The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-08

deNelOpmentS- No one else came
The carriage had driven away as
soon as the occupants had alighted, and
] felt sure il would return. l looked
at my watch, and was surprised to
find it was a few minutes of three
O'Clock. The waiting was beginning 10
tell on me n l was suffering for
sleep. | yawned a time or so and was
thinking Of going to my room when l
heard the carriage returning.
About the same time q messenger
boy came swimming noiselessly down
the pavement on a bicycle. / hailed him
softly, and called him into the shadow
of the building. and asked him if he
did not want to make a couple of dol
lars Sure he replied.
Il told him to hide himself and fol-
low the carriage when it drove away.
reporting back to me at an appointed
place where it went. / gave him a
dollar in advance and promised him
two more il he executed the commits
sion without attracting the attention of
me persons in the carriage or of the
driver.
The vehicle had now paused before
the little house. and no sooner had ii
stopped than the lady and gentleman
came out and entered it. Immediately
II drove away, the messenger boy fol-
lowing at a distance on his Wheel.
In a few minutes one of the men
came out and mad off down the street.
he was followed by the suspicious
looking foreigner. After he had gono
a block or so the man with the limp
stepped out and hobbled off. I let him
get a good start ans went after him
He had left his packages in the house.
For several blocks I followed him.
until he entered a small family hotel
on a side street. After he had disap-
peared in the elevator 1 went in the
Office and engaged the clerk in CONVEX
sation while I mad a pretense OF look
ing up an address in the city directory.
From the clerk / learned that the man
OF the limp was named Howard Brown.
He didn't know anything else about
him except that he was registered from
Boston.
At the appointed time. I met the
messenger boy. He had done his work
We'll. He gave me the street address
where the carriage stopped, saying the
man and woman had entered the house
with a pass-key, and the carriage had
been put up in the barn at the rear.
The driver then went into the house
through a back door.
I'm the afternoon I looked up the
house. II was a p~retentiOus, stOne-vc-
neered residence on a fashionable street.
I learned that its occupants were for
%eigners, presumably French. Jules Le-
fevre was the mans name. He repro
scented himself as d cotton buyer
for an export firm in Paris, but inquiry
among the cotton men showed he
didn't buy. much cotton. He main
tanned an Office uptown, but was rarely
IN il. His bOoklSeeper. a young man
of dark complexion, whom ! instantly
recognized as the coachman,-
seemed TO have anything to do but
smoke cigarettes and write letters he
mailed. These matters made me
decide to sift the mystery of the little
cottage to the bottom and see if 7
wouldn't find something of consequence
IN the ashes.
For three nights I shadowed the
house without seeing any one enter or
leave it. although the continual out
pouring of smoke from the chimney
showed that some one was always OF
home. The fourth night 1 again saw
Fefevre and his wife and the three men
I had observed on the former occasion
enter the house. They arrived a little
after 1-o'clock.
Il %telephoned for my friend. the
messenger boy. and when tte house
party broke up and the mysterious
members began to sink away IN the
night. / followed the suspicious-iooking
foreigner. and set the messenger boy
on the trail of the gentleman of the big
overcOat.
My III gave me a long chase. He
traVerSed many streets, cutting from
side To side and back again n acting
IN every way like a criminal who
seemed TO fear he was being followed.
1t required all my skill i'll shadowins
to prevent him from discovering l was
watching him. On one occasion he
caught me. He turned a corner
and l had stopped to allow him to get
distance away. l could hear the
ring of his footsteps for a while, and
then al noise ceased. He had cithei
stopped or entered a building. 1 was
afraid to peer around the corner lest he
see my head. Something
prompted me that he was coming back.
and ! slipped into an alleyway between
two buildings. 1t was well | had done
SO, for Ihad scarcely concealed myself
the man came %sneaking around
the corner like a vagrant cat. doubling
on his track. He passed almost in
arms length of me and lodged into a
stairway that entered the building at
the sic of which l vas hid. After
making sure that he did not leave the
building by some ack stairway. I went
to the appointed place to receive the
messenger boys report. His man had
7t-N 0AAN(NAS " OAC VI tAt Ot~L AtlCA D
Of the city and had retired. He was
registered under the name of James
Whitcomb. New York City.
My MIND was now made up to find
out something about the mysterious lit
tie cottage and the invisible persons
who lived in fl.
That afternoon I looked over the
surroundings of the cottage, both from
the street and from the side window OF
my boarding house. The shanty was
raised OF brick piers and the space be-
tween them was inclosed with %trellis-
work. II abutted directly on the walk
beside the boarding house, the cottage
as the dividing fence for its
This rave me an idea.
About midnight I removed a section
Of h trellis-work and crawled under
the cottage. armed with a sharp chisei.
1t was the night for the queer charac-
ters to assemble. With great caution
cut a tiny hole through the floor, I'M
der the back room, just large enough to
If the room was carpeted. a
matter on which depended the success
Of my plan. OF this ] was reasonably
certain. for the house appeared to be
well furnished. My surmise was cor
rect. and 1 enlarged the hole sufficient
ly 10 allow me to hear ali that trans
DireQ in the room could beo- each J