The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-01-24
4 DIPLOMATS ADVENTURE,


One Of the most unpleasant episodes
In the course of my career was the Incl
dent of our attempt to possess ourselves
OF communication from Count Rode
holtz, the German ambassador in Lon
don, to the foreign office in Berlin.
was wandering through the grounds
of London exhibition one evening
when short, foreign looking man,
clothed in evening dress, approached
me and said, in a low tone:
Have / the honor Of addressing Mr..
Godfrey Vince?'
THAT is my name," made answer
at once.
He handed me letter, saying abrupt
ly: "Be good enough TO read this letter;
it will serve to introduce me-"
The communication was from Count
Antonio Delaroecs, Of Milan, whom 1
had aided some months before by car
rying off for him famous Greek statue
from an English country house. 1t was
very brief, and merely said:
"Sir-Tbis letter will introduce to
you my good friend, Herr Fritz Mosko-
vitZ, who is anxious for you to under
take for him difficult mission. have
told him that you are the one man in
England who can hope to carry out
such a work with success, and, wishing
you all good fortune, believe me, yours,
''DELARoCCA"
We left the exhibition grounds at
once, going to my abode.
ain the first place, my good sir" he
exclaimed, taking an excited under
tone--"in the first place must tell you
that this business is difficult almost up
TO the point Of impossibility. Friday
morning next, about O'Clock, Count
Rodeholtz will cause to be posted, or
post with his own hand, at the pillar
box facing his house in Percy-street,
Mayfair, a certain letter addressed to
the Berlin foreign Office. 1t is abso-
lutely vital to me and 10 the cause /
represent that that letter should never
reach its destination, and 1 am COM
missioned 10 pay $4,000 to the man
who will hand that letter to me intact
exactly as be finds it,"
SIS not 8 s. m. rather an unusual
hour for the dispatch of diplomatic
communications?
"dost certainly it is, bat the count is
not like other men. For the past four
years-in fact, since he first came to
the embsssy-he has been in the habit
of posting this document between and
4 o'clock on Friday mornings."
81 presume that the obvious and old
fashioned method of obtaining the let
ter by force is out of the question; 9TH
wise we might waylay the person post
ing the letter. overpower him, and de-
part with the document"
useless, quite useless, for it would
simply mean that the outrage would be
discovered almost Immediately, and
then the contents of the letter would
be telegraphed to Berlin, defeating cur
plans most entirely. No; the essence
of the whole affair, my good sir, is that
the letter should be removed aud hand
ed TO me without the embassy people
having the slightest knowledge Of the
fact.u
Next morning went to Percy-street,
Mayfair, 10 survey the ambassadors
81 Percy street, the mansion in
was dull-looking gray abode
exactly similar to the other houses in
the street. Facing the house, on the
other side of the street, was pillar
box-the receptacle, it seemed, where
the count was in the habit of posting
his communications to Berlin.
Had the pillar box been receptacle
easily shifted, the matter would have
been as easy as smoking cigarette, for
we should simply have had 10 divert |
the policeman on tine beat away from
the street by means of n fictitious |
disturbance. and then We
could have driven up in a van and
earted the box away. But l must
think Of something else.
And then of sudden there flashed |
upon me an ides, coming whence |
know not, but il seemed to me that a
voice spoke in my ear, and this is what
il said:
substitute another pillar box on the
side Of the street PIseard the
genuine box with a notice saying that
il is temporarily disused, and that let
ters are to be posted opposite Clear
the streets of the police 10y means OF
row and wait with van at the corner |
Of the street till the document is posted.
Swoop down, collar the box, drive off,"
I jumped into a cab and drove to
certain hostlery in the East end, where
| knew | should find plenty of my pals,
who for a few dollars wou.d throw