Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-06-17
meet you, Miss CarEaody. The pleas

meet you, Miss CarEaoIy. The pleas
ure is all mine-''
There was a twinkle in his eye
which was Irresistible. and Miss Car
mody laughed until the color came
to her cheeks, and she looked more
charming than ever. She took Mr..
Seymour in charge. and induced him
to tell the story of how he came to
solve. the mystery of the Hestor
bungalow. Mr.. Chalmers listened to
Mr. Seymour's carefully prepared
narrative.
when I received Mr.. Chalmers
,, telegraphic advices." said Mr.. Sey-
monr, Il made UP my mind that the
first place to search was along the
lumber docks. I thought it all over,
| and said to myself, it is like this:
If Hestor has built house in trop-
zeal America the lumber probably
came from New Orleans, which is
the great lumber market of the
south. The contractor might hail
from any place, but naturally he
would ship his material from New
Orleans. 1t was nearly dark when I
arrived in the city. l went to the
hotel, looked at my mail, and went
from there to the docks. 1 questioned
stevedores, dock-wallopers. sailors
| and levee men of all descriptions. I
went finally to a resort frequented
| by such men. There were probably
| so of them in the room. 1 picked out
! smooth-looking colored boy and
| told him l would give him S. if he
| would ask every man present if he
| ever helped load lumber for a man
| named Walter B. Hestor. | told him
all about Hestor; that he was news
paper man who owned yacht called
the Shark and that he was eccen-
trio. and liberal with his money.
He was bright coon,' said the
veracious Mr.. Seymour, land he
wanted to earn that money in a hur-
~. He got top of a beer key
and made a speech. Once in a while
he would misstate a point, and L
; would correct him. When he was
| through darkey. with a face as
black as the ace of spades came for
ward and asked me how much I
would give to know what boat that
lumber was shipped on. 1 did not
want to appear too anxious, so l Of
| fered him So. We went to one side,
and he told me that about a year ago
a man arrived in New Orleans with a
yacht called the Shark and that the
owner superintended the loading of a
lot of lumber, doors, windows and
| stuff on a schooner called the Sam
Walker He described Hestor to a
| dot. He said Hestor's chief amuse-
ment was to throw money to the ne
| groes along the levee to induce them
| to sing and dance. He would stand
on the Sam Walker and throw coins
by the hour. until the levee was
| black with darkies.. l knew he had
| the right man. I gave him the So
would locate the Sam Walker for
me. At about midnight we found
that the schooner was at Lake Pont-
chartrain. and was going to sail the
next morning. I paid my colored
friend and started for the West End
| I found the Sam Walker l wanted
to get the information without eXcit-
| ing suspicion. | learned that the
| first mate was ashore in some of the
drinking resorts of the place. Then
I re- across a friend of mine who
was much intoxicated. I used him as
a to d. Early in the morning | found
| the Hrst mate. From him L learned
| that the schooner was going to Ha-
vana. He was pretty full. and l bribed
him to let me go aboard the schoon-
er. There was no way to shake my
| friend. whose name is Bender, so W.
| took him along.
ITO Be Continued