Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-25
DAILY STORY
TWENTY MINUTES LATE.
Copyright, 1906. by c. ]. Hirt.l

Brisbane, q cOnSumptive, going home
| to die. He told me that his partner had
Jumped him and robbed him of a
| fortune. A London lawyer had written
| him Offering a small sum in settlement.
| On the strength of this offer, backed
| by some other papers he had showing
| that his disloyal partner was fugitive
| from the New Zealand law, the young
| man was going home to force the rob-
Der to diSgorge. He had an old mother
I in England, but no other near relative.
| He asked me to put his case into the
hands of q lawyer on arriving in Lon
don with view to getting something
out of 1t for the mother. This l agreed
to do. A day later Brisbane was dead.
l decided to call ON the lawyer who
had written the letter as the first
move. The man was shyster lawyer,
who was moving about when place
got too hot for him, and I had to get a
private detective to locate him. This
took week. When got at the lawyer
at last l judged him to be rascal. He
was very offensive at the start, but
when l brought up the New Zealand
matter he Gained down and was ready
to talk about a settlement. He claimed
that his client was in Paris, and an
other week was wasted. The name of
Brisbane's defaulting partner was
Saunders, and when at last he showed
up by appointment knew the two for
pretty pair of rascals.
We had it red hot for half an hour,
and then he cooled down and We got to
talking business. He soon became as
humble as he had been boisterouS, and
it was agreed that the three of US
should have a further talk that evening
at the lawyers house. 1t was the law
yer who suggested the evening meet
ing, as he would have a case out of
town next day and wanted TO get my
affair In shape as soon as possible. /
was to call at 307 Beacon street, in the
east end of London. AS the distance
from my hotel was all of five miles, i
was invited to take the underground,
which ran within half a block of the
street
While 1 didn't like the looks of the
two men, 1 apprehended nothing fur
Their from them than an attempt to
sharp" me. 1t was to be expected |
that they would beat the figures down |
as low as possible and bluff TO the last, |
but 1 felt perfectly safe from anything |
like personal assault. 1 took the under |
ground and was caught in an accident |
by which I waS> detained twenty min |
utes. 1 reached Beacon street to find it |
a street of mean terraces. 1t was Il |
dark and rainy night. the street i'll |
lighted, and all the people living on the |
first block seemed TO be snug within |
DOORS
1 hurried along to the number want |
ed and got it from counting ahead |
from 295. 1t was two story brick |
house, but showed no light at any win
dow. There We're six steps to go up.
and was about to ring the bell when
1 found the door ajar. l pushed it
wide open and looked into the hall, but
all was dark. I called out. but received
no answer. / heard some one coming
down the street at q slow pace, and as
the figure of a policeman doomed up
called out:
"Officer, can you tell me if this is
3O7?'
I'm new to this beat. and can't tell
you offhand." he replied, but We'll
soon settle the matter"
He assembled the steps, showed the
slide of the dark lantern he carried,
ber When we had done so he jolkingly H
asked:
Are you running away from your
house by night?"
What do you mean?"
"Why, it's to lease. Don't you see
the sign in the Window
Sure enough there was a sign. 1 had
put the number down in my notebook,
but it was an empty house 1 had been
told to call at. 1 was puzzling over it
when the officer asked:
who did you want to find?"
"a lawyer named Jacobs. He said
he lived here
Il don't know Jacobs" he said, ''but
he was liar when he told you what
he did. If you have any dealings with II
a man by that name look out for your
self. Hello, some one has left the door
open. That's like most of the care
takers along here"
He pulled the door to and we de-
scended the steps together, and 1 went
back to the hotel feeling that L had
been done. / could do nothing until the
next morning, and then I had reasons
for deciding to do nothing. The morn
ing papers contained an account of a :
murder at 307 Beacon street. 1t seemed
that about an hour after I left the Off
GER the door blew open again, and
when he went to close it he flashed his
lantern in the hall and found a dead
man. The victim had been struck with 6
a bludgeon and his skull crushed, and c
he had died almost Immediately. was t
brought into the case as having talked y
with the officer and made inquiries aft Z
er Jacobs, but no good description was
given of me. while it had been ascer-
tanned that Jacobs had fed. n
The case was called great mystery \
by the police, and no arrests were made n
in 1t. I knew how 1t was, however. :
Some one had called to make an in a
uuirY about the time I was axnected |