Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-03-09
II think this is for you, SIR" Dobso'a e.
claimed, handing DGrreat q note:

claimed, handling Darrent a note:
rent as he read the superscription felt
horrible desire to kick some one, or, for
the matter of that, even himself, fail
ing a better target.
TO the smart { y detective in charge
Of the Norcombe murder case"
With a curse he tore open the envel-
ope and perused the contents, written
in the same sprawling hand as his note
Of the afternoon:
To the American Lecoq:
Really, sir, fancy you've had nice long
sleep. Wake up and own yourself fool l.
Silas Gosnell, Elled-not murdered, but killed
Josiah Marsden.
He had been kind enough to pay me an an.
nuity, and INVENT, as usual, to- collect my allow
ance on the night of the murder.
The old man was madden than ever, talked
about blackmail and all that sort OF thing, work
ed himself up into the fury Of a maniac and sud-
denly went bang for me with the poker. reeled
back, and my hand touched knife. wish it
| hadn't, but it did: It was his life or mine.
preferred his As to that paper, you've all been
tricked l wrote it-wrote it because that soft
Drained ass Of policeman, that old fool Dobson,
smelled a rat. I thought the best thing was to
give him chance of bleeding Astray Marsden to
keep him quiet. The idiot gave the whole show
| away.
l thought when wrote it if anything went
| wrong it might be pleaded that the old man was
going to write "a stranger" but did not think
such brilliant young detective yourself. would
take up the case and effectually condemn an in
| nocent man.
Things are too hot for me. I'm of.
| Goodby.
l am, my dear Lecoq, ever indebted to you for
your blind stupidity and so sign myself, always
gratefully yours, snAs GosNlls.
| Darrent ground his teeth together in
rage. He had been fooled from start to
finish in this great case-he, Herbert
Darrent, the famous detective, the
American Lecoq. BAIL Completely
fooled by an Englishman who despised
him so heartily that he had even left
him hooking letter admitting every
thing on the eve of his flight
Hes in New York by this time,
possibly on his way to England, but I'll
have him yet if the thing is possible!''
Darrent cried, striking his knee in his
vexation. Hurrying to the nearest tele-
graph Office, Darrent sent careful de-
scription of Silas Gosnell to the chief of
police of New York and then started
for New York himself, firmly resolved
to follow Gosnell to the ends of the
earth if necessary.
Up to this point in the case he had
been anything but a bloodhound of the
law, although various people had re-
ferred to him as such, but now the ap.
pellation described him perfectly. Dis
appointment, chagrin. wounded vanity
had given him feverish interest in thu
chase of the Norcombe murderer tha
/ he had not felt before.
At Buffalo he was notified by tn
chief of detectives of New York that Ill
Englishman exactly answering his tele
graphed description had sailed weel
before on the liner Strelesia. He Learned
nothing further upon his arrival il
New York and was about to sail TO
England-was on the dock, in fact
when he heard a newsboy shouting
Extra. extra! Terrible loss of life
| Liner Strelesia sunk! Two hundred an,
| fifty drownedl"
> "Total wreck Of the Strelesia,'' h
read, in glowing headlines. ''Fearfu
loss Of life'' And then: "a boat wa
2 picked up in mid-Atlantic by the Ma
jestic, having on board five of the GREY
of the missing steamship Strelesia, thes
r being the only survivors of the i'll fate
a vessel"
f Then followed some brief persona
0 narratives and the list of passengers
among which was the name of Sila
= Gosnell.
r The sea had avenged the murder {
: Josiah Marsden. Silas Gosneu had gou
before higher court, a greater Judge
b 1t was useless to proceed further
r Consequently Darrent returned to Oh
o cago, where he found another not
awaiting him, another of Gosnell
+ hooking epistles: