The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-09-01

THE DOOR OPENED, AND IN WALKED
wILLETT."
room from the fire escape and mouse
around a bit, but he didn't find any
thing and mighty near got shot. SO
the matter stood square the next morn.
ing, with no advantage on either side.
about o o'clock Willett started out
for walk, as he always did, and ard
three of my men Immediately began
hunt We had been in the room next
to his and had bored some holes
through the partition so that we could
see if he hid the document anywhere
or went to look at it in its hiding place
Nothing of that kind had happened.
but had formed 81 few dim suspicious
While the man was dressing | made
up my mind that the document was in
his coat pocket, and when he was eat
ing breakfaSt-which he ordered up-I
noticed that he was busy sealing up q
lot of letters which he had written the
night before. NOw&about that time he
made some rather slick motions. and it
was a question whether he hadn't tax
en- the document out of his pocket and
put it into one of the letters, which
were all in big envelopes. l didn't see
him do it, but l had a feeling about it.
II those We're straight letters and not
fakes, why didn't he take them out to
the mail instead of leaving them in the
basket on the table?
when we got into his room, l went
for those letters the first thing. while
my men divided the place into sections
and began the most almighty particular
hunt that anybody ever saw. | opened
the letters, one by one, very carefully,
because if the document was there !
wanted to get it in such way that
he wouldn't know it was gone. The
job Of opening and closing the letters
took me nearly an hour, and the docu-
ment wasn't there after all. My men
hadn't found any signs of it, but they
hadn't half finished. for you must I'M
derstand that it was a big room with
q lot of stuff in it, and we were dealing
with it piece at time, as man
handles pack Of cards when he sus-
poets that they're marked.
"In the midst of it the door opened,
and in walked Willett. which was a
great surprise to us, for we had set a
lookout and had arranged plan to stop
him, though, as a matter of fact we
didn't expect him back. and so l sup
pose our sentinel went and took drink
and the gentleman from Topeka slipped
by.
"'Well upon my soul! says he, reach
ing for his gun. What are you all do
ing here|
"'Mr. Willett,' says 1, tapping my
badge, this is our lawful duty, and,
though painful, we must do it. I'm the
city marshal, so there's no occasion for
you to draw iron. Ten silver spoons
have been missed in this house, and
one of the dining room help is suspect
ed. For the sake of that poor girls good
name says l, we've got to make a
search
"'Ten silver grandmothersr yells Will
lett. Wen see about this! And he be
gan to give me quite some language Of
one kind and another, especially after
he noticed that I'd been fooling with
his letters. The proprietor says he,
won't stand for this
"'You go ask him. 1 suggested
"John Fynes, who ran the Gladstone.
knew that Warren and his gang were
back of the game, though he didn't
know just what the game was How
ever, as Warren owned the hotel prop
erty and held mortgage on the body
and soul of Fynes, the exact nature Of
the business didn't cut much of fig
! IRE.
"Willett stalked away to see Fynes,
and he didn't come back. What story
the landlord threw into him l don't
know, but 1t was good. Willett left the