The Press., 1905-11-29
AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE.
Ills First and Last Experience I'm
 Tracing a Crime.

1 l Tracing a Crime.
 l "1 never attempted the Sherlock l Holmes business but once,'' said Blythe, ''and although ran down the | person 1 was after the results were not at all pleasant. One morning 1 missed a scarfpin, single pearl, worth about $50. I valued 1t more for it's associa- t1ons than almost anything else had decided to say nothing about it to my wife, because things of tbat sort all ways upset her. She suspects the serv- ants and does not hesitate to let them see it. Advertising a reward brought no results. One morning nearly two years after the pin was lost saw it in the window of pawnshop not three 1 blocks from my home. knew the po- lice captain of the precinct and induced him to send one of his ward men with me to the pawnshop. Matters were seson explained. I was able to prove my ownership of the pin. The pawn 1 broker consulted his books.
 "That pin," he said, "was brought here by woman who regularly pawns things here on commission. It is a busi-
 
 sion. Many persons, especially wom- en, who find it necessary to raise lit tie money in a hurry, are afraid to go in person to the pawnshop.
 'He gave me the name and address of the woman who pawned my pin, and looked her up. I don't want to make any trouble for you,' I said, but that pin was stolen. Just take me to the person who gave it to you to pawn, and you'll not be the loser.'
 "She complied willingly. She said she was sent for by a woman who had read her advertisement and was given the pin to pawn in the usual course of business. She got $20 for it, and after deducting her commission had paid the money over to her custom, and given her the ticket. She went to the pawn shop nearest the house to save time. Not until we were at my own doorstep did I realize where the woman was taking me.
 "'Do you mean to say that you got the pin in this houseT inquired.
 Certainly she replied. It was given to me by tall woman with red hair. If she still lives here should know her in a minute.'
 That will do,' said. Here is $5 for your trouble. shall be obliged by your not mentioning this incident to anybody
 "The woman she had described was my wife. We had bad quarter of an hour. She had pawned the pin to get money for rascallion of brother, who had since fled to Canada. He stole the ticket from her and had evidently been unable to sell it before he skipped. And the poor woman had been living in mental torture for months because she was afraid to tell me. That experience cured me of hankering for the detec- tive business. ."-New York Times. Coral Church on an Eastern Island.
 The church built of coral is one of the curiosities of the isle of Mahe, one of the Seychelles islands, in the Indian ocean. The Scyschelles is- lands, which are supposed by many to be the site of the Eden of the Old Testament, form an archi- pelago of eleven islands and are sit uated about 1,4OO miles east of Alden and 1000 miles from Zanzibar. They rise steeply out of the sea, culminat- ing in the isle of Mahe, which is about 5000 feet above the level of the ocean and is nearly the center of the group. All these islands are of coral growth. The houses are built of a species of massive coral hewn into square blocks, which glisten like white marble and show themselves to the utmost advan- tage in the various tinted green of the thick tropical palms, whose immense fernlil1e leaves give pleasant and much needed shade. These palms grow as high as 100 feet and more, overtop- ping both the houses and the coral built church They line the seashore and cover the mountains, forming in many places extensive forests.