The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-19
Exploits Of Private Detective

Then the devil in the crook dared
death itself.
He darted to the grappling-hooks,
unclasped them from the upright joist,
stepped back a few PAGES, then launch
ed himself, a living pendulum, toward
the staging, forty feet away.
Though possessed of nerves of steelS
Morris Donald caught his breath with
momentary horror.
He saw the desperate man swing
dawn and away. moving like a shot
from a gun, only to rise up, and up,
and up, until, after seconds that seem
ed like hours, he landed squarely on
the distant staging.
Then Jimmy Crooke made the mis-
take of his life. Instead of retaining
! the iron hooks, he let them go. Had
he held or secured them where he now
stood. his escape would have been most
probable.
To Mr.. Morris Donald the rascaPs
escape briefly appeared inevitable.
Only until, however, he saw the heavy
hooks swinging back toward the stage
on which he had been left. Then a
possibility appealed to him that would
have chilled the blood of anss other
living man.
Yet it brought to the eyes of Morris
Donald a CLEAN like that OF liquid fire.
He darted along the staging to the spot
left by Crooke, then drew back toward
the inner edge of the several boards.
From the throng in the distant street
he vaguely heard, when his design was
seen, loud yells of protest and shrieks
of apprehensive horror.
Up and up, higher and higher, nearer
and nearer. swung the dangling iron
hooks.
The cleaning eyes of the detective
never left them.
Suddenly, as swift as flash of
light, he left his lofty perch. crossed
nearly ten feet of void space, and
caught the hooks as they poised an in
slant before falling.
Though every drop of blood in his
veins was as cold as ice. he did not for
a moment lost his extraordinary nerve.
There was a swift rush OF air around
him, a sickening sense within of end
less falling, such as one experiences in
hideOus dreams.
Then there came an upward sweep.
the wild relief of returning strength,
and then the frightful impetus had car
ried Donald ten feet above the staging
on which Crooke had landed.
He instantly let go of the hooks, and
fell with a crash that shook the staging
to its very base. A section of it broke
Morris Donald already was upon his
feet, however. and darting through. the
paneless window into which CrOoke
had vanished less than sixty seconds
before.
The latter then was clambering down
a ladder through a hole in the unfin-
ished fioon
Donald located him by the sound, dart
ed to the ladder. and there sprang
down bodily upon the shoulders of the
crook.
Both fell with crash to the floor be-
low, but Donald was the first to rise.
He drew his revolver and said, much
as if merely asking the time of day:
Il want you, CrOoke. Better come
along quietly. You'll be let down much
easier, you know, if you don't make
bother for an Officer"
Chief Inspector Gibson met Mr.. Nor
ris Donald on the street one morning. a
week later.
1T all has come out in the washing.
Donald" said he, with a laugh. THAT
Crooke aimed to elude my men by
getting employment with a reputable
house. He's a good paper-hanger, it's
said. BlagdOn too, is down and out
contract, throwing the loss of it upon
Vellum, and afterward to quietly sell
the secret facts to the great opposing
railway interests, atributing their dis
closure to the loss of the document
II was all worked up with the crook
the previous day. Very clever scheme,
Ell? And it was deucedly shrewd on
your part, Donald, to have detected it
so promptly"
Mr.. Morris Donald smiled indiffer-
emily.
1T was plain from the start, Glib
son." said he. bit dryly. THE arrival
at Vellum's office of a stranger with
no important business SO soon after
the delivery of the contract by Blag-
don at once suggested the scheme and
pointed to CrOOke as a confederate.
The location of the ladder so near Vel
lum's desk just then plainly indicated
how easily the contract could have
been snapped up by Crooke and quick
ly hidden. Under the wallpaper was
the most natural place to have hidden
it. Yes, Gibson; it was clever enough.
A bit of a job, too, the turning down
of Jimmy CroOke. Call on me again,
old chap, when you want the like done
and have no man to do it. Good
morning, Gibson