Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-14
BY A. MAYNARD BARBOUR

I ouards seemed to have any knowledge CT the
! time or method Of Baymonds escape, 50 potent
was the srcll cast over them by the money 'hch
| he had scattered with ijN.s hness bora OF des
| peraticn.
Harry Thorpe carcd at the Jail, accompanied
/ by his s,tu. wktm he wa., unable 10 dissua1e
| fir. IN coming tron entering the Sheriff office
/ they were ~ once aware suEiC unu-uI -
and excitement, and TLcipc felt his pulse quick,
en- at thought Of what it might signify. A mo-
| ment later they were met by the Sheriff who in
formed them that Raymond was gone Mildred
grew suddenly pale with an underlined dread;
Harry, remembering Ned's words had but Que
fear.
"Gonc!" he exclaimed. "What do you mean.
Mr.. Lawton-surey not suicde!'
mo, nothing so definite as that the Sheriff
answered shortly, "he has simply disappearcG.
/ leaving no trace whatevcr----' lie stopped
abruptly 1--WE shall get track Of hiu, though.
[ of course; he cannot escape, and it VIII not be
well for any friends of his who ore found 20
have abetted him in ths!' and his face dark
ened anQrily.
Mr.. Lawton' said Thorpe with dignity, "vom
iusnuations are wholly uucalled for. My sister
and myself are Mr.. Raymonds nearest fricnds,
and we know more than YOU regarding his IS
cape, nor as much, for you have not even told
us the particulars.
Lawton apologizoj. Il beg pardon, | spoke
hastily. but, naturally, l am annoyed oTer what
has occurred. We are not giving out any par
ticulars Mt present; We don't care to nave tho
public get hold of this if can help it. OUr
detectives are at work, and we hope 20 get E'nl
before the press gets on to this
Mr.. Lawton's hope vain. Ned Raymond
escape and the futile efforts of the detectives to
find even trace VI him were exploited by the
press till at last the public lost interest in the
matter Gradually the search was abandoned by
all save one, 4 silent kcen-eyed man. with iron
gray hair, the oldest and ~hrewdest nan on the
g.
but resolved to maintain what he termed IL
still hunt" confident he would at last run his
game to cover.
Meanwhile Thorpe and his sister. scarcely dat
ing to speak to each other of their hopes
and fears watched and prayed, aud. rs the
months passed in rnavailiug effort, veaiurcd L.
take courage.
Five years passed and neither word nor sign
came from Ned Raymond. lie had disappeared
as completely the pebble which sinks beneath
the wave. Sargent. still keeping up the hunt,
bad not clue to follow: all he could do WAS to
work along the lines of his own theories, and
far these had failed. Thorpe and his sister i't
tic tduught how constant a watch was Kept upon
their mail: they received few letters Or papers
that did net uass under hi, keen scrutiny bat
thus lar Neal Raymond had made mistakes
lie had not committed the usual error of Try
ing to communicate with his friends; he was
content to drop, not only out Of their sight, but
out of their thought.
But to live year after year with no word or
sign from those left behind j. still harder task.
and this the old detective knew. lie knew the
craving that comes, sooner or later, to every eN-
lie for tidmgs from home-some word no mat
ter how meagrc. lie began TO visit the new spa
per offices, inquirng whether requests were re-
Ceived now and then tor papers to be mailed to
unknown parties at distant points. While thus
quietly keeping up the search something occurred
at the end of three years which, while offering
clue, spurred him to renewed effort, and
though two years had since passed with no re.
suit, he still had hope.
Sitting one day in the office of the AJiddlehcd
inquirer the leading daily of the town, he put
the customary question.
why yes was the reply. eve had such Il
request the other day: order for papers to be
sent to some unheard-of-place. somewhere oue
West. joe what was that address? Oh ycs.
here it is; @, care Of George Dixon. s. NJ and
II. Ry., Robinson. n d.. That @ stuck me
a. rather peculiar
ANY particular copies Wantod:'
NO lust two II three recent papers inchl-
ing Sunday edition..
'',Iust let me look at that address, viii you:'
The general manager smiled as Mr. SARGENT
copied the address in his notebook.
whats up now ne inquired, "Dhn't know
You had ANYTHING spacial on hand at present"
There ar a few things in this world Far
sons that You don't know, even il YOU are a
newspaper man." Mr. Sargent replied b!andly as
he walked out of the Office
Five days later, as the wcst-hound eVp.ess over
the St NJ. aud r. Rv. stopped at Robinson, Mr.
Sargent sterrcd from the train upon the plat
form and inquired Of the first man he met for
George Dixon.
In there" Was the reply indicating the tee
graph operator. visible through a window neat
by The detective entered the little box which
served as telegraph office