Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-08-01

80. esq, me, uu Une Jeweler suspect the
lady of title of even taking the jewel
away in a lit of abstraction, but some
how he felt it his duty to report the
case The inspector didn't bluff this
third tradesman quite as heavily as he
had the first and second and lie looked
grave and thoughtful when | was Civ
en- the case and he related particulars.
| was told to 90 my own way about II,
but if l made n blunder Scotland Yard
would see me no more as n detective.
That wasn't at all encouraging, you
see, but | mad to 90 ahead and make n
start Much to my surprise, after
thinking the matter over | came to the
conclusion that the marquis wife
might possibly be guilty of shoplifting.
The idea almost took my breath away
at the first go off, but when | came to
recall the many rumors about the mar
quis being gambler, hard up, man
of miserish habits at home, and so
forth, there looked to be something in
it from a detectives standpoint.
The lady was well known to me by
sight She was past 45, much faded,
and her face always carried fretful,
worried look | simply waited until
she appeared on the street in her car
rage, as if bound on shopping tour,
and then followed her. 1t was week
after the third case was reported that
II, nd q IiraptlV tn
a Bond street jewelers.. | followed
her into the store, where she was
known and received with great servil-
ity. and when a tray of jewelry was
placed before her l felt sure that the
next half hour would clear her of all
suspicion or complicate the case still
further. Her manner was that of lofty
condescension. She slowly and Ian
guidly inspected the jewels, and now
and then the proprietor of the store,
who was waiting upon her In person.
had his attention attracted for the mo-
ment elsewhere. My lady finally de-
cided to call again and was bowed out.
and she was hardly clear Of the door
when l revealed my identity to the
jeweler and asked him TO be sure that
there was nothing missing from the
tray. He was at first inclined to ad
minister a snub, but when he found
the finest ring of the lot conspicuously
absent he almost fell over in n faint.
There was no room to doubt that the
lady had lifted" 1t, but that only made
tho In a For "A a1aE-
man and a detective to charge lady
Of quality with shoplifting was as bad
as treason against the crown. A mere
word would bring financial ruin upon
the jeweler, and he was ready to stand
the loss ten times over rather than
speak it.
Twice more within the next fort
night | followed the lady into jewelry
establishments and morally convicted
her Of shoplifting. This made six cases
in all, and, no matter how the victims
felt, we of the Yard were quite deter
mined that something ought to be done.
| had been on the staff for ten years,
and my work had given good satisfac-
ton, but | was selected as q sacrifice
l mean by that that l was ordered to
secure an interview with the lady, in
form her Of my discoveries and take
the consequences. | must take all the
burden on myself and clear the Yard.
There could be but one ending, and
before making my call my resignation
was written out, and l had arranged
to go with a private agency. One
morning l appeared at the residence Of
the marquis and boldly asked for my
lady on important business. | was
kept waiting until she was satisfied
that | was neither a process server nor
creditor and was then admitted to
the presence Of very slipshod looking
woman who showed me scant courtesy
when she said:
"Well, sir, you are here, and now
what is it?'
Its about the jewelry, my lady,"
replied.
"What do you mean"
"The finger rings from Blacks, the
sunburst from Browns, the earrings
from Green's You carried them away
and forgot to return them"
My lady's face went white as snow,
and she gasped for breath, and | eX
pectcd TO see her faint away. BY q
tremendous effort she pulled herself to-
gether, and as the color came back to
her cheeks she Missed at me:
"You dog, you! The marquis shall
see that you get your just deserts!
Leave the house at once"
/ left, and within an hour the mar
quis was at the Yard to say that he
would uproot the whole system If l
was not promptly bounced and an apol-
ogy rendered. The Yard apOloglzed, /
was bounced, and my lady had a story
for her friends about attempted black
mail There were no more thefts, how
ever, and as n private detective | even
recovered some Of the stuff from the
shops where nay lady's maid had pledg-
Oh tbarn to raise cash for har TniStraSS