Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-11-22
THE STOLEN DIAMOND.

| about his person, such as missing finger,
| club foot, or any mark made by his
trade, such as the mark on the hand of
a barber where the scissors had constant
~ pressed against the root of his thumb,
should be careful lest these means Of
Identification are not the means of his
downfall. Most of the cases which have
come under my notice have been cases
where the c,lprit has had some bodily
deficiency which has left its mark on
something with which he has come in
contact. The experience | am about to
relate cmbodies this truth, and had not
the criminal in the case had the misfor-
tune 10 lose the half of one of his
But [ am anticipating events
| had just returned from the Cont
nent, where | had been sent in connec,
ton with the stolen Duchess of Men
tones Jewels, and was prepared to enjoy
Well-earned rest, when / received Il
wire from my chief asking me to report
at once Upon arriving at the office, he
told me that a robbery had been com
United at the summer house of George
Middleton, the millionaire oil magnate,
and that detective had been wired for.
As to the particulars, only one diamond
had been stolen, a magnificent stone of
great value intrinsically, and of incalcu-
liable worth to the family as an heirloom.
The Middleton place was somewhere
up the Hudson and | set out at once
When | arrived | was at once taken to
Mr.. Middleton, who appeared very much
upset over the affair. On the previous
night he had taken the diamond from the
safe to show it to some of his guests.
and Mrs. Middleton, who was to wear it
at ball on the following night, had
taken it from him, and not thinking it
necessary to place it in the safe for SO
short Il time, had taken it to her bed.
room and put it in a small casket on her
dressing table.
The next morning, before going down
stains, she thought that she would see
if it was all right, and was astonished TO
find the casket empty. There were many
guests iii the house, and at my request
| was to be introduced as a friend OF Mr..
Middleton.
| was taken to the drawing room and
met most of the guests. / gained moth
ing that night and noticed nothing sus.
picious about any of the guests. / was
rather inclined to think that the robbery
had been committed from the inside, by
either one of the servants or one of the
guests, as all the doors had been found
fastened on the morning after the rob
berry. In the morning | asked the serv-
ant who brought me my coffee and rolls
10 come in and | questioned him as to
the guests, and if he had noticed any of
the servants were in trouble over money
matters.
"Now," / said to him, "have you no
ticed any thing peculiar about any of the
guests? No matter how trihing it may
appear to you, it may be the means OF
providing me with clue
He thought for moment and then
said that he had noticed nothing out of
the common. lie had just gone out of
| the room when he reappeared and told
me that he had noticed one thing about
one of the guests, but it could have moth
ing to do with the robbery. He had
noticed that one of the men always had
his shoes cleaned while they were on his
! feet. He always collected all the shoes
| and took them down to be cleaned. but
| Mr.. Dane, THE man who always talks
about machinery and electricity to MIR.
Middleton, always came and had them
cleaned on his feet"
| made a mental note of these facts.
Later on | had chat with Mr.. Dane
and being myself something of an au-
thority ON dynamics | was able to in
tcrest him. l was looking at him closely
all the time we were talking. There was
only one thing that distinguished hi,u
from any other guest. This was the holt
of ore of his front teeth was missing; il
had been broken oil in almost exactly the
middle.
| did not connect Dane with the rob,
berry; III fact, had up to this time not
the slightest suspicion of clue. 1t Wa.
early the next morning that | was put on
the scent. | had visited the lawn unde,
the window of the room from which th5
diamond had been stolen, and WAS look.
ing to see if | could find any trace oil
footprints on the beds or the lawn.
noticed the half of an apple directly un
der the window. / picked il up and ex
amined it carefully. As was turning il
over and over | was wondering how i,
came there Ii must have been thrown
there recently, otherwise it would hay,
| NNNAA S'N ~ up 1lNlA ~ SlIuAk me ln0t
apples had been eaten on the night thai
the diamond had been stolen, and | I'm.
derstood that 10 one had gone out on
that night. Then noticed a REGULARITY
of the marks of 10 teeth Oil the apptc
, About h0k Of it j. 'evn eaten. and nj
every place where i.4 uarlc had been bit,
ten small portion Of tho apple re.
manned, small lidgr about An eighth OF
an inch in width, and extending the en-.
tire length OF tho bite / saw in Il mo.
mcnt who had been eating the apple. II
was tho maui with the broken tooth
On rho evening of that day l watched
| for sAe appearance of Dane with Il Ger.
tain amount of excitement. | felt as
though | was going to find the diamond
that night Presently he appeared a.
usual with his pumps and challenged me
10 game of billiards. | would rather
Tot have played, but accepted his chal
lcngc and we had game.
1t seemed a terrible long game, but a:
last it was finished, and he made his WAY
t. the smoking room, while | made my