The Washington times., 1901-11-10
III th8 "COld8n Bowl

about that Sir Richard Neville possessed
but one arm during the last twenty years
OF life. but the circumstances under which
! ne lost the other were of so painful a
nature that have never, during his life
time felt justified in making them public.
Those who were intimately acquainted
| with Sir Richard must have noticed the
unhealthy appearance OF his face. which
was attributable to the fact that he was
an excessive consumer Of opfum-he never
did things by halves-and when he took
to opium he did not belle his reputation
for thOroughncss.
| We were in Paris in 1SIf-had gone there
TO spend the seasor-and it was toward
the end of our stay 1 perceived that Sir
Richard had been partaking far too freely
of the frightful narcotic. 1 knew that
remonstrance was useless. but worried
considerably and wondered what the end
would be
one morning he did not make his ap-
| pearance at the breakfast table, and
though / was rather surprised at this,
did not make enquiries. but when. he did
not appear at lunch l asked a waiter to
ascertain If he were still in his room.
and was then much concerned to learn
that his bed had not been slept in.
Well. he did not appear the next morn
lice in possession of the facts.
|
During the next two days 1 heard moth
| ing OF Sir Richard. I Cancelled all our So
cial arrangements and Joined in the
| search myself.
| On the third day after his disappearance
| found myself in one of the lowest neigh
| borhoods of Paris. outside the Golden
| Bowl, one Of the most notorious of Paris
| dens. I went into a dirty-looking little
| shop, opposite the entrance, on the pre-
| tence of requiring some matches-in real
| ity to acquire, IL possible, some infcrma-
tion. A man with a wooden leg and
smelling vilely of garlic was seated be-
hind the counter. / put down a franc and
told him to keep the change; this, as 1
had anticipated. put him into good hui
NOR, and we were soon on the best Of
terms.
Yes" said he in French, Il see almost
everyone that goes in. and they remain
for some days sometimes. and he said,
pulling my coat cOnfidentially, some
times forever"
Did you see anyone go in on tuesday,"
I asked.
ANY stranger, 1 suppose you mean?"
replied he. Let me see. Yes; there was
a gentleman who went in with another
fellow. He was a tall, well-dressed man. |
and the fellow Who took him in, l should |
think, was connected with the place, as
he opened the gate with u key of his |
own"
took my departure, determined to see
the inside of the den. 1 waited for an
hour or so. until it was quite dark. and
then 1 quietly and rapidly climbed to the |
top of the wall, and let myself down in |
the yard 1 crouched for a few minutes |
in the shadow of the wall, and then made |
my way to the nearest window.
There was no blind, but the thick cur
tains were drawn together, and try as I |
might l could see nothing. After looking
thoroughly in all directions to see that 1 |
was not watched 1 went to the next win |
dow which was Immediately above an |
iron grating, which l had to stand to |
look in at the window. Here the curtains |
had not been drawn so carefully. The |
room was large one, reminding me |
somewhat of Turkish divan; 1t contain |
ed upward of n dozen couches, on each |
of which reclined man. They mostly |
appeared to be asleep. looking more like |
corpses than living men. looked for Sir |
Richard, and saw a man with his back |
toward me whom took to be him.
1 should think 1 had been there for
about five minutes, though it seemed
much longer, when decided to go to the
next window, but to my astonishment and
alarm l found ! could not move. What |
had happened was this: whilst I had been
gazing into the window some one had
bound my feet to the iron grating; direct
~ 1 tried to remove the cords which. had
been slipped loosely over my boots they
were hauled taut, and 1 was prisoner.
! hastily put my hand to my pocket to
get my knife, but ! had scarcely moved
before l was seized from behind. my arms
were bound TO my sides, my legs tied to-
gether. the ropes binding my feet to the
grating were cut, the grating removed,
and in less than thirty seconds 1 was in
side the opium den.
The room. or rather cellar, in which I
found myself was, l should imagine, a
sort of lumber room; it was half full Of
rubbish. and standing round me were
three men, one of them as evil a looking
Freuchman as ever l saw, and whom l
afterwards found was the man who ran
the place. He shrugged his puny shout
ders and asked me in French if 1 did not
think l could examine the Golden Bowl
better from the inside. / gave him to
understand that l wanted Sir Richard Ne
Vile He did not know Sir Richard Ne
ville-how should he? Perhaps | would
like to go through the building and find
him?
My legs were lcosed, and I was con-
Quoted up staircase on to the ground
fiooor l was taken at once to the room
where L had seen the man whom l took
to be Sir Richard. L found that my sur
mise was correct-it was indeed Sir Rich
ard, but how altered My blood Eoiled at
the sight Bursting my bonds. and before
| was aware of what 1 had done, the
man who ran the place was measuring
his length on the floor.
1t was a terrific blow between the eyes
had dealt him, a blow that would have
felled an OK, and 1 was not. therefore.
much surprised to see that he did not rise
again. Directly 1 had done it L repented,
for | was entirely in his power, and the
noise of the heavy fall l knew would i'm
medately bring other Officials to the |
spot was not wrong. for almost in
four or five men rushed into the
room. l made i dash for the door, but |
before l reached it l was tripped up and
fell with thud to the floor Before l
could rise they were upon me, and one
villain gave me Il knock on the head.
making me almost insensible. was once
more bound, this time more securely. and
was left on the floor like trussed fowl.
while they attended to the injuries of !
their master.
Presently he regained consciousness and
his eyes Immediately rested upon me. He /
came to where / lay and told the attend
ants to put me in the room with the {
s,ilyrJ ,aiIfp.r" and he added put his | )