Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1902-01-29

the back. Finally, just as my patience
 was about exhausted, he pulled from
 his pocket a magnifying glass and
 looked through that for some minutes.
 Then he reached over and took a piece
 of plain paper and laid it over the sig
 nature and under the signature and
 over and under many of the lines of
 the writing in the will. Then he said
 he was ready to go. When we arrived
 at the stairway leading to my office
 he turned 10 leave me with a careless
 and preoccupied nod.
 Have you solved the problem7"
 asked, sarcasticslly. I could not re-
 frain from that one shot. The answer
 nearly loOred me.
 Not quite," Draper replied, quiet ly. "All ! have learned is that Simon
 Gilbert did Iot sign the will, but wrote
 his name to some other sort of a docu-
 ment. Just what that was I cannot
 now say, but will let you know in the
 morning and also at whose instigation
 he wrote his name and who fixed the
 will up in\its present form"
 How do you know these things2"
 asked.
 i Some of the letters are not com plete at the top, indicating that they
 were completed on some paper that covered the one on which the will was drawn" he replied. "Then the glass shows that the paper above the sig nature has been wet-when the thin paper which covered the will and which contained the matter Simon Gill bert thought he was signing, was re- moved"
 At ten o'clock the next morning Draper appeared at my office and lcpped into a chair.
 We'll demanded, what have you found?"
 That Richard Radcliffe visited Simon Gilbert on March F, the date of the spurious will. and told him that his wife was crazy to possess a certain jeweled locket that had belonged to her mother and that he was willing to pay many times it's intrinsic value to gratify her wish: that Simon Gil bert finally sold it To him for $500 and gave bill of sale running 10 Mrs. Rad cliffe. which bill of sale Radcliffe had already prepared; that this document had been cleverly prepared so that the greater part of the sheet was cov- cred with very thin paper which was so skillfully attached that it appeared to be a part of the sheet. but which left the place for signature below the false covering: that this false cover ing which contained the bill of sale of the locket was afterward removed and the spurious will typewriter over Simon Gilbert's signature by Richard Radcliffe"
 Do you realize what you are charg- ing? Can you substantiate these charges?"
 "f have done so." replied Daniel Draper, in an apologetic voice.
 He showed piece of paper toward me. It was a written statement signed by Radcliffe and his wife and the Bel dens that they had been convinced that the will dated March IT was spurious and renouncing all rights under it.
 How did you run it down so quick ly?" I asked, in amazefnent.
 "Oh, it was all run down last night l before left you. All I had to do was to go to Simon Gilbert's house and | find who had transacted business with | him on March IF. Miss Parker went to the library and found from the | books kept by the dead man that he had sold the locket on that date to l Richard Radcliffe Miss Parker re- | membered the day Radcliffe was there. | She was sure that Reiden. the other | son-in-law. had nev2r visited the house. ! I went to Radcliffe's office and asked l for a private interview, pretending to be about to enter into a little specula- | ton in stocks. We were in his office | and he was called to the phone in the | outer office. I knew he would be. de- tained for some minutes-because I | had arranged with friend to call him | up at a certain time and hold him | for five minutes. In the meantime I | experimented with his typewriter, | which stood in the private office. | wrote each letter and point on a sheet. After I went away I made a careful examination of it and found | that several of the letters had the | same imperfections I had noted in | the writing of the will. Last night | went to the home of the Radcff ffes and | had a heart-to-heart talk with Rich ard. At first he was going to thrash | me and have me thrown into the street | or arrested. but finally he broke down, La rA,.la q hoN I should not ruin him. He said his wife did not know about it, nor did the Beldens. and that he had been driven to the crime by some heavy losses that rendered him desperate. I figured that so far as you and l were con cerned it was the property we were after for your client and not any crim- inal prosecution that would ruin one family and carry disgrace to several others. So pledged myself and you that we would keep the secret if he and his wife and the Beldens would sign a renunciation of all rights under the spurious will. We drew the state ment and he signed it and got his wife to sign it. Then he went to Belden's house and came back with their sig natures. I don't know how he got them to sign it. That was his busi- ness"
 You did wisely" I said, but should have thought you would rather have had the affair made public. You are ambitious to become a detective, and it would have given you plenty of 
 'I want to be a detective, not a he replied, as he rose to go.
 The day after the will giving all of Simon Gilbert's estate to Phoebe Parker was probated, I received bill from Daniel Draper for S10O and sent him a check at once. The next day Phoebe Parker was married to Jack Shirley quietly at the old Gilbert home. l was among the half dozen guests present. There was one wedding present besides the one 1 sent. It was the check 1 had sent Daniel Draper, to the bride.