Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-02-17

| NY.
| ''DAT'S A MIGHTY FINE SEEGAR
YOU SMOKE. BOSS"
dun see Marster Walter wuz on de
pier, an he shook hans good-by an
left er $50 gold piece dar." And Ma
poleon looked at his hand as if to
again see that treasure sparkling IN
his palm.
Where was that, Mr.. Spencer?"
Down by de pier at der Battery"
explained Napoleon. "Deres whar
de Shark was a-lyin'."
who was with Mr.. Hestor? Did
any one ride with him in the car
riage? Tell me all about it,"
Thar amt much to tell. boss"
said Napoleon. ''Marster Walter tole
me to drive down town an meet him
in front of de Record orfice at half
past three. / dun so, an he tole
me to drive over ter Broadway, as he
lowed ter pick up Mister Hammond
and another gemman who was gwine
ter see him off on de Shark l done
so and desc gemmen comes down de
steps, gets in de carriage and drives
dem away. OATS all der is to it,
what building did you go TOP"
DE Carmody, buildin', on Broad
way sah," said Napoleon.
''Do you know Mr.. Hammond when
you see him?''
mo, sab"
What kind of looking men were
those who got in the carriage? Win
you have fresh cigar. Mr.. Spencer"
THANK yer, boss. Dcy was moigh-
ty fine lookin' gemmen,' said Napo-
leon. "Dey was oldish lookin' gem
men. and dey 'peared mighty i'm
po'tant, sah.''
did you see anyone else on the
yacht?"
"Dar was sev'ral gemmen on de
upstairs part of de boat" said Ma
poleon. Oats mighty fine seegar
you smoke, boss. Dat tastes like de
kline Marster Walter smokes"
you don't know how long the
yacht remained at the pier, do you?"
de Shark sailed right erway as
l left, sah," said Napoleon. 'While
L war a-tixin' Their harness of Their
OIL boss, de caps gave de orders an
de Shark sailed out inter de bay.
Marster Walter didn't say nothin'
ter me erbout whar he was a'gwine
or when he would come back. Mar
ster Walters mighty particlar man
erbout SIGH things, sah''
Much obliged, Mr.. Spencer said
Jack Stevens. ''We want to send
cablegram to him as soon as pos
sible. Good day"
Goodbye, boss. Sorry L cawnt
tole yer nothin' mo- erbout him.
Marster Walters mighty hard man
to find when he's gwine erway, sab.
Goodbye. sab"
Jsck Stevens lost no time in ac-
quainting Chalmers with what he had
learned. They no longer had any
doubt they We're on the right track.
But what did he do such a thing
for"' asked Stevens. at is all Greek
to me. Talk about motives. What
motive would man like Hestor have
in kidnapping such men as these? He
has plenty of money. He would not
demand ransom. Most of these
men have known him since he was
boy; so / am told. His father was
a big figure in Wall Street. What
the devil was his motive?'
81 will never tell you,'' said Chal-
mers. HE has always been more or
less crazy about the newspaper bust
ness. That interview with the Car
turned his head. This is probably
his coup de maitre. If so, it is a
wonder!"
How much better off are we now
that we believe Hestor is the MANI"
asked Stevens. where is he? That
is the question. How are we to
find him."
You may as well call off your
men at Provincetown," said Chal-
mers, after pause, in which both
did some hard thinking. "rhey can
find nothing there. If Hestor did
this job, he probably brought the
'S:iark' into Cape Cod bay and posted
the letter from Provincetown. Then
he dropped man off at or near
Boston and had him mail the various
letters from Springfield, Albany, and
the other places. 1t requires no
great reasoning to see through that.
The last letter came from Philadel-
phia. Hestor may have made the trip
himself 1t would be just like him.
If so, the yacht probably picked him
up at some point along the South
Atlantic coast"
1T strikes me that the thing to
do is to ascertain if Hestor loaded
any building materials into that