The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-06-15

this morning placed that lovely mar
quise ring, which was given me by
the shah of Persia, on my dressing
table while I went into my boudoir
| for something or other. and when got
back the ring was gone! Gone. utterly
vanished. although | turned the place
upside down to find it. wouldn't have
lost it for worlds. either. There YVES
no one else in the room. Only n,rse't
and no one could have e-'-c~.' -
my knowledge. Oh, it worries me so;
it is all so mysterious
livery mysterious sympathetically
replied Mrs. itz-Blank. But what can
the police be about to allow such whole
sale robberies to be carried on? They
seem utterly helpless-or inefficient
and l certainly shall get Horatio to
speak of the matter the next time he is
in the house. He will soon have mat
ters put right
The London newspapers soon took
up the matter, and reporters and jour
nalists came down by the score; but
smart as some of them undoubtedly
are, they could throw no more light on
| the mystery than the local police had
done. But one reporter, smarter than
| the rest, by dint of diligeLt inquiry dis
covered that in every house where ar
| ticles had been stolen the window of the
particular room from which they had
been distracted was open at the time
possibly to allow little air to struggle
/ in and temper the suffocating heat.
This opened up fresh field for the
cries, one being that the DID, old dodge
/ of fishing rod, with line and hook
/ attached, was utilized, to fish for and
/ hook the jewelry through the open win
dow. But that wouldn't hold water at
| all, for how could man stand near
! house and angle unobserved with his
rod and hook? Or, even admitting the
possibility of that, how could he locate
the position of articles in room some
ten feet or 12 feet above him? No, that
! idea was soon ridiculed, and had to go.
Then another theory propounded was
! that some organ grinder and his mon
key were the culprits: that the man had
| gone into the grounds ostensibly to
! grind music, and while so doing his
monkey had climbed up and got
through the open window, and so stolen
! the valua ables which he had been pre-
viously taught to recognize.
For a time this theory wasSstrongly
4 favored and organ grinders with mon
keys were carefully escorted by the po-
! lice out of the district, as soon as they
made their appearance. But in spite
/ of all this the robberies still went on,
as regularly as ever. People talked of
/ ghosts. Mahatmaism and all that sort
of thing, as people will when almost
panic stricken.
You may suggest: Why didn't they
| keep all the windows closed?' Well,
they did, at least sufficiently to prevent
the ingress of man or beast, but to
close them entirely meant suffocation
during the terrific heat-wave then ener-
vating the population.
But it was all of no avail, and at
last, in desperation, the local police
sent to our department at The Yard
and begged assistance. My chief called
me into his Office one day and explained
the matter. saying:
"'Now, Westwood, I am going to put
you on this case, to see what sort of
stuff you are made of. Do your best to
unearth the mystery. If you succeed
ii will be the making of you
"I knew that well enough, but how
was l to succeed where so many others
had failed? 1t really seemed as though
ghosts had something to do with the
matter, however such an idea might be
ridiculed, for the whole affair looked
uncanny. Yet | determined to do my
very best to solve the mystery, so blk
| ing down to Henley-where most of the
robberies were occurring just then--I
took apartments for a few days, and
spent the greater part of my time in
cycling up and down, here and there,
dressed in boating fiannels and looking
very unprofessional, but keeping my
eyes and ears well open, nevertheless.
ut was a wearisome, disheartening
occupation. | left no stone upturned in
my endeavor to find the culprit, but all
to no purpose; he was as busy as ever
at his nefarious employment. | cycled
district, in the hope of seeing some
thing unusual which might be con-
strued into 'clew,' but nothing more
extraordinary could ! find than a
young fellow, clad in boating flannels.
like myself, riding a highly-geared,
road-racing bicycle. with a basket
about foot square attached to the
| front of the handlebar.
"Now, a basket like that on a road
racing bicycle was a bit strange, and
very incongrucus in relation TO the
get-up' of the rider; but what was still
more peculiar was that | met this
young fellow and his basketed bicycle
in nearly every one of the outlying
roads where the big houseslay. Every
day met him pottering about: always
with the basket, and always in the most
fashionable and wealthy parts of the
place.
HE began to excite my curiosity and
[ determined to watch him without his
/ Cpo1rlaIr Tho hacEpI nnticaI uras