River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1898-01-13

| ing the ADVANCE OF 800 before leav-
| ing Vienna. and actually before he had
obtained possession of the secret he
was purchasing. the baron stipulated
that Jack should, under pretense Of
caring for their comfort on the journey,
hand TO the devoted messenger after he
was finally in the train a flask Of
druggcd brandy.
The whole scheme worked without
a hitch. The messenger was unshs-
picious. and partook freely of the
drugged brandy. so that the baron was
enabled without difficulty to obtain
possession of the dispatch. The infor-
nation contained in il was duly tele-
graphed from Brussels, in cipher pre-
sumo, and Jack received his 1900,
with which it is 10 be hoped he paid
some of his debts"
"And was il ever discovered" | asked.
chow much your interesting friend had
TO do with the massing OF Russian
army on the frontier at that time? Be
cause. as everyone knows. we did send
/ troops into Afghanistan.'
/ NO, il was not. For the simple rea
Z
lnassed The dispatch purchased SO
! dearly and abstracted so skillfully was
/ ono prepared by Jack himself for the
exclusive use of the Russian ministers.
! The information conveyed to them was
that Great Britain would not interfere
/ in Afghanistan, and before that infor-
nation was discovered to be false, I.
was too late TO act with effect. The
I part of the guileless and unsuspecting
4 queens messenger was, ] believe, played
| by an actor friend of Jacks who hap
pcned to be returning to London at the
! time, and who was told that his travel
! ing with the baron and delivering a
! packet in London was in connection
with a bet. So, as 10 confidence had
been betrayed, no one in official circles
/ here ever dreamed of the game our
| young dipIomatist had played on his
| own account. The Russian ministers,
/ | can we'll imagine, were extremely an
/ uoyed at having been swindled, but, of
course, they could not make any open
complaint.
/ For some time afterwards Jack was
rather ANXIOUS as to how the baron
might act, but as time passed and that
accomplished gentleman, who had sud
/ denly disappeared, made no sign, he
I gradually arrived at the conclusion that
! lis friend had been sent to rusticatc in
/ Siberia. In that belief he rested secure
until it was rudely dispelled the night
seven wears afterwards, when he was
| stabbed to death in Alexandria.
you will easily understand, under
i the circumstances. that 7 did not care
( to reveal the identity Of the man | had
4 shot. and as no one else ever did so, the
authorities were quite unable TO dis
/ cover his antecedents, and the affair re-
mains a mystery to this day. How
Mirabel spent the time between pur-
chasing the treaty and our meeting
with him seven years later, thought it
/ best not to try to discover, and whether
he was in Alexandria in pursuit of a
| long and deliberately thought
| out plan of vengeance on the man who
/ had ruined him, or whether his meeting
/ with Jack was accidental, and the muir
der the result of a sudden impulse, will
probably never be known"
~ very interesting story that, Trav-
erS," | remarked, as we drew on our
overcoats preparatory to turning out.
Mice young man your friend must have
been"
Wasn't he?' replied TraNers in
tone of sorrowful admiration. What
diplomatist he would have made
| St. Louis Globe Democrat.