Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1899-03-09
by JOHN X. LEYs.


i Coulu take Ill the business Out Il PHI
waite and personal one? do not mind
confessing to you that l am a poor
man, and the loss OF my engagement
: through the abduction of the Prince
/ was a severe blow to me. Ten thou
sand pounds was to me a large sum;
and l conceived that would be help
| ing the cause of civilization and good
! government"
| What on earth is the man talking
about? 1t is true that l sent instruc-
| tons to England to the effect that as
much as ten thousand pounds-or al
NEST any sum-would be paid fer
trusty information as to the fate of the
victims of the Terror. But that was
long before you went back. never in
| structed amy one to deal with YOU
''rhen l have been grossly deceived!'
said. hotly. "rhe man offered me.
first one thousand pounds. and
! laughed at him. l value my life at a
! higher rate than that. Then he gratiu-
ally raised the terms to ten thousand
pounds. DO you dlsown these transac-
= lions? Do you mean that am not to
get the money!
'What proof have you Of all thisy'
! asked the officer. larshly.
Davis gave me q memorandum OF
the-ternls at the time" l said. as calm
/ ly 3S | could. II would not stir step
! without it, unless he put it in black
and white. If am not mistaken. YOU
! will find the note in the pocketbook
they took from me when l was arrest
, ed
The pocketbook was sent for The
note was found, and the chief of police
read it through carefully more than
once.
There is no engagement on your
part here" he said, frowning.
There was no need for my putting
an engagement in writing. for it was
understood that the money was only to
be paid it succeeded in getting the in
F., formation. If l learned nothing l was
to gain nothing"
| And now l was about to play a bold
| stroke-one that must either gain me
credit in De Noilleff'S eyes or iliscredit
me altogether. AS the chief sat with
his head on his hand, still studying the
memorandum Davis had given me,
continued:
at is a very easy matter to test the
/ truth of my story. Why not telegraph
to the Russian Embassy in London
and ask them whether they did not en-
gage Il man named Davis, and give
| him authority to offer as much as ten
thousand pounds for certain informa-
! ticn; and whether Davis did not re-
port that he had given me a memoran-
! dunn promising to pay that amount for
the information rendered.
| | was we'll aware that this was q
| dangerous suggestion. If the reply tel
egram from England contained any ac-
count of my behavior at Baileybrdge,
| it would be all up with me. But there
were several chances against this. In
| the first place, the trick 1 had played
on Davis did not exactly rebound to his
credit 1t was more than likely that
he had said nothing about it at the
| time and if 50, he would certainly not
| speak of it now. else it would be plain
that he had made a garbled report in
! the first instance. Besides, even if the
| secretary to the Russian ambassador
knew all the facts. it did not follow
! that he would recount them in an an
| swer to a telegram demanding instant
! information only on some specific
points. And. thirdly, even if the tele-
gram said that had given Davis the
| slip, or acted in a suspicious way. it
would support me on the main point Of
the genuineness of the memorandum;
and might be able to laugh off the in
cident at Baileybridge, or explain that
| it was necessary to get rid of the de-
tective if We're to do any good. AS l
| expected, M. de Noillef adopted my
suggestion. He said he would send a
telegram to London, and that would
/ be detained in custody until the reply
came.