The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1898-01-21
" MISS JUDSON."

Just before the big steamer, bound
| from London to Bombay, was ready to
begin her voyage, three detectives and
an inspector came aboard and created
no little excitement among the passen-
gers in their search for slick criminal
| named George Lacy. Lacy was q
| forger, counterfeiter, and all-around
swindler and was wanted on a dozen
different charges. The steamer was
held for an hour while they examined
large number Of passengers. There
was good deal Of talk, of course, and
Is out OF 20 of the passengers, first and
second class, were secretly glad that
the criminal had not been overhauled.
So long as he had swindled none Of us,
we could forgive him for swindling 9TH
ers.
AS soon as we set eyes on Miss Jud-
son. who was seasick and kept to her
stateroom for the first three or four
days, we instinctively felt that she
would be the belle Of the ship. She was
fairly good looking, OF excellent figure,
knew how to dress and was witty and
magnetic. Before breakfast was over
all the single men and half the married
ones were determined to get an intro
duction as soon as possible None of
the women liked her. They began to
snub her almost at once, and that evil
IDENTIFY pleased her, as it gave her an
excuse for avoiding their society. When
Miss Judson got fairly started on her
course she lost no time. She picked
md nn11rH ,ha, L.
"Judson crowd" numbered about Is
men.
Twelve Of these were young men or
wldowers, while the remainder were
married men whose better halves were
in England or India. While the crowd
was not composed of the highest men
tai talent on the ship, 1t was the money
crowd, though no one figured on this
until later. Miss Judson was the only
child OF widower out in India who be-
longed to the civil service, and she was
going out to visit him
When the ship had been out about a
week Miss Judson inausurated cards 10
while away the spare hours. She gave
out at the start that she never played
unless there were cash stakes TO make
the game interesting. AS there were
people aboard who might be shocked at
the sight Of money on the board slips
or paper were used as a substitute and
few outside Of the players knew what
was up. 1t was matter Of surprise TO
every one who knew Miss Judson that
she was SO adept with the pasteboards
and was attended by such good for
tune. There was considerable jealousy
among her coterie and she took adyan-
tage OF every occasion to fan The
name. This prevented anything like
coincidence between the men and no one
mourned his losses to another. She
handled the cards like the slickest gam
bier and her run Of luck was phenome-
nal. On two or three occasions she
manipulated the cards in such a man
ner that had she been man l should
have called her down, but as 1t was l
had to give her the benefit Of the doubt
and keep silence.
When Miss Judson had won $3.50 from
me l cashed the slips and went out of
the game. She had no further use for
me. When tried to bask in her smiles.
as usual, the smiles were not at home
to me. She had confded to me that she
found me congenial, but there seemed
to be some mistake about that after I
had decided not to lose any more
money.
The next victim was the son of an
English manufacturer, who was going
out to India to invent new WAYS of
spending his fathers surplus cash. It
was said that he had $4,000 in the
pursers safe. That was when he began
playing cards with Miss Judson How
much he had left after he got through
no one could say, but that she had got
at least half of it was common talk. and
he himself went so far as to declare
that he had been sharped. In tho
course of three weeks the ''Judson
crowd was dissolved One after an
other was cleaned out OF his spare cash
and withdrew, and Miss Judson was
certainly several thousand dollars to
the good. Nobody was willing to ad-
NIT his exact loss. Indeed, nearly ey-
cry man lied about and denied any loss
at all, but at the same time each loser
knew that the other loser lied. There
was no card playing for fun, and soon
after 1t had ceased we were treated to
drst was the disappearance Of sveral
diamond rings and a bracelet which
had been left on the piano by a player.
They had disappeared in broad day
light, with people sitting or moving
about, and as the value was conside-a-
Die, the sensation was equal. The car
tain hushed matters up by suggesting
that one OF the servants was the thief
and that the plumber would soon be
discovered. Three days later mar
ried woman had a sensational COM
plant to make. During her temporary
absence from her stateroom someone
had entered 1t and stolen E100 in cash.
gold watch and a costly breastpin.
Her stateroom was only two doors be-
low mine. and In leaving my room at
3 o'clock In the afternoon l caught a
glimpse OF some one entering hers. |
Just got sight Ct skirt but | was sure
In my own mind that 1t was one | had
seen Miss Judson wear
1t was natural to at FIRST suspect the
servants, and the captain had them he
fore hin In succession and tried his
best to fix the guilt. While this was
going on the mate and stewardess were
searching quarters and baggage, but 40
admission was made by any of The
questioned, nor could any trace of the
plumber be found. l felt sure I could
give good guess as to who it was. but
guessing and Declaring are two differ