Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-25

Now, he had gone off on his own tan
gent. leaving me to suck my thumbs and
mediate on his cleverness. for there was
no word of comment or instruction with
the letter which read:
Hotel Iturbide, City of Mexico.
March Il, 1903.
Mr.. Lawrence Rand, on Board S. S.
Monterey:
Honorable Sir: This is to inform you
Immediately on your arrival in this coun-
try of the surprising and superlatively
important matter on which l have re-
tanned you. such information conveyed In
advance of my seeing you being for your
careful contemplation in order that you
may~best advise the immediate steps.
When l was in London a few years
ago in a diplomatic office of some i'm
portance l formed strong friendship
with gentleman of high position in the
admiralty. who summoned me hastily
from the embassy one night to his home
In st. Johns Wood. He was dying when
l arrived. and he was barely able to give
me folded paper before he expired. He
meant to instruct me in regard to 1t. but
death came too soon. That paper was
nothing less than a draft of the histor
1cally famous Cochrane secret plan. His
heir was dissolute young fool. with
whom 1t was not safe to trust so danger
even reading more than enough of 1t to
know what 1t was and that by taking on
the knowledge of 1t, would be assuming
burden which had driven stronger men
than l out of their minds. When
brought it with me to Mexico I had 1t
sealed in a brass envelope which was
inclosed in a wooden case on which was
marked the character of the Enclosure
and warning to any man who opened 1t.
This | kept in small safe in my library.
i have the misfortune to have a son
by my first wife whom 1 had always con-
sidered as merely a prof1igate and spend
thrift until fortnight ago. when 1 dis
covered he was as we'll an embezZler of
my funds and that he had rifled my small
safe. and. finding no papers that were
convertible or gave him a hold on me,
took this box. | drove to the Gale. in
which lives a noted courtesan with whom
he Is entanSled. and almost intercepted
him. but he contrived his flight and is
now at large. He had scant money and
his credit both on his own and my ac-
count Is exhausted. SO that he has been
unable to leave the country and has writ
ten me letter saying that he is fully
aware of the tremendous value to any of
the great powers of the secret inside the
brass envelope and realizes that If he
sold 1t to one Of them 1t would be more
valuable if the envelope were delivered
unopened: BY this you will perceive his
cleVerness. My honor is vitality con-
cerned. as to clear myself 1 must expose
my own flesh and blood. SO he demands
SI.GO0.OOO gold or the transfer of half OF
my estates at once to him in exchange
for the safe return of the paper OF
course he would be merely getting what
Will eventually be his. but 1 have been
hoping that he would be wiser before
my death than he now is The letter
was mailed at Zacatecas and asked that
1 insert an advertisement in the Impair
cial. when he would send me another
letter arranging meeting. Under ordi-
a ~ irF r,t,fr -I,
TO bargain with him. but he was so un-
wis" as to hint to the woman whom l
went to see that he had obtained the
most important military secret in the
world at the price of my honor and he
meant to use the secret to foist him into
a position of power abroad and to bleed
me for funds to maintain him. He must
be found at once, safeguarded from
opening. copying or transferring the i'm
portant document. and when YOU have
cornered him, then 1 will treat with him
according to the circumstances that then
exist. l have privately traced him to
Zacatecas, where he was a week ago
One can lose ones self for lifetime in
Mexico. while to attempt to leave the
country by any of the few exits exposes
one to certain arrest. Do not attempt to
communicate with me until you reach
this city, and then do so by private mes
Trusting greatly in your celebrated PROV
ess, | am your sincere admirer
CARLOS GONZALES Y RODIO."
so reckless young man was loose in
the wild reaches of Mexico possessed of
the Cochrane plan. the worlds greatest
military and political secret and we must
catch him before he sold 1t, lost 1t or did
something else equally foolish with it.
Dimly 1 recalled reading of the Coch-
rane plan many years before but my
recollection was SO vague that I deter
mined to look 1t up, and after getting into
cooler clothes, / walked down to the
British consulate and asked the vice con-
sui If he could give me some more definite
information on the subject. political
encyclopedia lay open on the top of his
desk. A mark on one Of the open pages
pointed to paragraph headed Admiral
Cochrane's Secret Plan
"A queer coincidence. he said. smiling.
as he gave me the encyclopedia, two
men in a day to ask about the same
thing. A Swedish engineer was in here
uot more than an hour ago with a note
signed by some American asking for the
data"
1t was very dIsquieting circumstance
Condolences were becoming too frequent
First the young woman who overheard
my inquiry at Brown Bros. develops a
brown veil and behaves queerly, after taxi
ing the same steamer with me. A SWede
engine-tinker makes my acquaintance on
board and Immediately on landing sets
out on the same quest as l.
l thought it best to copy the para
3
Thomas Cochrane, tenth Earl of Dun
donald, noted as a soldier of daring and
resource tsee p. 243). about 1910 con-
ceived the plan of engine of war or
system of mechanical defense and offense,
which he believed would be terrible
in execution that 1t would forever put an
end to all war The plan was submitted
to the prince regent. who was greatly
pleased. and appointed a committee of
able officers sworn to secrecy, to exam
inc the proposition. They reported it to
be tremendously effective as we'll as in
fallible but were so appalled, at the
prospective consequences that they recon-
mended the deciination of plan which
would stagger humanity In 1916 great
ly elaborated and improved plan was pre-
sented by Cochrane. and at Lord Auck-
lands instigation another commission
considered 1t with the same result. 1t
was held to be too terrible to use. Coch-
rane died In 1860 without divulgng the
plan, but drafts Of it are said to have
been filed in the archives Of the admi-
rally.
7 left the consulate and hurried back to
the hotel The frightful consequences Of
a slip or a failure in our work doomed be-
fore me. l felt as If I must see Rand
and must be allowed to begin the active
work before us. l waited all day In my
room. my impatience fomenting into a
rage OF eagerness. There was not sign.
not a word from him, and nothing signi-
6cant from the world without, only a
single gun from the fort, now and then
q steamer whistle blast in the harbor.
the dispirting heehawing of the donkeys
in the streets. the cries of the sweetmeat
and fried cake vendors and the rafting