Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-08
Man of Mystery Barely
Escapes Detection
at Chutes
Had Trio of Persons Who Caught the
Thousand.DoIIar Man Been More
Particular In Details, Game
Would Be Over
BY THE MYSTERIOUS MR.. RAFFLES
George Harris Donohue)
Just as I exnected.

Just as 1 expected.
CAME WITHIN AN ACE OF BE-
ING CAPTURED ON THREE SEPA-
RATE OCCASIONS AT CHUTES
PARK LAST NIGHT-AND 1 CAN
NOW DISTINCTLY SEE THE EAR
MARKS OF MY SPEEDY CAPTURE
IN THIS CITY.
Had those who journeyed to Chutes
park followed the advice 1 have taken
great trouble to hand out daily the
chase for the mysterious Mr.. Raffies
would now be at an end, as was COM
PEELED three times last night to turn
down three different people who failed
to give me the proper salutation.
For me to operate at night under
artificial light is suicidal in so far as
maintaining this game successfully is
concerned. 1 could not do it under
ordinary circumstances and would not
be writing this sort of a story right
now had those on my trail not been
so frightfully excited they failed to get
any part of the salutation correctly
when they addressed me.
Expected Capture
Before consenting to take a chance
at Chutes park I notified my business
manager and the management of the
Los Angeles Herald that it was about
ten to one would not be able to evade
capture in the park, but my business
manager has such unbounded conf
dence in my ability he prevailed upon
the management of The Herald to per-
init me to take the risk.
All can say right now is that am
more lucky than 1 deserve, to be able
to outwit those who started after me
last night. 1t is the third time in my
history during the presentation of this
work that 1 have been compelled to
turn possible 'capturers down because of
the fact they have not properly COM
piled with the conditions imposed by
the management of the newspaper for
which l am operating.
AS a matter of fact, 1 do not suppose
any one of the three persons who held
me up have the slightest suspicion
they actually had me in their clutches
and it will not be until they read this
story this morning that they will learn
just how close they were to collecting
$1,000.
The How of 1t
This is the way it happened:
Just inside the main gate, within ten
feet of the turnstile, at precisely fifteen
minutes past o'clock, a short, thick
set man with black moustache, wear
ing a dark blue suit and black derby
hat, who was accompanied by a tall,
slender young woman who 1 think
was his daughter, stepped up to me,
with this remark, "Ah If I'm not mis-
taken, you're Rafles, the mysterious
man for whom The Herald offers $1,000
reward"
Noting rapidly that he had failed to
give me the proper salutation an
swered in an assumed angry tone:
Jaw, shut up; you re the tenth man
that's told me that tonight" All of
which was enough to satisfy the would
be captor that he had made mistake,
and he hurried along with his COM
panion.
over in front of the Katzenjammer
palace at 1886 an elderly woman wear
ing a black dress and a black hat
trimmed with some kind of lace, ap-
preached me timidly in this fashion:
"EXcuse me, sir, but aren't you Mr..
Raffes?"
Rings in Another
For an answer / pointed to another
smooth faced man standing not three
feet away, who seemed to regard the
old lady's challenge as a joke, and re-
marked as / started to move away:
"Try it on him. he looks like the man
you are after"
Then came the party OF three young
women, all armed with copies of the
Los Angeles Herald, who corralled me
as / was passing the Wonderland show.
One of these girls, who seemed to be
the ringleader seized me by the arm
as she shouted: "Here he is, girls; /
know HIM bring up the receipt"
Turning on her suddenly l caused her
to release my art as asked rather saw
agely: whats the matter with you.
anyhow? Are you all going crazyT
In confusion the tall girl hastily said:
"Oh, / beg your pardon, but thought
you were Mr.. Raffes of The Herald"
Some people in this town who read
this viii undoubtedly declare l should
have assisted any one OF those who
half way held me last night. Had l
done so there would have been beau
tirul howl emanate IN lurid volume