Daily camera., 1901-10-23

T HAD my own idea Of a detective
until l met Daniel Draper. After
my nrst contact with him I had
no further notions regarding the
proposition. was q young law
yer. Just established In practice ss
junior partner in hrm with
big income. was at the crit
ical point in q most puzzling case--a
will case in which l was strangely In
terested. 1t WAS not the amount In
volved, but rather the unaccountable
in Justice that seemed 70 have been
committed that attracted my interest.
Phoebe Parker was the niece OF
Simon Gilbert. He had lived with
his books and his daughters un-
Ill Julia, the elder, took 1t into
her head to marry Richard Rad
clifYe, the broker. and at the same
time Fanny. the younger. fell in love
with Tom Belden. Then the old man
declared himself. He did not propose
to be left alone In his age nor to be-
come mixed up with other families. II
one or both OF his daughters insisted
on marrying, well and good. He would
no, be unfair. He would give them
dower-as much as he could spare. The
balance OF his fortune. at his death.
would go TO some person who would
live with him and make him comfort
able. The daughters were determined
and married, and true to his promise
Simon Gilbert gave each Of them 5000
and never entered their houses. He
hunted up niece, Phoebe Parker, and
told her II she would take care OF him
while he lived and not marry he would
treat her like a daughter and will her
all he had. This amounted TO some
thing ike $4,000.
Phoebe had taken the offer after
some thought nr~ <nany tears. She
MSS an orphan without cent and in
love with Jack Shirley. But Jack had
his crippled father and invalid mother
10 support and it WAS out OF the quss-
! ton FOR him TO think Of marrying
while they were Aliye-unleAs he could
buy an interest In the business, and
that would cos, "a n or twelve thousand
dollars So she had gone into the grim
and gloomy house Of SIMON Gilbert and
there she had worked and wept. trying
To make the old man comfortable and
pining for kind word-and for Jack
with whom things did not improve
Simon Gilbert wen: TO his lawyer
who was the head OF our firm. ant
had his will drawn, leaving everything
| to Phoebe,
But after the death of Gilbert what
was the surprise Of every person who
knew the circumstances when another
will was found, dated six months be
| fore his death, in which the estate wa,
left TO his two daughters, and Phoeb'
Parker was not so much as mentioned
Nv partner had drawn the will. giving
the property to the niece. but be could
not question the latter document for IL
was most certainly signed in Gilbsrt's
/ handwriting. OF that my partner was
sure; he knew the signature well. He
was equally sure that the old man had
/ intended to deal honestly and justly
with his niece. and on the girls behalf
he had asked me to look into the mat
ter and see II there was not way to
hgh, the later will. was absolutely
bafled as TO line upon which TO base
q fight. I was relating the circum
stances 10 friend of mine, a reporter,
! when he suggested that call in Daniel
Draper and talk the matter ever with
him.
daniel Draper-not that craIy.
shiftless son Of old Draper, the black
xmith?"
1.-THE same" replied the reporter.
"And don't bet too much on his being
crazy. He has helped me out Of many
hole when have had an sssignment
couldn't land. You know he il am
bilious to become detective"
The upshot Of 1t was that my friend.
the reporter. brought Daniel Draper
to see me and 1 laid the case before
him. He was loose-jointed, round
shouldered young fellow with a shock
of tow colored hair covering rather q
well-shaped head. His features were
not attractive and no two of them
seemed to match. His mouth wore g
half-conciliatory, half-apologetic ex-
preston and his eyes were dull and
listless and seemed to only half see
the objects upon which they hxed
themselves.
He asked lot Of questions, having
apparently no relation to each other,
and many of them seeming to have lit
tie or no bearing on the case. Then he
inquired abruptly il he could see the
will. We went to the courthouse and
looked at the document. Draper gazed
blankly at it sideways and upside
down and turned it over and looked at