The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-08-11
THE MAN WITH
A HEEL.
. essese de oeeeseaeeeee....


Bond street diamond merchants. for
period of fourteen years before he
was made assistant manager and given
charge of the unset stones.
For two years after he had been
given charge of the gems James DodG
was sSnply waiting. He meant to e..
his pockets with plumber and skip. &c
was methodicai and cod blooGed. Ee
would not make the mistake 50 MANY
others had. He would make none at
all Step by step he prepared for the
coup. He must change his looks. Lis
gait and his voice. An actor taught
him the art of appearing 10 be ten
years older. Some one else taught
him that by holding a peach stone in
his mouth he could alter the tones Of
his voice. A shoemaker made him
shoe for deformed foot, and for
more than 800 nights be walked
the streets with it. 1t gave hun a
limp and Top shoulder He tested
these things in the severest way. In
his disguise he went boldly into the
store as stranger and made pur-
chases of men who had known him for
years and years
Three months before the affair was
ripe James Dodd had his every plan
laid. He would not fee abroad as
others had done and been overhauled
almost at once. He purchased a book
stand not five blocks away. He pur-
chased an old house to live ill., He Sc
cured hOusekeeper. He had worn
his wig a hundred times The shoe
for the deformed foot had a cavity il
the heel. The diamonds hidden away
there would always be at hand. At
closing time one day the event came
OFF. Uncut and unset diamonds to the
AMOUNT of f20,040 We're carried home
in his pocket. An hour later he had
taken possession Of his new quarters
under another name.
The diamond mystery made Il
great senSat ton. The house believed
in the honesty of its employee; the po-
lice believed he had skipped Three
or four days We're lost III discussion.
and then reward was offered and the
sleuths let loose. They telegraphed to
every port in the empire. They gave
notice to all the steamers that had
sailed. They had every constable in
every village on the watch. If Do1d
had committed five cold blooded muir
ders the hunt couldn't have been fierc-
er. 1t dragged into days and weeks
and months. 1t was discussed over
and over in the press and in every
police station and barroon in the land
A young man who had lived Il life
beyonL reproach for fourteen years
walkrvut of the house where he has
been employed and disappears from the
ken of men. He was not even seen to
leave his boarding house that evening
No one saw him on the street. He
had not gone abroad by any sort of
craft. He had not taken train for
] any point within the empire. While
he was directly in charge of the gems
the manager or either one of the part
ners had access to them. The detec
tives figured 1t out that Dodd must
surely be the guilty party. bat a large
element of the public shook their heads
doubtfuily and made comments that
put others in embarrassing positions
After six months the hunt was
abandoned. 1t was the general opiD-
ion that Dodd was dead by accident or
suicide. Meanwhile the bookstand
hourished. Its only attendant day by
day was Mr.. Cooper. its owner. The
only one to penetrate the old house be
hind 1t was the aged housekeeper, and |
she went to her own home O nights. |
The public had been buying books Of
certain man for years. One day he
dropped out of sight and new man
81 1od behind the counter. There was |
q moment of surprise at seeing him, n !
~question or two. perhaps, as to the |
other. and then business went on as |
usual That's the way with the pub |
lie. The old goes and the new comes,
There were no newer or better books. |
There was no change in prices There |
was nothing to call for discussion.
Detectives loafed away quarter Of |
an hour at the stand. Employees Of |
the house of Walfour & Co. turned no |
there almost daily. All sorts of men |
stopped there. For weeks Mr.. Cooper |
heard his case discussed, but it was
rarely that he had a word to say. Soon !
little girl twelve years old began to
pass that way every day with her IA |
theirs dinner. BY and by she and NJ
Cooper began to nod and smile TO each
other Sometimes she would stop anG
chat for a minute and sometimes he
handed her penny, She told her IA
Their of these things, and he was
wrath h,1f after walking around to the
stand one day and looking the man
over he decided that there was no
harm in him.
A year lacking few days had gone
by, and it was midwinter again, when
one day as the girl passed the stand
two dogs began fighting in her path
Mr.. Cooper hurried out to kick them
apart and make a safe passage for her,
but in doing SO he slipped and fell and