davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

undeniably fascinating. After watch
ing her for a few minutes, l saw quite
clearly what the Minister had meant
when he said that no one who knew
her could believe her capable of de-
ceit. There was an aroma of honesty
about her that could not fail to i'm
press the most casual observer.
The Minister was talking to her
earnestly, while her duenna was SIM
ilarly engaged with some one on the
outer side of the carriage. watch
ed his face, and gradually saw the
smile die out of it and a look of hope
less dependency take its place. In
a moment l jumped to a conclusion.
The Minister was in love with the
girl himself for all his sixty years,
and she had. just refused him.
Pretty soon he turned away. look
ing GUNNER than ever, and a few
minutes later Wilton appeared in his
place. l had pressed closed by now
and was listening with all my ears.
you won't forget, Countess" he said
earnestly, mot even if have to go
away for a long time"
But, no, surely not, Senior" she re-
turned. Il will" Just then the du-
emma, who didn't seem to like Wilton,
interrupted. Your chief, al, Ministro,
was just here. Senor," she said.
Instantly Wilton was recalled to his
duty. "A thousand thanks. Sonora"
he returned. Il wish to find him.
Which way did he go?" A moment
later the lad was tearing along the
square after the minister. while l WIS
making my way back to the legation,
pondering and smiling to myself. Ev-
erything was clear now-and had been
for some time, for that matter
At the legation l found the minister.
His face was white. my God, Bax"
he exclaimed. You were right. Wilton
must have bene betraying us. Look at
this note-fHsm the palace"
l looked at it. 1t granted all our
demands; offered everything we ask
cd. 1 never saw a more complete col
lapse in my life. 1t was just such a
note as might be expected if the G.
government had learned the contents
of that fake cable, and had decided to
climb down before the shooting began
so that it could assert that it had not
acted under duress. The minister, who
knew the, contents of the fictitious
message appeared to feel sure that
this action proved Wilton's dishonesty.
But by that time l had pretty good
line on the situation. Excuse me, Mr..
Minister" 1 said. II must remind you
that 1 never accused Wilton of betray-
ing us. What 1 said was that for his
own sake it was necessary to put him
under observation, and l was right.
Now, if you will call him in, I'll engage
to find the rascal in the case for you"
1t wasn't necessary to call him,
however, for just then he came rush
ing in in great excitement. Thank
heaven, you are back, sir" he exclaim-
ed. That dispatch you gave me was
awfully important. Here it is" He
paused and glanced at me.
Eyes, l know" answered the Minis
ter weadly, l thought. ut doesn't
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

matter just now. This gentleman has
| something to say to you, Wilton"
| We'll, sir?" The boy turned to ma
inquiringly. He was a fine lookinS
young fellow and my heart warmed 70
him. ~
Mr.. Wilton" said I. 81 am a Secret
| Service man, sent over here to Ana
out who has been betraying orr
official dispatches to the c. gov.
eminent and enabling them to check
mate US. Well, I've found the mar
Now, just to oblige me, will you sIt
down and write a few lines on the
paper lying on your desk yonder?"
I pointed to the desk where he had
done the translating.
The young fellow looked at me for
so long that l thought he was going
TO refuse, but at last he sat down
What shall 1 writer" he asked.
ION, anything. Just a line or two"
He wrote and looked up. Then
turned to the Minister. Now will
you add a few words, Mr.. Minister"
1 asked.
'I?" Even the request startled him.
IF you kindly will"
The old man heSitated longer Than
Wilton had, but he wrote at last
Then l touched the bell and the negro
messenger arrived. I turned to him,
Joe" 1 said, Mr.. Wiltons desk
needs. a fresh blotter. Get one at
once"
The fellows yellow face grew
ashen. Take off that top blotter and
get a fresh one," 1 commanded,
menacingly.
Yes, sub; in a mint, subj" He
turned and rushed out of the room A
moment later l heard the outer door
slam, and turned to the Minister and
smiled.
"Y0u,1 navar coo him ao,in ;, '
said. Hes the thief. Look here"
1 lifted the top blotter from the
desk and there, between it and the
lower one, was big sheet of white
paper and a big sheet of carbon i'm
preston paper, SO arranged that any
one writing heavily on top of the desk
with a pencil-as Wilton always did
would inevitably leave a copy of his
writings beneath, somewhat crs-
crossed, of course, but still legible. l
had seen the man extract the sheet
bearing the last message while he
was Strengthening up the room and |
was in the closet. We let him go, of
course, because we couldn't we'll man
age to punish him.
1 got quite a reputation by my skill
in solving that problem so quickly.
Yet l was wrong until almost the
very end.
asked both the Minister and Will
ton to write to see which wrote hard
enough to make the impression
through that thick blotter. 1t was
Wilton; the Minister wrote so lightly
that he made almost no marks on the
concealed paper.
And the Countess? She married the
Minister a month later and came back
to the United States with him. 1 was
wrong, you see, even about the refusal
on the Plaza.
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

in it. This bell weighs more than 44O,-
900 pounds, is more than 10 feet high
and so feet 9 inches in circumference
What a noise it would make If it
should be hung up and rung like any
other bell!
Among celebrated bells those of the
Church of St. Mary lie Bow, in Lon
don, must never be omitted. Bow
Bells they are called, and all cock
neys," or genuine London people, are
supposed to be born within sound Of
their ringing.
1t was Bow Bells which Dick Whit
tington thought he heard speaking TO
him when he was poor and discourag-
ed in London with no baggage but his
pet cat.
They are the ones that gave Dick
fresh courage and made him become a
rich merchant and a knight, who was
elected three times to the office Of lord
mayor, as the Bells of Bow had told
him he would be.
In Belfast, Ireland, is preserved an
old bell which is 1889 years old. II is
covered with precious stones and flli-
gree work of gold and silver THE
Bell of st. Patrick's WIFI it is called,
and the story is that the Saint had it
made especially for himself and left
1t in his will to a church in the Irish
city.
Hanging in churches in Sicily are
the bells which, more than 900 years
ago, rang the "Sicilian vespers." The
French had taken possession of the
island at that time, and the Sicilians
planned to get rid of them. So, by
preconcerted arrangement, when the
bells rang for ,vespers on the third day
after Easter in the year 1882, the Sicil-
ians broke out into revolt and massa-
cred 5000 Frenchmen.
Then there was the great bell OF
Client, Belgium, which was named
Roland" for in old times it was the
custom to give names to bells. Ro-
land used to be rung to call the cHl-
zens to arms. Many times was It
rung to arouse the people to take up
arms against foreign and domestic ty-
rants until the Emperor, Charles V,
got tired of its ringing and melted 1t
down.
In its place is now a chime Of must.
cal bells, which ring pleasantly OF
peace and call to war no more.
But Of all bells, ancient or modern
the one most dear to Americans Is the
Liberty Bell" which is now kept IN
Philadelphia and occasionally sent on
patriotic journeys to different parts OF
the country. This bell it was when
by it's ringing announced to the peo-
pie waiting outside that the Declare
ton of Independence had been signed
by the members of the Continental
Congress.
The bell was cast in England some
time before the War of the Revolu-
tion, but singularly enough there was
inscribed on it at It's casting, as II
in preparation for the work 1t was TO
do, the inscription: Proclaim liberty
throughout the land unto all the peo-
pie thereof"
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

, Der is shown by his book. By the time
foreign government has learned
enough of our code to make use of IT
the key number is changed and hey,
presto. all its work has to be done over
again.
OF course C could get copies of
all our dispatches in one way or an
other from the cable company; but
these would do it no good without the
code. and the code, the department felt
pretty sure. C did not have, es-
pecially as the key number had re-
Gently been changed. The theory was
that each individual message must
have been betrayed by some one in the
legation, after the translation had been
made.
No one but the minister and the sec
rotary Of legation is ever supposed to
touch the code book; both il and the
translations of the dispatches are kept
in a safe the combination of which is
known oG@ to the minister himself;
all tTansat.ng must be done in the in
ner room OF the legation, close TO the
safe, and the room must never be left
by both minister and secretay at once,
except when the code and the dis
patches are carefully locked up. In
brief, it is impossible for dispatches
to become known. except by the care
representatives.
Now, our representatives aboard are
nearly always honest, but they are
also very liable to be fascinated by
the foreign women. Our men-es-
pecially our Western men-are not
used TO the sort of women they meet
over the water. They reverence wo-
men so highly that it never occurs to
them TO imagine that highly born,
titled aristocrat, with all the money
she wants, would descend to play with
them for the express purpose of
wheedling government secrets out of
them.
In diplomatic cases abroad 1 always
seek the women first of ALL Therefore,
when l found that the Secretary OF
Legation, Fred Wilton. was head
over-heels in love with the Countess
Ricardo, daughter of the Premier,
was satisfied that it was he who-per-
haps without knowing it himself-was
giving his government away day af-
ter day.
went to see the Minister and laid
the case before him. 1t seemed so
clear to me that only my lifelong
habit of not committing myself pre-
vented me from making a direct
charge against Wilton; as it was, there
was no mistaking my suspicious. In
fact, did not try to hide them.
The Minister listened to me with
his impassive poker face, which I
thought would never change. until 1
mentioned the Countess Ricardo as
the probable woman in the case. Then
he fired up.
Mr.. Bax," he said in tones that
trembled in spite of his efforts to
keep them steady, you are making a
serious mistake when you accuse the
Countess. l have the honor of that
lady's acquaintance, and I beg to as
sure you that she is utterly incapable
of an underhand action. AS for Mr..
Wilton, he may or may not love her.
(the old fellows voice trembled a
little as he said this), but whether he
does or not, he is too careful and con-
scientious to permit himself to be led
into any such fault"
Perhaps so, Mr. Minister 1 re-
Piled. Yet somebody is stealing these
dispatches. Who besides Mr.. Wilton
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

fictitious. and his eyes kept getting
rounder and rounder. Finally he
jammed the message in his pocket,
pitched the books and papers in the
safe, and dashed out of the room.
started to follow him, and actually had
the closet door partly open when the
darkey came in to straighten up the
room. He kept me Tuning for ten
minutes. and when l finally made my
escape Wilton was gone.
l knew pretty we'll where to look
for him, however, and went at once
to the Plaza, whene the rank and fash
ion of the town were accustomed to
drive and talk every afternoon. The
Countess was sure to be there with
her duenna, and / felt certain that
where she was Wilton would be also.
But it was not he whom l am first,
but the Minister. There he stood
large as life, with his foot resting on
the step of the Countess carriage.
She was a pretty little thing not
over nineteen at the most, vivacious
like most of her countrywomen, and
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

Meanwhile 1 was to lock myself up
in a big closet in the room and watch
proceedings.
In a very few minutes was watch
ing Wilton pegging away at the dis
patch. while the minister had disap-
2eared.
1 could easily see the every move
ment of Wilton, and pretty soon l no.
ticed he was getting excited. Well ne
might. All former dispatches had
been conciliatory- in the extreme: this
one was the reverse. 1t was red hot
no one could read it without believing
that Uncle Sam meant war without
further parley. Summed up it ordered
the minister to demand his passpoI Is
the next day at noon unless all oar
demands had been granted by that
time. 1t was a dispatch calculated to
cause an earthquake at the palace, if
it ever got there-Which, of course. X
couldn't. unless it was stolen from tn,
legation, as the minister understood
thoroughly that II was fictitious.
But Wilton did not know it was
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
THE SPIES OF THE SULTAN
Turkeys Secret Service Extends All Over the
WorId-Even in This Country the
Sultan Has Agents at Work.
BY RALPH G. CARY.

Like Russias. Turkeys secret SER
rice is one of the most complete and
,ar-reaching in the world. There are
spies of the Sultan in the German
army. in the streets of ST. Petersburg,
n the cafes of Paris. as servants in
he families of English nobility, and
even in New York they secretly watch
he enemies of the Turkish govern
nent.
But it is especially in the Slavic
principalities on it's northern borders
md in Greece that Turkey has its
Iecret agents. So thorough is the sys-
EN- there that even the privately ex-
pressed opinions of government Off
:ials reach the ears of the head of the
Turkish police system. These spies
are especially watchful of the Mace
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

has access to them"
mo one, No one at all. EXCEPT my
self, of course! If they have been
stolen-and must say that it looks
that way-I am certain it was before
they reached this office"
Who translates them?"
Usually Wilton: sometimes N.Y.
self We follow the regulations sclu-
pulously. The work is always done
at that desk yonder and the transla
tons are never taken from the room"
Just at this point in came the col
ored messenger with a cablegram which
had just been brought from the cable
office. Here was my chance. took
from my pocket a fake dispatch which
l had fixed up in the code and got the
minister to arrange to turn II over to
Wilton to translate in the place of the
one just received, OF the arrival of
which l knew tho c. Government.
would be we'll informed. After giving
it TO Wilton the minister was to go out
saying that he wouldn't be back till
late.
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
BELLS THAT HAVE
RUNG FAMOUS THINGS
The Worlds Celebrated Metal
Voices.

1t would be hard to find any dnani-
mate object which has played so i'm
portant part in the history of the
world as the bell. The Tartars sound
ed gongs as they rushed to battle,
and the Florentines, when they went
to war, had battle bells mounted on
wheels which they brought out and
sounded with dreadful din"
Bells have rung to call citizens and
nations to arms and have sounded
over piIlaged and victorious towns.
Bells have given the signal for great
historic massacres, like those of St.
Bartholomew and the "Sicihan Yes
pers," and they have called for CEN
turtles, and are still ealing to we'd
dings and funerals, to church and to
festivities.
In a village in North China there
is bell which it is said has been ring
ing without intermssion for a CEN
fury. The natives believe that this
bell has peculiar influence on evil
spirits, and that at every stroke of the
iron tongue devil is forever put out
of business.
One would think that in a hundred
years, with the bell constantly ring
ing, the devils in that village must. by
this time, have been pretty well ex-
terminated. But the villagers do not
think so, and propose to keep up the
ringing for at least another century.
Relays of bell-rlngers perform the
task, and special tax is levied to nav
them for their work.
When the people get more civilized
there they will probably either give
up their foolish custom or buy an
electric motor to do the ringing.
The best-known bell in the world
Is one which has never been rung,
1t is called the Gear Kolokol. or the
Car Bell, and is the biggest in the
world.
After 1t was cast an attempt was
made TO hang II so that II could be
rung, but it broke from its supports
and made a hole in the ground into
which II sank.
For more than hundred years the
great bell lay where II had fallen. and
the earth accumulated over il and
about Il. Then came Russian ern-
peror who had II raised and placed In
a square IN Moscow. where IL now
stands
A piece was broken from its sids
when n fell. and through the openlnr
thus made people pass IN and o1it ~
the bell Ia 50 large that Il IL used A. :
chapel ana religious services are hsld
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
CLUES THAT FAILED
BY CRITENDEN MARRIOTT.

I, the average detective wrote the
story of his life, the longest chapter
would be devoted to clues mat failed
The watchword of the best detective is
mystery. He never let's the public know
what he really thinks.
Most detectives say they can't talk
because it might alarm their quarry. II
they know their business they refuse TO
tax so as 10 avoid committing them
selves until they're certain they've
made no mistake. Sherlock Holmes did
rot tell his case TO DR.. Watson until
they had worked out. Who knows
Row many mistakes he made? Every
detective must make them. Here is a
case in point:
Some years ago. shortly before Uncle
Sam became world power. he was
very nearly involved in var with the
republic of-well It's better rot % men
ton names-say the republic OF c..
c. had gotten it's back up for reasons
too long to rehearse. and had been act
ing like a spoiled child. oresuming on
the unw1llingness % the President 10
proceed to extreme measures
As matter OF fact i; was quite safe
in the presumption, for every dispatch
sent by our State Department to the
American minister at the capital of
o carried the same burden: DO
your best 20 make C behave, but
don't do anything that might lead to
war: the political situation at home
won't stand it just now"
Our minister at the capital OF c.
was an oldfashioned Western man
with a reputation for being able to win
three times in four with an are high
against an ace full and 4 certainly
seemed from his cablegrams that he
YVES bluffing to the limit. But it was
all no use. c. guessed him every
;ine and he had to back down ds grace
fully as he could.
Such knowledge of the political stu
alton at home on the part Of an unim-
portant government was amazing. The
minister could not explain, and the
Secretary of State couldn't understand
1t at all. If the c. Premier had been
reading out every dispatch over the
minister's shoulder he couldn't have
managed his game better. IT was too
ana ing to he nat raj. and after a Will
the State Department came 20 the con-
ciuslon that somebody was betraying
AS.
AS soon as it began to suspect this
in good earnest it cabled to me to run
over from a 'neighboring country where
l was on duty to investigate.
Over l went, hot foot: and, once ar
rived 1t didn't take me very long to
fix on the guilty man. The department S
cipher code is worked thus: 1t consists
of a lot of phrases and words and let
tiers, each of which is represented by
a certain number. Any particular
message is translated into these num-
bers which are then cabled in the or
binary way to the minister, who trans
lates them back into their original form
by means of a copy of the code in his
possession. To guard against the sig
nificance of any of the numbers becom-
ing known, the department also has a
key number which it changes from tina
TO time, and this controls all the other
numbers. For instance: Suppose the
key number to-day is plus three
that means that before translating a
code dispatch the minister must add
three to each number in it. Similar
ly before sending a code message he
must substract three from each num-
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
Not a scrupuIous Lot.

Not n ScrupuIous Lot.
THE fact that a suspected man
takes part in a fight and kills his Turk
is not positive proof that he is no
spy" says Ivan Radouloff, a Mace
DOMAIN, now in New York, and a
veteran of several insurgent cam
paigns. THE instructions of a secret
service agent permit him to take Turk
ish lives. If by so doing he can gain
the further confidence of the enemy.
A case of that sort was illustrated
some months ago before 1 left Mace
donia.
I'm a certain town where the secret
insurgent committee was unusually ac-
tive, a succession of unaccountable
disasters almost paralyzed the insur-
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

have persuaded them to commit. In
disputable proof of the priests guilt
was discovered. He had entered the
church as a novice years before, and
had been a Mohammedan spy all the
while he was processing Christianity.
The intruder restored everything
they had disturbed and reported to
their secret local revolutionary com
mittee. A tribunal was formed at
night in the neighboring mountains
the priest was forcibfy taken there
and tried. They spent two nights
giving him full opportunity to de-
fend himself, but the decision went
against him. Two of the committee
men were selected by lot, and they
shot him.
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
Yankee Tricked Out of Contract.

AdhAee Arlckeu Out OF contract
An agent of a large American firearm
manufacturing house made a special
visit to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
with the object of getting contract to
supply the Bulgarian army with the
make OF rifle which his firm manufac
tured.
1t was only with the greatest difficult
ty that he could get his one specimen
rifle through Austria. He arrived safe
" in Sofia. however, and was allowed
to present his rifle at the testing
grounds, where representatives of othe:
gun manufacturing firms we're compet-
ing with their specimens--some Ger
man, some English. The American RI
lie was given first trial. Then came
the English and German gun men. The
comparative penetrating merits of each
make of rifle was carefully tested, and
to his surprise, the American found his
inferior to the others. whereas he hai
expected to score especially IN that one
point. He insisted upon a second trial
bur again his bullets failed 10 penetrate
taa testing wood as deeply as those Of
his competitors.
OF course, his gun was closed out of
the contest. end he returned to Paris,
much chagrined over a defeat that he
felt he did not deserve. On the train
between Sofia and Vienna, he did much
thinking. His cigars were o. remark
aoly good brand, presented to him by
Prince Ferdinand, and they helped hirI
along to definite train Of thought.
He remembered that the valet he had
engaged in Paris had suddenly left him
ir. Sofia, just after his Failure at the
proving range. He remembered that he
claimed to be Greek, although he had
rever gone into reminiscent talks OF his
native district, as a man would be like
~ to do with one who was his daily as
sJc'ate. Then II struck him that the
wages the fellow had asked were re-
markably small. and that he always
declined tios.
AT Vienna the American got off his
train, went to a hotel, retired to a room
ava brought out his testing apparatus.
TIe opened one cartridge after another,
ard carefully examined it. Each one
he'd been tempered with. Then he
cursed the thoughtlessness which hal
allowed him to give his gun and am
n1unition into the keeping Of Turkish
SPY, and kept the Bulgarian army frora
being equipped with rife superior 70
that used by the Turkish army.
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12
In n Renorter.s Guise.

A Macedonian now in New York
repeats story which was told him
by Boris Sarfo when the Mace
DOMAIN leader was visiting London.
Sarafoff was seated in a cafe in the
Strand when a well-dressed man APP
preached him and said in excellent
French, "IOu are Mr.. Sarafoff?"
The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-12

DOMAIN insurgent bands. and they have
often succeeded in joining these bands,
only to betray them at a critical
moment.