Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-01-01


The wonder is that Thompson succeed
ed In keeping this many links In the
chain. Maybe in his more prosperous
days he had mania for clippings. At
best we mustn't be disappointed II
there are long gaps In the story"
"Yes," l agreed again. THAT'S evi-
dent enough"
Every well. Wen begin with the
clippings. then, substituting Tremaine's
name for the one used. The first clip
ping is merely marriage notice, an
nouncing that on the 23d Of August.
1888, Tremaine married one Terese
Bertigny at Dieppe. Let me see. Ire
maine was then probably about twenty
years Of age. No doubt he was born
at Dieppe, so that the name given here,
Victor Charente. Is his real one. You'll
notice that he's retained his first name.
which is q bit Of corroborative evi-
dence."
"Or q mere coincidence" I supple
mented.
"I'll wire our correspondent ut
Dieppe to look up this Charente. Per.
haps he can get photograph. That
would settle the question"
l nodded. Yes, that would settle it.
for Tremaine ut forty was probably not
greatly different from Tremaine at
twenty.
"The second clipping" proceeded
Godfrey, SHOWS us that our hero soon
wandered from the straight and mar
row path, and gives us, too, Il little
light upon his personal history. In the
spring following his marriage-April
1G, 1884, to be exact-while assistant
manager Of the ship supplies house of
BriQuet Freres, he absconds with 10000
francs. He Is believed to have gone to
America, to have been smuggled out Of
the harbor by friendly American cap
tain. Surely, it is not impossible" he
added, that this friendly American
captain was Thompson"
VERY few things are impossible" l
commented. / began to be impatient
with Godfrey. He was permitting his
prejudice against Tremaine to warp
his judgment
"Well, we'll keep that for hypothe-
sis, anyhow" And he turned to the
third clipping. "This," he continued,
Shows us that he indeed came to
America. 1t is dated July %, 1885. and
states that a young Frenchman and a
tramp skipper named Johnson-ah. you
see?
did, indeed, see. Here was the first
appearance Of Tremaine's Zombi - Of
his familiar devil. looked at Godfrey
with the liveliest admiration. This
constructive reasoning was something
which l certainly was quite Incapable
Of.
$50 that on Thompson's arm was
the initial Of his real name" observed
Godfrey. 81 thought it was; 1t had
been there long time, and an ef-
fort had been made to erase 1t. After
man has started on the crooked path
he doesn't want any tattoo marks on
him; they make Identification too easy.
For Johnson, then. well hereafter read
Thompson"
nodded: was beginning to be con-
vinced.
"Well," continued Godfrey. "Tre-
maine and Thompson. then, were AZ
rested in New York July %. 1885. at
a low resort where they were having
carouse. They had beaten and rob-
bed another sailor 1t seems that moth
lug was left Of the 10000 francs. and
naturally Tremaine found it difficult to
20 honestly 10 work again. The fourth
clipping, undated, but probably some
months later, shows that Trcmaine and
Thompson were sentenced to three
years each in Sing Sing. But they
didn't stay there SO long" lie added,
turning to the next clipping, "at least
Tremaine didn't. On the night of Jan.
2, 1856, in the midst Of tremendous
snowstorm they managed to hide
| themselves In one of the workshops
and afterward to scale the outer wall.
In the morning Thompson was found
at the foot of the wall with his head
cut open and nearly frozen. Tremaine
got clear away. Thompson was
brought around with the greatest diff
Guilty and would say nothing except to
| indulge in terrible imprecations against
his companion. You see,' concluded
Godfrey, looking up. 1--WE begin to get
| at the motive"
"Yes." l agreed; "it's very plain,
now you've started OH the right track.
It's a good deal like Columbus egg
Godfrey smiled and turned to the
sixth clipping, the longest Of them all.
"It's that way with most mysteries"
he said, "and here's the internal evil
dence that all this theorizing Is pretty
| straight. It's the clew, too, which
we've been seeking so long"
1T explains Miss Croydon's presence
here" 1 asked, intensely Interested
and deeply stirred.
Just that. he said, and shot ME Il
triumphant glance. "Let us see II You
can catch it. The clipping is in French.
| and. though my French isn't OF the
highest order, can get the sense of 1t
pretty well. 1t is dated Suresnes and
is evidently letter from a provincial
correspondent to Paris newspaper.
who, like most other provincial CORE
spondents, is delightfully."- vague. How
ever. gather from it that OH the night
of Sept. 18, 1891, beautiful young
English girl-name not glven-rln
away from the convent school of the
Sacred Heart ut Suresnes and that the
next morning she was safely married
to a gallant renchman'-Tremaine, of
course-by the cure Of the little village
Of Petits Colombes. The marriage was
quite regular-though no doubt the
cures fee was larger than usual-for
the banns had been published as re-
quired."
"But STILL" l objected, II don't see
that that explains anything"
LET me help you. 1t was this clip
ping l happened to look at first the
night we found the body. read two
or three lines aloud, then Simmonds
put It back In the pocket. 1t must
have been those few lines which told
Miss Croydon the nature Of the clip
pings and their Importance to her. The
date line would have been enough to
do that. Besides, II she'd already
known of them she'd have taken them
before we got here"
"You mean Miss Croydon Is the cir
who ran away with Trenaine? BIT