The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-03-10
AN EKCHANG
OF BAGS

lSopyFiSal, ASua, by 4. ~ McIiure.I
1t happened twenty years ago, and to
this day | am puzzled to know how ]
exchanged bags with a fellow traveller
pn the train from London TO Liverpool
The exchange was made however, and
SO exactly alike were the bags that
supposed had my own until found
that my key would not open it. / adj
vertised for the owner Of the strange
bag and for the holder of my own, and
/ let six weeks elapse before taking the
bag to iocksmith and having him fit
key
had met with no great loss III my
bag, and / gained nothing by the ex-
change. Aside from d few articles of
wearing apparel the strange bag con
tanned only papers. | felt for a time
that / had no right to read these docu-
ments, and they had been In my pos
session nearly six months before
brought them out one evening and
spent two hours III their perusal
I was an old bachelor, and am to this
day for that matter | was also a bar
rister and am not so old but what l
dabble In law bit yet. The papers
were carefully prepared legal docu-
ments bearing on the case of Major
Saunders an English army officer who
had been oashiered In Egypt They
proved him great scoundrel, taken
altogether, and my opinion was that
some one with a private grievance TO
satisfy had employed a lawyer and a
detective to trace the majors record
back for many years and make him
out as guilty Of almost everything but
murder. could not recall that / had
ever read or heard of him and certain
IL had no idea of ever meeting him
face to face Strange things happen In
this world, however
On the second afternoon after my
perusal OF the papers was invited by
a friend to dine with him at his club.
The Leisure Hour club was respecta-
bic In a way. but had the reputation
of numbering q good many high rollers
among its members. There was all
ways play going on, and it was SO high
that more than one man had come to
financial grief After dinner / was
taken into the card room, and It was
there that came face to face with Ma
jor Saunders. He had come home from
Egypt and changed his name and by
avoiding the military clubs had escap-
ed recognition Indeed. he was posing
as a Frenchman and making no claim
to having been an officer.
You will wonder how / recognized
him. My profession has made me as
observing as a detective. The papers
contained minute description Of the
man-as minute as If lie had been
murderer fleeing from justice, One Of
the points was d particular scar on his
face, another was the shape of his nose,
another was slight limp IN his gait,
stlll another was a finger missing from
his left hand, carried away by the bull
let Of a dervish.
Before making any move IN the mat
ter / set myself to find out why the
major visited the club at all. soon
discovered that the high play was the
magnet and the three OF us who
watched him like SO many hawks were
not long In making out that he was one
of the cIeyerest card sharpers of the
day He had been a winner from the
first, but was such a slick one that he
had not been detected In cheating. We
made no mistake on him. Not whis-
per was permitted to get around until
we had the most convincing proof that
he was cheat and d swindler.
How he got on to me and the fact
that had papers in my possession in
eliminating him is d greater mystery
than the exchange Of bags. / have
sometimes figured that he might have
been the owner Of the bag / opened,
having perhaps stolen it from the right
ful owner Something must have been