Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-08-11
THE MAN WITH
A HEEL.
Q . . o . . DO eeee oea

ot the house OF WulfOur " Co, the
| 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 Dodd
was simply waiting. He meant TO III
his pockets with plumber ana skip. He
was Incthodical and cold bloodcd lie
/ would not make the mistake SO many
others had. lie would make none at
oil. Stop by step he prepared for the
coup He must change his looks, his
him the nrt Of appearing TO be ten
years older. Some ono else taught
him that by holding peach stone In
his mouth he could nlter the tones of
his voice. \ shoemaker mndc him n
shoe for dcforncd foot. and for
more than 300 nights lie walked
the streets With II. II gave him a.
limp ana lop shoulder He tested
these tllngs III the seycrest way. In
Ills disguise he went boldly into the
store rs stranger and made pur.
chascs OF men who hud known him for
yenrs and Years.
Three months before the affair was
ripe Jnmes Dodd had his every plan
laid. He would not flee abroad, as
others had done aud been ovorhauled
almost ut once. lie purchased book
stand not Ave blocks away He pur.
cliased an old house to live In. He &C.
curod housekcepcr. He Ind worn
Ills wig hundred times The shoe
for the dcformed foot had cavity in
the heel. The diamonds hidden away
there would always DO at hand. ALL
closing time one day the event came
OF Uncut and unset diamonds TO the
amount of 100000 were carried homej
In his pocket. An hour later he had
taken possession OF hls new quarters
under another name.
Tho diamond mystery" made n
great sensation. The house believed
In the honesty of its employee; the 30
lice believed he had skipped Three
or four days were lost In discussion,
and then reward was offered and the
slenths let loose. They tclegraphed &c
every port In the empire. They gave
notice TO all the steamers that had
smiled. They Ind every constable inl
every village on the watch. IL Doddl
Ind committed Ave cold bloodcd muir
ders the hunt couldn't have been iicrc
err. 1t dragged into days and weeks
and months. 1t wRs discussed over
and over In the press and In every
police station and barroom In the land.
young man who Ind lived a life
beyond reproach for fourteon years
walks out of the house where he has
been employed aud disappears from thu
kon Of men. lie WINS noteyen. 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
no Was directly In charge of the gems.
the manager or either one OF the part
ners had access to thcin The detco
tivcs figured II out tlut Dodd must
surely he tho guilty party. but a large
element of the public shook their hcnds
doubtruily and made comments that
put others In embarrassing positions
After six months the hunt was
abandoned. 1t was the general opin-
ion That Dodd was dead By accident OF
suicide. Meanwhile the bookstnnd
hourIshed Its only attendant day by
day was Mr.. Cooper, Its owner. The
only ono TO penetrate tile old house be
hind II was the eyed housckccper, and
she went 10 her own home o. nights
The public Ind becn buying books OF
a certain man for ycnrs One day he
dropped out Of sight and new man
stood bohlnd the counter. There was
a inoment, OF surprise Mt seeing him, n
question or two. perhaps. ns 10 the
other and then business went on ns
usual. That's the way with tho pub
lie. Tho old goes and the new comes
There were no newer or better books
There wins no change in prices. There
WINS nothing TO call for discussion.
Detectives loafed away quarter of
I'm hour mt the atnnd. Employees of
tho iiouso OF welfour & Co. turned up
there almost daily. All sorts OF men
stopped there. For wceks Mr.. Cooper
heard his case discussed but II was
rarely That he had n word to say. Soon
after the bookstand changed hands
little girl twelve years old began to
pass that way every dry With her fa.
theirs dlnucr BY and by she nnd Mr..
Cooper begun 10 nod md smile TO each
other. Sometimes sho would stop and
chat for n minute, and sometimes he
handed her pcnny. Sho told her IA
Their of these things, and he was
wroth. but after walking around 10 the
stnnd one day and looking the man
over he decided that there was no
harm in him.
A year lnckiag few days had gone