The Press., 1903-09-03
WITH A FALSE
~ ARM "
Copyright. 1909. by T. O. Mcclure

IL BY william %. Osborne Z
Copyright. 1909. by T. @. Mcclure !
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A man with but one arm stood lean
ing against the showcase. The other
arm, the false one. rested partly on the
tray Of diamonds. On the hand Of that
arm he wore a conventional glove of
black. He was a well dressed man.
with q smooth shaved face. He was
examining some high priced stones.
With his other hand, the left one he
finally picked out a small diamond,
probably the least expensive Of the lot,
and asked the clerk to wrap 1t up. At
the same time he pulled from his trou-
sers pocket a roll of bills at least three
inches thick and with the left hand
deftly counted out enough to pay for
his purchase.
The clerk took the money and the
purchased gem and then seized the
tray to replace 1t In the case.
As he did so he rapidly counted with
his eye the remaining stones. as was
his custom. There were two missing,
In addition to the. one he himself had
taken from the tray. He glanced sus-
piciously at the one armed man.
81 beg your pardon, SIR" he said po-
litely, but reaching as he did so for his
revolver underneath the counter, "but
there are two stones missing. I-have
you taken themT He made this In
Quiry with hesitation.
The one armed man looked the clerk
sQuarely In the eye. you are quite
right to be careful" he said pleasantly,
''but 1 did not take the stones. How
many. were there beforeY'
The clerk told him. Come" return
ed the man; 1--WE will count them to-
gether, then"
They did So They found the tally
right. There was none missing. The
man was right and the clerk was
wrong. He apologized profusely, but
the one armed man took no offense
whatever at the incident. He received
his diamond and his change and spent
several minutes chatting about dia-
mond robberies and safeguards against
them and then went his way.
"Queer thing happened them" called
the clerk to another. II came near
telling that swell that he was thief;
thought that he took q couple Of bril-
liants. counted 'em wrong and told
him that he must have 'em. He said
he hada't. Then counted 'em over
again and found 'em all right. And he
wasn't mad about 1t either"
"Are you sure they're right now?"
returned the other. an older man. Let
me see the tray" .-
The tray was produced Before it
reached the counter the old man seized
the two largest diamonds It contained
and held them to the light.
"Done, by Georger' he exclaimed.
These are made Of glass; that's all"
Sneakers" Kelly, the crack plain
clothes man at headquarters. was put
on the case at once. .
1--WE heard Of this fellow" he an
nounced7fo the jewelry firm. Hes a
new proposition and a slick one at that,
I understand, and there have been
good many complaints about him. We
haven't, been able to make touch as
yet. IN see what / can do, but guess
it's best for you to charge the thing up
to profit and loss right now. Even IL
overhaul the man it's ten to one won't
get theastones. I'll do my best. though,
gentlemen"
That happened in Chicago In Janu-
airy Of the next year, ON q cold, crisp
day. two prosperous looking men stood
almost side by side In fashionable
jewelry store
One Of them was dressed In furs and
wore rich jewels. He was snowy
man, with a red face. This was
"Sneakers' Kelly Of Chicago.
The other man was q man Of grave
He wore q gray beard
and his hair was tinged with white.
By his appearance he was an arist0-
the president Of q bank.
In his LEFT hand he held fur mitten-
only one. His right was clothed In
light cOiored suede glove. He was
buying diamonds.
Kelly watched this man closely
more closely than did the clerk. Final
~ the clerk handed out few small
bills and a small white packet and he
left. sAs he did SO Kelly followed him.
WheA they reached the sidewalk Kelly
touched him on the arm. The man
glanced at him but once, and then
swinging around suddenly struck KEEL
ly In the head with his right hand. It
was hard as iron. Kelly was stunned.
He reeled and fell. When he came to,
the other man was about to enter q
which stood at the curb. The
carriage started of, but before the
door was shut Kelly had succeeded In
seizing that right false arm with q
tight and unrelenting grip. The man
beat him about the face with the other
hand and the coach went faster and
faster, but Kelly chung desperately to
the hand, his feet dragging upon the
street below.
Suddenly. as they swung around a
corner. there were a snap and a Jerk
and Kelly fell. face downward on the
pavement. 1t was late in the after
noon and dark and no one had noticed
what had happened, Kelly lay for
but soon recovered and scram-
bled to his feet. just In time to avoid
being run down by a heavy truck.
And as he rose he grasped something
tightly In his arms. This object he
bore to brilliantly lighted window
and examined it, 80.
"Byl George. that's clever" unused
Kelly to himself. land now he'll have
to get new onel First blood for me-
Limping. he wendell his way, back
10 the store from which he had started
'Look here" he exclaimed to the clerk.
lfter he had made known his identity.
hold out your hand"
The clerk did 90. The detective held Il
orth a long, false arm and pulled
wire that protrnded from It's upper |