The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-16
THE ACE OF SPADES

blown up with dynamite. I shook with ex-
element. 1t was as plain as daylight.
when the curtain of night dropped like, a
stormeloud over the palpitating city Ia rather
fine phrase) it found me concealed in the
shrubbery of Colonel Lewis garden in Car
don Street
Determined not to be anticipated I had
reached the rendezvous much earlier than
was necessary. so I had plenty of time to
work out my schemes
They will climb that WALL" soliloquized
"They will walk along this fiowerbed, so as
doubt the first start will be made that
French window I will let them go on. The
great thing is to catch them in the act. Their
object is not plunder; they will burst open
the window and go straight upstairs with
Nemesis on their track.
Then" I continued: comes the reward IF
valor-the wreath Of Iaures; the columns in
the newspapers: the universal admiration of
my .countrymen: shall be the idol 81 Eng
land. the lion of the age. / shall"
Something or somebody gripped me sud-
denly by the back of the neck. Somebody else
put his hand over my mouth. and the two
together threw me on my back with unnec-
essary violence.
For a moment ] was stunned. When my
senses returned and opened my eyes could
Just discern the sinister features Of my friend
the villain. who was kneeling spitefully on
my chest. The other man was there, too. He
was holding me by the hair
"Do you know him, Simpson," said one.
mo; have never seen him before, that
Lean recollect."
Seems a sleepy sort for one of Jake's
gang"
A light broke upon me- Gentlemen" I
said: "are you-
am sorry to say these few words caused
me still more humiliation. They literally
jumped on me. and finished UP by ramming
two handkerchiefs into my mouth.
What surprised me most and partly con-
firmed my suspicious, was that one OF them
produced pair of handouts. with which he
decorated my wrists. Having completed this
little program. they both sat on me with the
coolest cheek you can imagine.
After listening to their conversation for a
quarter Of an hour without being able to join
in. came to the conclusion that bad COM
mitted an egregious error. From their re-
marks gathered that the two persons whom
I had the honor of supporting. were not Black
Jake and New Sawyer, but detectives from
Scotland Yard.
tried to make them understand that 1
wished to explain things, but they smiled in
a most provoking manner. and were not at
all kind to me. I tried to think. but my brain
was in a whirl and before I had succeeded
in uueting it the excitement of the evening
commenced
A stealthy tread was heard: slight rustic
Of the grass which 7 should hardly have
noticed myself. Two dark forms crept along
in the shadows of the wall. They made for
the French window and silently set to work.
Two minutes later a pane of glass had been
neatly cut out and deposited on the ground;
One minute after that Black Jake and Ned
Sawyer were surprised to find themselves
looking stupidity down the muzzles Of two re-
volvers of extremely murderous appearance.
mo nonsense. Jake" said my friend of the
morning lyon are fairly bowled out this
time my lad. The house is surrounded and
I have a dozen men within CALL"
I managed to get out of it, although cir
cumstances looked so black against me. De-
hi rsefo,
ticed me following them. They informed the
magistrate that was more of a, fool than
rogue: which opinion my employer who
was called to give evidence as to my char
acter. heartily confirmed.
After this incident I tried many different
trades and professions. in order to find the
one for which most suited, but with
out success.