Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-08-24
A DIFFICULT SIGNATURE.


wealth Of his house nearly twenty at
tempts to rob him in some way or other
b,d been made, though in all cases but
one unsuccessfully. The explanation may
have been that certain rogues believed
that his lordship's huse fortune his
youth. and easy going ways would make
MIN careless of his treasures. Whether
the belief was originally sound or not Il
+. hard 10 say, but certainly the repeated
attempts made to rob Lord Beausarris
caused that gentleman to be vely care
fcl
He was & man who would rather have
riypu $1,000 away for no consideration
blu have been cheated or robbed of a
fin sxDence. Consequently. no sooner
was a vain attempt made by some bur
lars to rob his lOrdship of his famous
Collection Of jewels than he sent the en-
tire lot to his bankers for safe custody;
and Immediately after man had sue
leeded i'll cashing a check purportng to
have been signed by the wealthy baron
his 5rdship set himself the task of in
venting signature which would dpfv
forgers; moreover, he made it rule ney-
er to sign a check for less than E1oO,
which considerably reduced the number
of his checks circulated. and hence the
facilities for evildoers to acqua;nt them
selves Of the nature of his signature.
Il was due to these precautions that
more than seven men found their way
into prison for divers attempts to forge
Lord Beausarris' name to checks and
bills, and that gang of expert Jewel
thieves who broke into his lordship'S
town residence. after three weeks Of
careful planning how to obtain the Beau
saIris diamonds, got off with nothing
mere valuable than some plate.
hnpan1n a Of ~,
scientific thieves that Beausarris should
b. shown that, despite his precautions. he
was no match for the ingenuity of men
who had devoted themselves to the study
of criminal science; he was to be beaten
on the very ground where he had en-
tGenched himself, or the higher class of
criminals would have their confidence in
themselves very rudely shaken.
Beausarris was taking a quiet. lonely
lGnch one April noon. previous to paving
a round of duty calls when the post
man brought him a letter from a lady
with whom rumOr said his l0rdship con
templated matrlmOny; at least the letter
implied that it emanated from the Hon.
Clarlce MarShton, and Beausarris accept
ed 1t as such, since it was signed in her
name and written in her caligraphy.
Dearest it ran. I'VE have postponed our
departure until tomorrow. | should be so
pleased to see you this afternoon. Yours
Clarice."
Beausarris was annoyed by finding
that his lady-love was still in town and
he had missed four days opportunities
OF seeing her by crediting the report that
she and her parents had gone to Monte
Carlo for the spring. Beausarris had
heard from Clarice herself a week ago
that they were to leave London in a few
Gays tlme, and he had quite satisfied
himself that she had gone. because he
understood that Lord Marshton's house
had been let for the period of the fam
lily absence. BeausarrlS was too an
nQyed TO have any doubts of his own
mistake. He fell into the trap as duck
Waddles into a pond. He could hardly
nave suspected that anyone possessed of
eVil designs would rent the town resi-
dcnce of a peer, however impecunious
nat peer happened to be.
An hour after lunch his lordshiD
atpped into smart hanson and set ont
l9r Lard Marshton's house in South Ken.
Slngton.
Twenty minutes quick drive put him
N front of his lOrdship's mansion. He
PAID the cabman, mounted the stems aud
knocked at the door.
Miss Marshton at home?" he incurred
Oh tue f00tman who answered his knock
Inc man bowed as he opened the door
W1der. BeauSarris glanced casually at
tne man, and it did strike him as strange
that the MarshtOns should have engaged
a new man servant within a few DAYS of
llelr leaving for abroad. But he did not
altach any suspicion to the matter. He
followed the man into the small drawing
room at the back of the house without
Tue shadow. OF an idea mat anything I'M
usual was in the air.
Without a word the man ushered
beausarris into the unoccupied drawing
room and withdrew. The door had hard
y closed before it opened again and TWO
men entered
They, were both slightly above the av-
e g helght; one was dark, stout and
wore gold-rimmed eyeglasses: the other,
VINO seemed to depend upon his cOmpan-
ION Tor guidance, was fair, with a frank.
honest face, a thick, fair beard and
signify foreign general appearance.
beausarris bowed in his cold. stiff
tsashlGn in acknowledgment of the pro-
touhd obelsances, but before he had time
10 wonder who they were the dark man.
Muo looked the eider of the two, in
CURED with some servility:
OF desire 70 see Miss Marshton 2"
mat is the object OF my visit" Beau
SdaTls replied easily. May"
regret 10 nave TO inform you that
sac is AZ Monte Carlo" said Inc dark
tfHe mocking.
nat: Pray pardon my surprise. but
was only this morning | received from
~ ~ note asking me TO call here this
Hl,efhoon. Am l to understand that the
iie'.er was delayed in the post, and that
"m ntruding upon the gentleman to
G ,2h ., Lord Marshton has let this
am Baron Steinheiser-the sub-ten-
-. ~ u TINS house" replied the dark man.
ro, 40 mat extent your presumption is cor
s- Put the letter was written by my
.5s'E4i mere, NJ. Paul Panier." indicating
e ers Ia. Lair man, who drew his heels togeth-
bo 0eagisarris realized Immediately that
-, .g.,, Iad been trapped for the purpose 0s
ne elaborate fraud.
NJ; ,And may | inquire the reason for
u" zen you have drawn me here by means
2,, 4 forged letter?'' he asked. stcrnIy.
"1.41,,1S the men up and down angriiy.
b. " an object we have in view" sal!
o 1g aaron aaron Il may add that the object is
"hich-now that you are safely here
,l'Io' fall to prove TO you that all
ir' eidoorate precautions to guard your
"t> and immense wealth are made
ir, % protect you against men Of our
nv. Itllty 1t has long been the desire Of
ny friends and myself that you shonli
I'M nasty fall: you have declared 4
ilA f4 war hprWpn VoVrGpff nd