The Wahpeton times., 1901-08-15
TELLTALE PICTURES.
PAINTINGS THAT HAVE DONE THE
WORK OF DETECTIVES.
Instanees Where the Canvas Of an
Artist Has Led to the Confession of
Criminal-A Portrait and a stolen
Diamond Pendant.

a Criminal-A Portrait and a stolen
Diamond Pendant.
An artist who had suddenly become
almost famous by his production of a
painting exhibited at the Royal acad.
envy was one day called upon by II
man whose visit was productive Of the
most extraordinary and unllreapt OF
consequences.
The picture represented a. lonely
stretch Of beach. upon which the sea
WAS bcating In long. creamy rollers. IL
the foreground. bending over IL dead
body. was Il man with Il wild express
sion on his face and With a naked
knife in his hand. y ships boat. evi.
IDENTIFY just beached. was also in the
picture. and by the side of the m,r.
dercd man was Il bag of gold. The pic
ture portrayed the advent of two cast.
aways upon a friendly shore. The one
had murdered the other so that the
treasure might be his.
The painters visitor was gray hair.
ed, wild eyed man.
'ln hcavc.'> name. sir" he gasped
out, ''how diG you learn the dreadful
story that you painted? see ynu know
all. I murdered my mate Bill to get
the money that was his. threw hs
body into the sea. don't know what
impulse led me 70 the Academy. The
first thing saw was your picture rep
rescnting the scene that took place 80
years ago"
Needless to say. the picture had been
the outcome Of Imagination. Yet mur-
der will! out, and tine guilty conscience
Of the man who hat! killed his comradc
for lust Of gold had convinced him that
the painting was no coincidence. hut
was indeed the actua. portrayal of IL
dastardly and unwitncsscd crime.
There is probably no picture better
known in England than The Doctor"
by Mr.. Luke Fildes. yet there are prob.
ably very few people aware of the fact
that that self>ame masterpiece was
the means Of bringing to light the per-
petration Of a crime that would other
wise never have been known.
certain doctor in Il large town com
mittcd suicide. and among his papers
was letter which ran rs follows: Il
The picture represents Il medical man
watching by the bedside of Il child. II
has so haunted me that | am yoin. to
take away my own worthless life and
make a confession at the same time
When ArthUr's"-hiS brothcr's-"lIOy
died. came into money that my dead
brother had settled on him. He die,!
as all the world thought OF acute pnel,-
monia. Yet his life might have been
saved had I acted. as Fildes' doctor is
so evidently doing. with the use of all
the skill that lay in my power. has
tened the boys end and so got the
money. eau bear it no more"
\ we'll known artist was commissions
cd to paint the portrait of Il lady in ex-
alted circles. who hoasted ,hc posses
sion Of most unique jewel in the
form of u pendant. The lady was very
anxious that this ,lmirlnonl should be
included III her portrait The artist. of
course. complied with her roc. dcst.
Shortly after the printing had been
pctratrd. with the result that the lady
lost her heirloom. AMI no trace of the
thief or thieves was forthcoming.
Years passed by. and the lady gave up
all hope of ever seeing the precious
heirloom again.
Now, it so happened that the artist
who had painted the portrait of the
Io.l
in India.
In the course Of his wGItdrrin"s he
came to Bombay and, as every visitor
to that place does. strolled through the
native bazaar.
Suddenly his attention was riveted
by a piece of jewelry in a jewelers.
shop that seemed familiar to him. 1t
was a diamond and ruby pendant.
Where had he seen it before: He ran
sacked his brain, but could not relnem-
ber.
He returned to his hotel and hap
pened to take from his portfolio Il
sketch Of the portrait he had made
years ago of the lady with the pendant,
In q moment the enigma was solved.
The piece of iewelry he had seen was
the peculiar pendant that his fair sitter
had been SO anxious he should include
in his portrait
He hurried off to the chief of police,
and told that worthy what lie suspect
ed. namely. that the bazaar he had Wis
tied contained the long lost jewel of
the English lady. Inquiries We're at
once set on foot with extraordinary re-
suits. The jeweler in the bazaar con-
fessed to having given years ago Il
quite insignificant sum for the jewel.
which he had bought from stablemau
in the employ Of neighboring rajah.
The stableman was sought for. and
turned out to be none other than fa-
nous English cracksm:in. who had ap-
parently turned honest, but who.
nevertheless. confessed to having been
the thief Of the jewel that had been
SO miraculously discovered.-Pearson'
Weekly.
OF Two Evils the Lesser.