The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-17
100000 in Gold = rs a. 4ana
BY WILLIAM A. -PlNKERToN..

!
and the express companies, which
were the great sufferers. were using every
means to catch and punish the offenders
The boldest of these adventures had been
the hold up of a train on the Southern
Pacific railroad near Sacramento. The
| bandits had entered the express car, muir
dered the express messenger, detachd the
car from the rest of the train and forced
the engineer to pull them down the roada
mile or two where they opened the ex-
press safe and got away with about $780,
600 in twenty-dollar gold pieces, the prop
erty of the Wells-Fargo Express COM
pany.
The only thing left by the robbers by
which they might be traced was the
imprint of a bloody hand upon a package
of paper in the express car. This was
turned over to Glenn Maitland, a detee-
tive. with a leaning toward the psychic.
"A wonderful hand" he exclaimed as
soon as his eyes. fell upon it. II have
never seen another like it. Look at this
third finger It is longer than the sec
ond The owner of that hand would take
a chance II 1t stood only one in ten thou
sand to succeed. He has great will pow
CT TOO as the leIlBln u Tie INST pHdidHBc
of the thumb indicates. He had no moral
nature I could almost swear to the
| identity of the man whose hand left that
| impression If were to meet him on the
street"
Maitland had been successful In work
! ing up some hard cases, and he was given
| this one with permission to work it out
as he pleased. That suited him exactly.
He had peculiar theories and found it
| impossible to work with anyone else sue
| cessfully
For two months Maitland walked the
streets of the coast Cities studying the
hands of the people he met. He was de-
termined to find the robbers through the
lines of that bloody hand He had built
up from them the form and characteris-
| ties of the man who had left the impress
sion and his whole theory depended on
the solution of the problem through those
means. He scanned the white hands OF
culture and refinement the hands of
sports the coarse, rough hands Of toll;
everywhere and always he was looking
for that peculiar hand with its long third
finger and strongly mark d characteris-
tics.
One day on Market street in San Fran
cisco he came upon crowd greatly ex-
cited over a deed of heroism Just per-
formed. gentleman had rescued a
young girl from under the feet of a rum
away team at the risk of his own life.
His arm had been broken in the adven-
ture, and he had been carried away,
bleeding and insenslble, to his lodgings
near by. The girl, who was evidently
from the country had insisted on going
with them to nurse the sufferer If needed.
But what interested Maitland most was
the story of the man himself. He had
appeared in the city several months be-
fore from no one knew where, set himself
up in expensive lodgings, and had since
been spending money lavishly, all in
twenty-dollar gold pieces. He was known
as Hugo Van Staal and posed as Ger
man baron.
Here was a clue at last. The money
taken from the express company had all
been in twenty-dollar gold pieces. The
hand of the robber was the hand of the
man who would take just such chances
as this man had taken in the rescue of
the girl. Maitland got boy to point out
the location of the ''baron's'' lodgings,
and then went home to study up line Of
action
three days investigation by Maitland
developed the startling and almost In
credible fact that Baron Van Staal was
none other than John Bohm, a former
tramp who had long been familiar fig
ure on the coast, occasionally working
for short time and then with his scanty
earnings going off with a dog and tent
to the woods where he lived a gypsy life
until his money was gone.
This transformation could be accounted
for on no ordinary hypothesis. A hobo
of Yesterday living today the gilded life
of a prohigate nobleman. Nothing was
too good for the baron. He fell in with
the game as one to the manor born; that
he knew of better days before becoming
an outcast was evident. With a retinue
of lackeys ever at his heels, fawning syc-
ophants to fatter, he did the swagger
49, Of q IrIIY m q A
rain of gold he showered upon his friends.
Carriages for drives, yachts for outings,
everything responded to his beck. What
Jolly days and nights there were for the
ladies' of the ballet. And the suppers
with cart blanc to the chefs-there were
none like them In town. Wine, women,
mirth and laughter" and the baron paid
the freight with condescending indiffer-
ence that caused the jewellers to gasp in
awe But was he the kind of man were
he tramp or exquisite to successfully plan
and carry out daring train robberies?
Did he have a third phase of existence,
that of the fearless, hghwayman?
Maitland determined on bold venture.
The next day he called on Baron Van
Staal. As he was going up the stairs to
his lodgings he met a slip of a girl. There
were tears in her blue eyes, and her lips
were trembling with suppressed sobs.
what is the matter, little girl? Can 1
be OF service TO You4 ne lApuiIeu Bchiiy.
''No sir. I have been bringing flowers
every day for gentleman who saved my
life They told me he was pleased to get
them. But today a lady Is with him ana
she threw my flowers out of the window
and told me must not bring any more,
for they annoyed him.
THAT Is too bad. There may be some
mistake"
ooh, sir. do you think sol"
1T will try and find out for you. What
is your name"
"Mabel Davis, sir. I live with my aunt
over on Telegraph hill. We are too poor
to buy flowers, but 1 gather them for
! him."
WELL don't worry. am on my way
to call on the baron and will make In
auiries and let you know Meet me here
tomorrow at this hour"
The girl thanked him, and Maitland
went on. He rang the bell and sent in his
| card with the message that he was an
| eastern tourist who had heard of the bar
I,on's heroism and called to pay his
spects A tall, dark woman received him.
She was beautiful and dressed extrava-
| gantly but there were lines of dissipa-
ton In her face. and the keen eyes of the
detective discovered cigarette stains on
her taper white fingers.
IT beg pardon for this seeming intru-
sion baroness, but l did not wish to
leave the city without paying my re-
spects to your husband. 1 hope he has
sufficiently recovered to receive me-"
Flattered by the distinction of being