davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

chief director of their project, whatever
| it may be-" replied Boyd. by that
/ preCaution they may do without rem
| devious, which. in event of any dam
I ger might expose the trail they OBJ
Yiously are aiming to cover"
But why should he mail a copy of
the letter." inquired Coleman. "Why
not mail the letter itSelf2"
Probably another precaution, Jim
mic, by which the sender of the letter
guards against being traced by his
handwriting"
''Ah, 1 see"
such extreme care would be taken
for 10 ordinary purpose, and am con-
WINGED that it points to a crime of I'M
usual magnitude"
Il believe you are right, Felix
after receiving these letters" added
Boyd, Vaughn invariably goes into
the saloon from which you saw me
emerge. There be opens the letter and
makes a copy of it on a sheet of paper
with which he is provided. That hav-
ing been carefully done. ne DESTROYS the
original letter by igniting it at the ci-
gar stand, pretending that he inciden-
tally uses it to light his cigar"
DO the saloon people know him, or
anything about him?"
81 have not ventured any questions.
of them and flee to cover. Being well
on their trail, 1 cannot afford to lose
the scent through any folly of my own.
This morning, however, 1 contrived to
outwit Mr.. Vaughn"
How so, Felix?'
"When he approached as usual. to
destroy the letter he had copied. one
of which I have been decidedly eager
to examine, he found the cigar-lighter
extinguished. 1 had put it out while
slipping a glass of beer. Nv scheme
worked admirably. Instead of burning
the letter, Vaughn tore it to fragments
as he passed out into the street, and
threw away the pieces about where YOU
accosted me-"
"Ah, 1 see" exclaimed Coleman an
provingiy. Very like you, Felix, and
very well DONE"
TT brings us down to this piece of
patchwork" said Boyd, taking I'D the
cardboard mentioned cit has been a
deuce of Job to match up these ir-
regular bits OF paper, partly owing to
the curious character of the connmUni-
cation. I had only just finished it when
you entered. l think 1 now have it in
shape to read, barring a few frarments
that 1 could not find. Draw nearer.
Jimmie, and Wen look at it."
The central office man complied. and
for several minutes the two men GRIM
ly studied the odd communication. 1t
read as follows, the occasional series of
dots indicating the missing parts.
Il. Rdg, received. Now o. K. Capt.
tai work.
Zone N. Y. c. to 500. Same as
Rdg.
3.-Penn. Cen. Of to 300 each. One
IV-X-1SS5. One YI-X-1SS7. Both to
Jane ander tn the usual
Sfer to Co
4.-These complete lot. When they
are ready 70 on may begin to
move the goods her still fine.
Not a cloud in sight"
"HumphP Coleman presently grunt-
ed. Il can't make much of that. IT
appears to refer to some kind of a deal
in stocks. doesn't it?''
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

seen the way things was run on that
pirate ship before and after ladies took
a hand in running it, you would look
at the votes-for-ladies business in a
different way from what you do. You
couldn't help it. And you would see,
as l do, that the only thing needed is
10 hand each and every female one COPY
of Jarby's Encyclopedia of knowledge
and Compendium of Litera ture, Scierce
and Art to make the world a garden of
joy"
Them was strong words to use TO
men as dead set against us voting as
them men was" said Miss Hinckley.
L Ielt 1t my duty to speak UP
strong said Eliph' Hewitt. hoping
thereby to win them from error. 1 done
my duty as l seen it, and as I've done
1t ever since 1 was converted bv what
1 seen on the good ship Flying Hen. l
use the words good ship as meaning
how it was built"
4 We heard as how pirate ships was
awful places" said Miss Hinckley.
Words cannot tell how had" said
Eliph' Hewitt. The captain was a
constant user of cigarettes. and them
men after dinner would keep sitting
around the table playing dominoes for
money. And all the time they was ca
rousing that way their poor wives was
locked in the ships basement. There
them poor women had to stay, week in
and week out, and was never allowed
on deck for fresh air or to take part in
anv of the elections"
'E0w come the pirates to have cleo
tions?" asked Miss Hincklcy.
ITO choose new officers" explained
Eliph' Hewitt. The excitement of the
life was always too much for one or two
poor fellows and they would drop down
Of
common pirates we did nothing but toss
them over the banister, but if they hap
pened TO be officers, we had to have an
election to fill the office. So we voted
II was a hard life, but it was merry
one, and nearly all hands drank beer
and smoked i'm most any part of the
ship that they had a mind to. / rose
right up from the ranks, being elected
jauitor first and then floor manager
and then general superintendent OF the
whole ship. which was d hard job be
cause it was my work to keep things
tidy, and the ship did get so mussy i'm
a fight. Nobody wanted to 90 the
sweeping and busting. As 1 look !
around this tidy ROOM" added EliDh' 4,
Hewitt. as he looked kindly at her
through his spectacles. Miss Hincklcy. /
it makes me sick to think how careless /
that ship looked on some days. NIebby /
you Won DeilcNe II. Dut tne WlnGOWS !
wasn't washed for weeks at a time and [
the hold wasn't house cleaned once"
4 can believe it," said Miss Hinck- I
ley. but L don't see why the women !
wasn't let uD out of the basement u |
tidy up the ship"
Because we was afraid of them
that's the truth" said EliDh Hewitt
we was afraid they would claim their
rights and ask TO be let vote and so |
many of the pirates had been killed Off /
that the women was in a majority and .
could have run things 30 suit them
selves if they had had any sense. which
they hadn't ] never saw such an ig-
1OTdnt lot of ladies'. but that was all /
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14
BY ELLIS PARKER BUTLER.

I'm one week from that day and
date" he said, every pirate was learn
ing to drink tea with his little finger
| sticking out from the cup. One week
/ of reading this remarkable work had
raised them imprisoned ladies to q
point where they knew more about ev-
/ erything worth knowing than any Of
the men knew, and they took the vot-
/ ing away from the men and voted
/ themselves into the offices, for this
book had taught them useful infOrma-
/ ton on one thousand and one subjects,
| comprising all the knowledge known TO
man, twenty thousand references in all,
from A to Z, calculated to make tha
ignorant as wise as the most educated,
and fit man, woman or child for the
duties of life as well as providing en-
/ teTtainment for leisure moments. Price
only s., 81"
How did the ladies' get along as Of
/ fiCeTs of the ship2| asked Miss HinCk-
! ley. Did they do as well as the men
/ had dOne2"
Can you ask me such a question:
said Eliph' Hewitt. THE Flying Hen
/ became known from Africa to Green
| land as the only pirate ship that had
| the refined and we'll conducted, emo
/ bling influences of home around II.
/ The plank was that we'll secured &c
made all the difference to the poor fell
| lows that had to walk It. Every morn
/ ing the deck was scrubbed and the sails
aired and the rigging feather busted
off. The capStan and pinnacle and
things beautifully covered with turkey
red stuff, and every evening we had
readings from The Five Hundred En-
nObling Thoughts including the Prose
and POetical Gems of All Ages page
S64, after which until ten we played /
some of the games as given on page
745. Five Hundred Parlor Games for /
Old and Young Then lights was put
out and all retired.
"One day the captain called us all (
together and said: by Jimrniny Crfck- /
cts, lads, just see how much better off
we are now. See how elegant this pi- |
rate business has come to be and how
much better off we are. ] move that 1
we leave the ladies to run this ship and
that we men all go on land and sell /
"Jarby's Encyclopedia Of knowledge /
and Compendium Of Literature and
Art" throughout the United States Of /
America, statistics Of which is given on3
page 263. Yes. by Dummy! give the Ia /
dies of our dear native land a chance /
and sell them this book, and vote they
will and mustr So at the next stop
we made we went ashore and didn't I
come back"
you didn't ali run off to get away
from them pink teas, did you ?" asked 4
Miss Hinckley. 1T sounds a little like
IL to me-"
mo, ma'am," said Eliph' Hewitt.
'Our object was as stated, and this
book can only be had by subscription
Of the agents. 50 a volume 81 down
and 81 a month until paid"
Z guess I can get along without
one" said Miss HinCkley. We wOm-
en- will get our rights without buying
books off of book agents Some towns
let us vote at some elections already"
"Yes'm." said Eliph' Hewitt Those
are the towns where I had sold the la
dies copies of this book"
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

THE same as Reading-seeI It says
/ the same as Reading. The forgery Of
/ the Reading certificate already has
/ been executed. Capital wcrk-that re-
/ fers to the fOrger's work. Now 0. X.
/ Something is now all r;ght-but what
/ But what? 1t must refer TO the
/ Reading cerLificate-pOssibly to the
negotiation OF the forgery" cried
| Boyd, now speaking with the rapidity
! and vehemence of a man whose brain
| was in a riot
But the Roman numerals-what of
them?"
Dates, Jimmie, as plain as the nose
on your face" cried Boyd. 1.-THE dates
TO be inserted in the forged certificates
when raised from three shares to 300
| NI.-X.-1SS6. That's Oct. 6. 1856 The
others have the same significance. But
why does the writer of this want the
forged certificates sent to him. as evil
IDENTIFY was done with the Reading? The
game still is blind to me Stayi What's
! this2 The usual-hal 1 have it, the
usual transfer to the company Both
certificates are to be drawn to the
man whose name is partly missing.
then raised from three shares to 300
and the transfer blank on the back of
each filled in with a forgery TO some
company or corporation. Oh. no. see
times two. The assets of the corpora
ton consist of big blocks of railroad
stocks, the certificates of which are
kept in tie vault month after month
The scheme is to raise small certifi-
Gates to correspond with the genuine
ones, then deposit them in place of the
latter to guard against immediate de-
lection, and then convert the genuine
certificates into money. This should
civ fla1
dividend disbursements for carving
out their scheme and converting the
genuine certificates, as well as to cover
their tracks and get out of the coun-
try, That's what this writer means by
moving the goods when all are ready
He is a man identified with the compa-
ny, and one who has access to the Sc
curities in the vault"
"As sure as death and taxes, Felix"
cried Coleman. once more you have
hit the nail on the head.i'
II am confident of it, Jimmie
'If we had only the entire name of
the man mentioned in this"
"Stayl" His first name is James-see
the four letters?'' cried Boyd.
''Surel"
And the last-it might be Alexander
No, no, not that, it cannot be that,
There are letters missing at both ends
of the final name. Oh for those lost
fragmentsI James-anderI ander! Van
der Oh. by all the gods, | have it.
JimmieI James K. Vanderbilt. the
treasurer of the Ironclad Insurance
company-and one of my own clisnts,"
'Eureka!" roared Coleman, Ieaping to
his feet.
Steady, Jimmie, dear fellow" said
Mr.. Felix Boyd, rising. mo more ex-
element. for the game still has rag
ged look. Within thirty minutes, how
ever. the hand that Denned this letter
shall be in bracelets"
IT.
OF the integrity of Mr.. James X. Van
lift there could be no doubt, and in di-
rectly approaching him to make sure
that he was on the right track. Felix
Boyd knew that he was taking no
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14
On the Trail of Big Finger"

ular thing with them. I glanced at m!
watch, Jimmie. and found it to be pre-
cisely 9 o'clock
Coleman laughed.
I'D wager that you were there a
the same hour the rex morning" saij
he.
You'd win" said Boyd terseIy.
With what result
The two men met again ut precisely
the same time ard for the sanc pur-
pose. Yet not word passed between
them Bur for tie quick delivery u
the letter, Jimmie, they met ard PASSED
like total strangers
"Humpni That's a bit odd. in,ionj.'
SO old that 1 resolved 10 quietly
learn what it meant" slid I;uvd "A
the same '5ou: each InnrrInG the Incl
dent is repeated, Jimmie, with but
one variation. \ letter is Delivered
only about one day in four. Otherwise
VIXEN the two men pass the enc mere
~ shakes his head q i-ii,". MS IL 10 in
innate that there is nOil-ng dong
Have you seen them each day fol-
three weeks?"
Barring only the Sabbath
DO you know either cf thnm?'
Il have Swallowed both and learned
all that is possible of them wl.hnut be-
traying my interest,"" replied Rnyd.
1.-THE one VINO delivers the letters is Il
young man named Paul Cory. lie livcs
with his mother in BROOKLYN. and Is
said to De n Ray loafrr, hut with nc
other very evil habits"
That's bal enough
Each letter that he delivers is re-
ceived oy mail The previous night. and
L have disc :''ere,! rhat no does III [
open them. BY intercepting a carrier,
whom l warned against betraying me,
1 examined one of the letters before he
delivered it at Cory's house."
with what result?''
at was properly addressed to Cory,
but 1 discovered that a pin hole had
been made in the lower right-hand cor
ner of the envelope"
"A secret sign"
mo doubt. Probably notifying Cory
that the letter must not be opened by
him, but delivered as usual next morn
ing. Otherwise the cover was ordinar-
lily plain, bearing the New York post
mark"
This looks like the work OF crooks,
Felix, for a fact" admitted Coleman
What of the other man,
His name is James Vaughn" replied
Boyd. He is a second-rate bartender.
and lodges in Third avenue. He has
not been at work for several months, I
am told, yet he appears to have ample
money to meet his needs"i
THAT, too, looks suspicious
Decidedly so, Jimmie, hence I have
been very circumspect in making my
Investigations. With the help of Terry,
my office boy, 1 have Swallowed both
men until convinced that they have no
meetings other than those mentioned.
In fact, they appear in other respects
to be entire strangers"
TT certainly looks as If there was
some big game on" growled Coleman
perplexedly. Does Cory or Vaughn
meet any other persons worthy of sus-
picion?"
Not that / can discover
What does Vaughn do with the let
ter he receives from Cory?'
Il suspect that he mails a copy of IL
to some third party, possibly to the
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

when he found out what that ship
was loaded with. Nothing but booksr'
I suppose he only wanted gold"
said Miss Hinckley.
Just So said EIiph' Hewitt "Our
license only allowed us to take gold
and jewels, but we had got so careless
on board our ship by that time that we
didn't abide by the law at ALL The
captain was going to throw that whole
cargo of books overheard when l spoke
up. Captain, / said. some books are
worth money If there is any first To-
liOs of Shakespeare in that shipload of
books we can get good money for
them The captain swOre. 'Jimminy
Crickets! he said, there amt no first
editions in this lot. Near as 1 can make
out this whole ship is loaded with the
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

The masts was all cObwebs and some
days all the crew laid around smoking
and everything was going to racky
ruin as fast as it could, just as it is in
another way in this country of ours to-
day. There was big need of new laws
on that ship and of some firm but kind
hands to run things, and gradually we
all come to see it, but we never once
thought of the ladies in the basement
as fit to do it. We voted one man into
office and then voted him out again
and another one in, but no good come
of all our changes. until one day we
run across a ship that was bound from
New York to San Francisco, and we
keel hauled alongside and took her.
You had ought to hear our captain,
who was a very prOfane man, swear
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

traeted study OF some very perplexing
problem.
The character of the problem was
quite obvious. however. At Boyd's ell
bow stood a paste pot and brush, and
OF blank slip of cardboard he had
pasted the numerous fragments of pa
per collected that morning, carefully
uniting the irregular edges, much after
the fashion of the broken picture puz-
zles of childhood days. Except where
a small fragment was missing here ana
there, he thus was enabled to read the
communication on the torn sheet
which had been written only on one
side
"Ah, Jimmie. is it vou?" said he.
looking up and reaching for his pipe.
''Sit down and have a cigar. I'll take
a breathing spell now that you're here.
and will let you into as curious a case
as I ever tackled
It's curious indeed, then" remarked
Coleman, drawing I'D a chair. Were
you at work or it this morning when
When you threatened to run me i'll, 3"
interrupted Boyd, laughing.
Well. you looked enough off color to
be run in. Your makeup was fit for a
Weary Willie
That, now, is in the adjoining room"
And, too. I saw you dodge out of a
saloon, more like a thief than an hon
est man."
merely was lodging after man who
left just in advance of me-"
And your disguise?"
Was only to insure that the same
game was not played on me-" laughed
Boyd I'm getting to be tOlerably
well known about here, Jimmie, and
caution at times is imperative"
"Ah. L see" smiled the central Of
fee man.
Il believe" added Boyd. more grave
ly, that crime of considera BILE mag
nitude is being shaped up. and--well,
Jimmies, you know what my clients ex-
pect of me. They reason that an ounce
Of prevention is better than a pound of
cure. and | reckon they are right
"Humph." grunted Coleman. ut
strikes me that to anticipate and pre-
vent crime is too much to be expect
ed"
Possibly"
Despite that, you've been bowling
success at it,"
There must be no. Siip-up in this af-
fair. at all events" declared Boyd, with
q nod Having hit upon a clue, finely
spun though it is, 1 must run it to the
ground. With the men and interests
that appear in my list of clients, Jim
mic millions may be at stake: and
what is quite as much to me-my own
What the deuce have you discov-
ered?" asked Coleman, with augmented
interest.
III begin at the beginning" said
Boyd while crossing Chambers
street one morning about three weeks
ago / saw two men meet. coming from
opposite directions. Not a word of
greeting passed between them, however,
nor so much as a nod. Yet. in passing,
one quickly gave the other letter.
That was all, Jimmie, but you know
how instinctively / snap at such tri-
fies It's a part of my business. The
episode impressed me very unfavora-
bly,. 1t was so odd and quickly executed
that 1 al once concluded it TO be j reg
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

you could expect of wives of pirates
So we kept the ladies locked down in
the basement, and l did my best To
keep the ship cleaned up, but it wasn't
no use, for there was dirt everywhere.
and the pirates always tracking in mud
with their muddy boots
What's that?" asked Miss Hinckley.
sharply Where did they track that
mud from"
Eliph' Hewitt hesitated for but a
moment Then he smiled pleasantly at
Miss Hinckley. From the dirt that the
cross-trees grows in" he said.
Il never knowed before that ships
had soil aboard said Miss Hinckley.
What do you suppose every ship has
a yard for?" inquired Eliph' Hewitt
We'll, things got worse and worse
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

sixty-fourth edition of "Jarbys En-
cyc!opedia of knowledge and COmpen-
dunn of Literature, Science and Art, >"
and overheard she goesp With that he
chucked one into the brfny deep. but
put my hand on his arm. Captain I
said, L never heard of that book, but
think of the ladies locked down in the
basement of our own ship. Mebby
these books would vile away their te-
dious hours. Suppose We save one copy
for each of the ladies'? So we did"
Eliph' Hewitt paused to let Miss
Hinckley ask a leading question, but
she did not seem inclined to speak. He
took the sample copy that he had been
holding on his knee and opened it so
that Miss Hinckley could see the allie
goriCal frontispiece in three coIors.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14
MAGAZINE SECTION.
ELIPT HEWITT. PIRATE C $$$$:$$$$s=% y.

IF ! wanted that book I'd buy it, u
said Miss Hinckley, setting her hard
1ooking mouth firmly, "and I'd Ike to
see any man say 1 shouldn't. 1 know
very we'll that Mrs. BEEN is scared to
death of her husband, and I'm not sur
rrised that she let him dictate to her
Irhether she should buy it or not. but
Iain't that way. l wasn't made presi-
dent Of the Ladies Female Suffl aSe
for Women society for no such reason
as that. It was because / know 10y
,igbts and have got gumDtiOn enough
10 stick up for them. men or no men.
Rut I don't want that book, AMI the
reason is that I amt got time to rea
a. My official duties takes all my
time
Il should think they would" said
Tliph' Hewitt, with a sympathetic lit
tIe cough. Getting the right to vote
for aides is a big job. 1t takes lots Of
work and lots of time, just iihe il did
70 get up this Jarby's Encyclopedia Of
knowledge and Compendium of Litera-
tlIre. Science and Art, on which the
greatest minds of the known world
worked twentE years, but il is worth
81. containing, as it does, everything.
from A to Il, indexed and classified
Price Only -, 81 uoNh anu u a iliOHln
until paid
"Ncbby it does and mcbhv it
doesn't" said Miss Hinckiey, though
] don't blame you for praisinE up what
you've got TO sell. But it hasn't got
ANYTHING to do with getting votes for
women. and I don't want it,"
The little book agent looked Miss
Hmckley calmly in the face through his
spcctaCIes.
You would be surprised. wouldn't
ven. # ] was TO tell YOU that the DAY I
left New York a committee of the Anti
Female Suffrage society came to me
and begged me TO give up selling This
grand book? Yes'm. Eliph' Hewitt
they said, amt You a man ard a
BROTHER Amt it for the good OF rs
mon to stand together and keep the Ia
dies i'm The kitchen. where they belong?
Please sell something else, but # YOU
viii sell this grand work in one volume.
published by Jarby & Goss, don't. we
beg Of you, sell it to ladies. We ask ii
as a special favor for with this superb
volume i'm their hands they would have
the whole wisdom of the known WCIlH
I'm handy form for instant reference and
would be not only our equals. which
they are already, but our superiors.'
Al that said Eliph' Hewitt. II shook
my head. Gents I said. 7 must an5
viii sell this volume, neatly bound in
cloth, with a frontisDiece in three cul-
Grs, TO the ladies of this country. To
sell it to the men / do not care, but in
mE humble way selling this book 10 tie
ladies' is my life work. If. gents /
said. you had been a pirate, as I have
you would want the ladies 10 vote and
to bring their refining influences into
nd OH Lot,
making elections as polite and elegant
rs pink tea party"
Them sentiments did you credit.
said Miss IIinckIey.
"Yes'm." admitted EIiph Hewitt. "but
only spoke what I believed. Cents [
'9id. If you had been a pirate on the
tossing seas, as I have, and if you had Z