion of it, and no letters ad-
dressed to him had passed through the
postoffice; SO a private detective of
great reputation was employed by the
bank authorities to 60 out to the River
Platte, and endeavor either to recover
the money, or to lure the forger into
position where he might be captured.
This detective was an educated man,
and we'll fitted to carry out the role he
assumed-that of Major R., travelling
for his health, aud intending to pay q
short visit. to Buenos Ayres before
proceeding to Valparaiso and Peru.
Unlimited powers, official and unofi-
cial, were conferred on him he was
supplied with letters of introduction to
the leading people in the Republic;
and, of course, there was to be no
question of expense. Thus furnished,
he set out.
On arriving in Buenos Ayres, he dis
covered that this man had gone some
leagues up country. Following up
track, he found him living in apparent
great poverty, employed as shepherd
by an English estanciero, to whom the
would.be Major R. happened to have
letter of introduction. In this way,
he had no difficulty in making &C.
quaintances with his intended prey
gradually and casually, to avert sus-
picion. One day he asked him openly
whether his position in life had not
been very different from that in which
be found him, as his speech and man.
ners were. those of gentleman; and
after little hesitation, the shepherd
confessed that such was the case
presently telling a plausible tale of
misfortunes in business, etc. Profess
ing pity for him, the kind-hearted ma
jor lent him money, and took him back
into the city, where he entertained
him at one of the best hotels as his
guest, having mentioned to him con-
fidentially that he wished to invest q
considerable sum in land out there,
and promising to install him as man
ager of the estate. All this time the
thief was supposed to be carrying the
money hidden about his person; and
it was to devise some strategy for OBJ
saining this with certainty and safety
that the detective postponed the de-
nouement of the plot 80 long.
At length when he had excluded
every other possible place of conceal
ment, and seemed to have the mans
entire confidence, he went to the cap.
tain of the British man-of.war lying
there, and revealed himself in his own
character-for nobody till then had the
least inkling of the truth-and togeth-
er they arranged very nice little
trap. The officers of the gunboat
were to give grand picnic, followed
by dance on board and all the best
people in Buenos Ayres were invited
Major R. and his friend among the
rest. The "friend" was delighted at
the prospect, and drew largely on the
major for the wherewithal to present
beftting spendor of appearance on the
eventful day. AS they strolled down
to the wharf together arm in arm, you
may be sure that Major R.'s heart
beat high with the triumph already in
his grasp-one of the cleverest capt
ures ever planned by an emissary of
Scotland yard. Hiring hoat, they
soon arrived alongside the man.of-
war, where the poop was already
crowded with ladies.
"Jump up" said the major, as the
gangway ladder was lowered f; "we're
Just in time"
swell, no, Mr.. g." returned the
forger, calling the detective by his real
name. Idon't think I'll 60 on board
but I'll stay here in the boat and listen
to the music while you 20 up and
dance"
If the officer did not feel sold at that
moment, no man ever did. The best
of it was, the audacious robber had
not one penny of his booty with him,
and was much too wary to trust the
post. Both he and his wife-who
Joined him soon afterward-were oblig-
ed to work for their bread until the
arrival of their governess-who had
never been suspected of completely
with the whole sum. But how he
discovered his adversary was never
known.
By the way, this same detective is
said to have had another "sell' few
days later. He went on board the
mail steamer just come in from Brazil,
as he thought he might obtain an Eng
lish newspaper. If he got one, he
certainly had plenty of time to read it,
for the steamer happened to be in
quarantine, and he had to undergo the
horrors of seclusion at Ensenda for
three weeks