The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-01-04

Stendhall had turned up the light in
his room. Then l abandoned my posi-
ticn and faced toward home At the
corner of the next cross street l looked
westward, attracted by the brightness
Of the moon. and SO l CHANGED to see Il
man coming out of Il house upon that
street.-the third from the corner. 1t
was my partner, John Hammond.
If his manner had been ordinary l
should have followed and hailed him.
but he was 50 obviously daunted by
tie brilIiancy of the night and made
/ such haste to pull his hat down 50 that
/ the shadow of its brim might shield his
face that was thrilled with q sudden
m0nSrous suspicion. aud / let him -
upon his way.
It seems certain that some revelation
must have come to me before in order
/ that l should have been prepared to
condemn Hammond upon such evil
dcnce There was merely the physical
/ possibility that Il secret passage might
lead from Stendhall's portico II this
! house upon the street below. and yet
| my mind would never have accaptcI 50
/ readily the suggestion of my partners
! treachery unless unnoticed hints Of its
inception had been accommodating in the
Temoter regions of my brain during the
past month of our joint lahors with the
| DesbOrough case.
In the succeeding portion of the night
1 slept little ana thought much, and as
a result of it all I went next morning
at the earliest possible moment to the
Central Safe Deposit vaults, where we
! kept certain documents of capital i'm
pOrtance to our affairs Among them
was the original contract drawn near
! ly twenty years ago between Clarence
Desborough and Richard Stendhall,
! whereby the former coded Il part Of the
| control of his business to the latter \
! dozen other men in the same field Of in
dustry had committed 4 similar indis-
erection, and then StendhaIl had exc
| cuted the first grand coup of the career
which raised him to such heights of
wealth and power. How it was done
has never been disclOsed-probably by
a trick as simple rs the commOnest
sleight of hand. The salient fact is
! that Stendhall began Mt once to AFRO
gate to himself powers not delegated
in these agreements, and when the
victims perceived his intent and turned
to study their contracts not one Of
| those documents could be found. Then
| began interminable lawsuits, marked
/ by incredible scandals, dsgracing
| Int
| that industry which he had planned to
seize grew always tighter Some of his
| opponents became his tools and waXcd
rich; others were ruined Two sue
Cumbed to the stress of the unequal
battle and died insane. One of these
was Clarence Desborough.
By what means the Desborough con
tract escaped destruction l do not
| know, but it was offered to the widow
! by Il Wrctched creature who had long
served Stendhall and had been discard
ed. My partner Hammond, had just
! formed the acquaintance of the Des-
boroughs and had lost his heart to Al
! ice, who was never in the least attract
| ed toward him The affair was put
! into his hands. l naturally took part in
| the investigation which followed. We
! satisfied ourselves of the genuinencss
and importance of the document and
| advanced to Mrs. Desborough the mod
crate price demanded. Its value was
| in the millions, but the man who sold
it cared little for money, knowing him
self to be on the brink of the grave
If Hammond was to play us false
| this document would be the nucleus O.
his treachery, and jealousy rather than
money the true motive. He fancied
that l had displaced him with Alice,
but this was impossible for the reason
which l have stated. Indeed. no one
| knew this better than he did in his
calmer moments, but jealousy is a kind
| of madness.
Surprising him to have had a trea-
| sonable interview with StendhaIl, there
was fair probability that the con
| tract had been exhibited and with thi;
thought in mind l went to the safe de
| post box that morning. The result
| seemed to Justify my suspicious, for
| the precious document was not there
| took post in Il convenient doorway
and within ten minutes saw Hammond
enter the Central cOmpany's vaults.
When he had gone away again l re
examined our drawer. The contract
was in its proper place
My plan WAS already formed. i
would have involved hazardous re
pOsal of confidence except for one for
| tunate circumstance-the mtn whom /
| must trust was my own father He
was 4 manufacturer Of the CoStlier
kinds Of paper and imperishable parch
ments and an expert in inks and sigma
! lures and all details that mark the
| authenticity or expose the fraudulency
of documents. 1t was upon his opinion
| that we had chiefly relied in the matter
Of the commences Of the Desborough
contract. It was to him l now carried
! it with the singular request that he
should prepare for me the best posi-
bic forgery
During the time necessary for this
work Hammond once visited the safety
deposit box and missed the document.
but I satisfied him with the falsehood
that it had been in my possession. On
the evening Of the same day my father
] - I