Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-08-05


agent in Tasmania that John Steele
came to that place in a little trading
schooner. the Laura Deane of Ports
mouth: that he had been rescued from
! tiny uncharted reef, or isle. on Dec
q. some three years before The spot.
by longitude and latitude. marks.
through an odd coincidence. the place
where the Lord Nielsen met her fate"
"A coincidence truly" nlurmured the
nobleman. But at this stage In youi
board were embarked In the ships
boats and reached civilization. except
possibly
"A few of my charges between
decks? A bad lot of ugly brutes The
story Of John Steele's rescue" went on
Mr.. Gillett. las told by himself. Was
well known In Tasmania. A lawyer
by profession. he had been passenger
on merchant vessel. the Mary Yer
non Of Baltimore. United States. This
vessel. like the Lord Nelson, had come
to grief. All of those In John Steeles
boat had persisted except him. Some
had gone mad through thirst and suf-
fering. Others had killed their fellows
In frenzy. Being Of superb physique.
having been through much physical
training"-the listener stirred in his
chair-"he managed to survive. to
reach the little isle. where. according
to his story. he remained almost a
year."
"A year? Then he set foot ia Tas-
mania about four years after the Lord
Nelson went down." observed the no.
bleman. a curious glitter in his eyes.
-Four years after" he repeated. ac-
centing the last word.
such were the details gathered In
Tasmania" answered the police agent
go on." said Lord Ronsdale.
From the mate Of the Laura Deane.
the schooner that rescued him from
the isle. and one of her crew whom
I managed to locate at Plymouth. as
I have Informed your lordship by let
ter" answered Mr.. Gillett. These
men now furnish lodgings to seamen
and incidentally shanghai few of
them for dubious craft. Both of them.
the mate and the sailor. recalled the
man Of fine bearing and education
whom they found Oh the little isle. q
sort Of Greek statue. half clothed In
rags, so to speak. who made his per-
sonality felt at once on these simple.
ignorant fellows. At the spring on the
little island the seamen filed their
water butts. This kept them several
days. mixing labor with skylarking,
during which time one Of them picked
up something-a pouch marked with
q name"
(which was?
Mr.. Gillett leaned forward, spoke
softly; Lord Ronsdale stared straight
ahead. "Of course" he said: "of
course!''
This. I will confess. startled. puz-
zled me-" continued the police agent
Il tried TO explain II In II dozen differ
ent ways. Then it was that the line
Of special investigation helped. John
Steeles outing to which you directed
my attention wis passed on the con-
tincnt. After n good deal of pains we
discovered that be visited certain
large building In Paris
This led to an inspection Of the
tenants. They proved of all sorts and
kinds. The place was n beehive. Hun
dreds Of people entered and left every
day. At this time | happened on an
item In a periodical about some re-
markable work In certain line by a
high class medical specialist Here Is
the paragraph"
Lord Ronsdale took the slip Of paper
the other handed him and briefly look.
ed at 1t. You visited this persona"
"Yes. rs his office address was men,
toned as being In the large building
We were interested In. But ut the mo-
ment had no suspicion that John
Steele's pilgrimage to Paris could have