The St. Johns herald., 1900-03-17
A MYSTERY SOLVED.
Discovery of Lady's Belongings
 on a Steamer.
varIOas Articles of Apparel and Pieces of JeweIRy PurlOined from Her staterOOn Found
 fin a Rats Hole

This story is told of lady who
 lives in one of the big cities west ot
 Ie;roit: 4 year and hAls ago she | was on her way to HO1od aiu on board ! one of the big Pacihc liners. On the
 first day out she had made herself at home in her stateroom, leaving some of her effects about the room. The
 next morning she looked for hand 1 kerchief that she had left on chair
 the night before, but could find it no-
 where. It was thing Of small inn
 port, however, and she did not worry much about it, except to wonder what
 she could have done with it. The next day was beautiful one and was spent
 or deck watching the gentle swelling
 of the sea with its hmitless horizon.
 Here and there ship could be de-
 scried putting into San Francisco, or
 further in the distance could be seen
 the smoke of others whose direction
 could not be determined. In the morn
 ing she missed another handkerchief
 tEat she had put in the same place
 as the other. All search for it was in
 vain. It was a small loss, and yet the
 second disappearance aroused her cu-
 riosity. Another beautiful day on
 deck soon made her forget all about
 it. That night she made sure that she
 had put a third handkerchief in the
 same place as she had the others, and
 the last thing she did on retiring was
 to sec that it was still there. The first
 thing she did in the morning was to look over to the little footstool. She had been somewhat surprised on the preceding mornings, but this time she
 was not little shocked when she saw that the stool was empty. She searched the room everywhere, but could find no trace of the missing article. Nor was she able to discover the necktie that she had worn the day tefore. She began to suspect that the maid had something to do with these disappearances. And yet there were her jewels just as she had left them. No, it could not have been thief, else why had not the more valuable articles been taken. The lady pug zled over the mystery good dSal, and even the fresh breezes and the wash of the water at the vessels bow did not dispel all thoughts of it from her mind. That night she decided to sew fourth handkerchief to the stool and see if that would make any diff ference, and, selecting piece of coarse linen thread, she proceeded to carry out this idea. What was her amazement the next morning to find that the threads had been severed and the handkerchief had disappeared. Moreover, when she came to look for a diamond pin that she had laid aside the night before it was not to be found. Then truly she was aroused, ard resolved to communicate her sus- picions to the captain. This she did, and the officer promised to investi- gate immediately. He gave orders to tbe head stewardess to thoroughly search the room for the missing arti- cles before casting any suspicion on tLat one of her assistants who had charge of the room in question. The room was accordingly searched, but  could be found of the miss ing articles. But the stewardess no- ticed in the very corner of the room, under the berth, q small hole in the and she spoke of this to the captain. The carpenter was called, the berth was taken down and several boards were taken out of the floor and the partition. Deep down among the beams of the vessels deck was col lection that would have done justice to a fancy goods store, all fashioned, after the latest style in rat architect ure, into a cozy nest. And there, the other things, was the dia- mond pin, besides several other pieces of jewelry. What the rat wanted with he jewelry is q mystery, but there t was. It is scarcely necessary to ldd that the stewardess who cared for hat room received an extra large tip 1t the end of the voyage.-Detroit Free Press.