Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-11-30
A Dead Easy Thing

Mr., Adelbert Yonge, as we will call
him, had been voyaging in eastern seas
with his yacht. He was a young man
of twenty-four and resident of New
York, and while he was known among
his set as good fellow he was also
known as conservative.
When the yacht got around to GER
tain port in Spain the owner went off
one day to view the leading cathedral
by himself. AS a matter of fact, the
other three had said that they would
rather see one bullfight than ten cathe-
drals, and they We're left to enjoy
themselves in their own way. Mr..
Yonge saw the cathedral from the out
side and from the in. While he was
visiting the interior two ladies passed
him, and one deftly slipped note into
his hand. He made out that the note
slipper was girl and the other her
duenna. His heart gave several jumps
ere he got outdoors and found oppor-
tunity to read the note.
+ you are an American" read the
note, "and appeal to you as an Amer
lean. Five years ago an uncle of mine
who desired to get possession of my
fortune had me shut up in the convent
called the Sacred Heart. l have been
a prisoner ever since, and it has been
given out in America that l cm dead.
Once week / am allowed to visit the
cathedral but am always closely
watched l saw you week ago and
determined to appeal to you. For
heavens sake, rescue me from this liv-
ing death. If you can place a ladder
against the northwest corner of the
wall surrounding the convent at 10
o'clock on the night of the 14th, can
persuade Sister Mary to permit me to
pass into the grounds and thus escape
Bring rope twenty feet long with
you. Bring horses or carriage. There
is no way you cen answer this except
In person.
Some conservatives would have stop
ped to analyze bit, but Mr.. Yonge
didn't There was an American girl in
distress, and it was his duty to rescue
her. He would mount the wall, pull
her up with rope and then take her
aboard his yacht. He would then
steam away, and who was to catch
him? He had it all planned out before
/, his impulsive companions got back
from the bullfight They did not see
the matter as he did.
When Mr.. Yonge had announced in
cast iron tones that he intended to res
cue the girl single handed il his friends
were afraid to tackle the job with him
they could do no less than offer their
services. One of them was sent to buy
rope, another to look for ladder and
the third to survey the wall. Yonge
himself saw to the provisioning of the
yacht and the overhauling of her ma
chinery. He would steam out of port
the minute the damsel was aboard.
When the night of the 18th came all
was In readiness. A vehicle was pur
chased outright instead of hired. Moth
Ing had transpired to arouse the suspi-
cions of the people in the convent, and
1t was looked upon as dead easy
thing to make the rescue.
The night was dark and rainy. 1t
was the night of all nights to rescIe an
American damsel from a Spanish con-
vent. Yonge had only two compan-
ions. One drove and was to act as look
out, and the other was to hold the foot
of the ladder and help the rescued girl
to descend without breaking her neck.
Not a dog bayed or cat meowed as
the angle of the wall was reached. If
Sister Mary had done her part and If
Miss Britomarte had not tainted away
while waiting. then five minutes would
see her out of that and laying plans to
give her uncle surprise party. There
was feeling of the heroic about him
as Yonge mounted the wall. The water
ran down the back of his neck and
filled his side pockets, but he was not
discouraged. He was OH top of the
wall fishing with a rope and trying to
locate the damsel when half dozen
dark lanterns flashed at the foot of the
ladder and six strange men appeared.
They had not come to assist in the res
rue of Miss Keith, but were in the uni
form of the police and spoke with COM
mendable frankness.
Mr.. Yonge was ordered to descend or
take bullet from a revolver, and a
minute later the handcuffs were slip
ped on the trio. There were two other
carriages close by, and presently the
three vehicles set out and made
drive of six or seven miles to stone
barn in the suburbs of the city. Here
the prisoners were put through the
third degree in great shape. When the
sergeant of police got through detail
Ing the enormity of the offense they
were white as milk and thin as water
The least that any of them might ex-
pect was an hour on the rack and
twenty years in dungeon. The aver
age American has a commercial mind.
These three men had. They began to
diclSer for their lives. To their great
Joy the sergeant was willing to listen.
He finally admitted that il the convent
were heavily reimbursed, the police
paid for their time and if the yacht
would put to sea instanter the ends of
justice would be subserved. 1t must be
rash on the nail, though, and no shay
Ing down.