Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-27
CHAPTER XII.
The Chief of Police, the Two Rogues
and the Gentleman From New York.

I'm New York. Smith VINO, notWl'Hsta"o
ing mis- financial complication, was ABOUT
town as usual, could not help noticing ina.
there was an atmosphere of vague unrest
about. 1t disturbed him, but it made him
all the more determined 10 stay where he
was To attempt to leave he was quite
sure would precipitate a crisis. lie was
not looking for crises,
one thing worried him especially. That
was the danger of arrest in civil actohs
for fraud 1t was threatened in more thah
one case 1t seemed that the original Bill
lington O'Keefe had made false representa-
tons as to his financial ability, upon the
faith of which large credit had been ex-
tended to him. This had an ugly look, and
Smith did not like it.
a crisis was approaching The h ,,t town
which at enc time SWOre by BltllnSton
O'keefe, now began to swear at him ,
In the midst of it, little Mrs Hall l. II
mir. O'Keefe." she began, you have a
S5,oGo bond OF mine"
Smith nodded, but groaned inwardly
There was no bond, and never had been
any. He was in for it now.
Well, he inquired, looking her in the
face She leaned slightly in his direction
again laying that plump arm upon the ia
"Have you pen and ink" she asked
Smith. puzzled produced them The widow
took the pen and producing d small piece
of paper, scrubbed away for half n MIN
ute. Finally she threw the s;1all piece of
paper toward him. 1t was another check
to his order for $4,000. The widow with
smile not unmixed with expression Of
sympathy and trouble, came closer yet
MIR. O'Keefe." she said. that and my
bond are yours-the widows mite. ! am
so sorry. so very sorry for your trouble, and
j hope this will help TO straishten you out"
Constitutional Smith was not boor
There had been times when he would have
s@ihGled the widow out of three times this
amount with compunCtion. Perhaps If he
had been in position to take the cash and
light out with it, free as the air. ne would
have done now. But, as the counterfeit
of O'keefe he was living an honest life,
and the proba bility was that this money
would go to his creditors, and that ne
uld get no benefit from II. Beyond all
that he had considerable admiration for
this little widow who had 50 much regard
for him.
MADAM" he said gravely handing back
the check, you are one woman in thou
sand" The widow gave little gasp of sur
prise and pleasure. Let me keep the ponu
take back this check-and when l-When
the air has cleared | shall b.; able, IL may
be to restore even the bond to you IN
a wilderness of false friends, 1t is refresh
Ing to find one at least who is true.
He said this with a sort of old-tashioneu
grace which he thought beftted the occa-
sion. and with the same air, he took her
hand bent low. and kissed it. 1t was one
of the happiest moments in the little wa
CT believe" she remarked to herself
later. that he is really beginning to IKE
rne-and he used to be so cold ana formal
That woman" commented Smith to him
self later. ''is the real kind. She's the Wo-
man for Ellington O'keefe she IL suck
10 him through thick and thin. She's even
better than the girl, though the glrl IS wen
enough But the widow Is the tlns. pc
sides she's plump" Smith scratched his
head. Il never cared much for women my
self hut by George when l do like EN-,
like EN- fat
some time before this a plain clothes
man IN Monroe sat down and lndlted d iGt
ter Of which the following is a substantial
Chief of Police. Headquarters, Borough
Manhattan: - :,
formation I have furnished / have to re-
port that l have investigated the care er mere
of Ellington O'Keefe for period of rev
years last past. | find that at tunes ne
las been away from town for a consider
able time, ostensibly on matters connected
with the purchase of mines, cattle etc AND
that at other times, when 1t was supposed
he was In town, and confined 10 MS mousse,
he actually was away. The resemblance OF
this man O'Keefe to Smith is so great, and
OKeefes business operations here have
turned out to be nefarious, that L am
more than ever convinced that O'Keefe may
be Smith, although Smiths almost constant
presence In the east seems to contradict
this. There is also rumor here that
OKeefe Is not the real Okeefe at all, but
II seems to rest, so far, upon no foundation.
l will not move until you order me. In the
meantime l would suggest that you enter
upon an investigation which would furnish
us with absolute proof of the identity of
m s. D."
1t needed not this letter to stimulate the
New York force. The New York force was
on its mettle. The newspapers there We're
bowling for the production of Smith, and
bowling at the police force because they
were unable to produce him. This western
clue at first had seemed ridiculous; but the
man detailed to Monroe-a man who was
familiar with Smiths appearance-had
been so sure of the identity that head
quarters determined to run this clue to
earth.
The unfortunate part of 1t was that while
Smith perhaps had been In jail a number
of times he had not always been recog-
nized as Smith, and except for his general
appearance and height. etc.. there was
nothing to identify him positively.
But the New York force. classical geli-
uses as they were, are and ever will be
delved at once into ancient history. They
traced Smith back to his extreme youth,
and then followed the trail, slowly but
surely up to his manhood. This took some
time, but finally 1t was more or less salts
factory They did obtain some valuable
information. What II was will appear
later.
There is old saying that chickens in
variably come home to roost. Constitu-
tional Smith, except upon rare occasions,
had kept out OF the poultry business. But
his recent purchase OF two birds had given
him much trouble.
Contrary TO his CUSTOM he had employed
the two young toughs Nos 800 and AGO. to
aid him in his disposition of Ellington
O'Keefe. He had paid them 5000 apiece
a liberal distribution of his wealth. This
II seemed, was not enough. They soon
spent the money In riotous living in the
city OF San Francisco. Then they came
back for more.
They intimated gently that If Constitu-
tional Smith did not, in the then customary
parlance, cough up they stood ready to
stand in with the police department and
hand him over to justice.
On the occasion of their first call Smith
took them into his little den. Once they
We're there he smiled and shook a warming
finger at them.
Now, look-a- here. you fellows" he ex-
claimed, Il know you. and l know your
record. took pains to find a good deal
out about you before l ever put you on that
Job. l know good deal more now I'm
constitutional Smith. If you don't know
what that means, you go to Frisco and
ask few fellows there IL they ever heard
OF Constitutional Smith,"
He knew by their looks that they had
asked. Now, you done your work and you
been paid-paid well. It's more money
he added contemptuously, than you small
fry ever turned in your measy little lives
He paused an instant. then stepped sud-