The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-15

silent and absorbed as we jolted un-
comfortably onward. My companion
afterward described me as cold and
neglectful," and certainly l was not
as solicitous for her comfort as l
might have been under other circum-
stances.
When the cab stopped I looked out
eagerly. The corner was empty.
Had Nancy, hurt and angry at my
incompetence, returned to Aunt Jo-
sephine? Perish the thought. Sure
ly she would have waited for me a
few minutes.
I jumped out and looked up the
street. The pavement shone wet and
slippery in the gaslight, but no one
was in sight. 1 turned to my cab
again, meaning to ask the girl inside
to name some place where she might
be driven and deposited. AS I opened
the door I felt a hand upon my shoul-
der. I turned angrily, but the man
at my side opened his coat, and l
saw the metal badge Of the secret SER
vice.
"I arrest you" he said, "and I
advise you to come quietly. You
won't gain anything by kicking up a
row."
CHAPTER w.
T had not come quietly. I had re-
sisted, argued, protested. but with
out avail. I was there, and l was
not alone, for cabby and the red
haired girl accompanied me. Inc
former was reproachfully virtuous,
the latter holly indignant, and we
glared at one another with mutual
d~istrust and suspicion.
What name?" inquired the officer
of the Fifth Precinct presiding at the
blotter.
I told him, and he was about to
record It when cabby interfered.
"Thst's a whopper, that Is. His
names Casey; I seen it on the Valise
when he showed it into my shins-
H. D. Casey, large as life
can old dodge" remarked the OIL
GER, and H. D. Casey was duly re-
corded.
The girl gave her lame as Julia
Smith, but no one believed it, and
cabby was Daniel McGovern, of which
there was no reasonable doubt.
What charger" was the next
question.
robbery. The woman is an &C
complete"
Julia Smith and I sprang stimuli
taneously to our feet, but we were
contemptuously waved aside.
sI will hear the mans story" an
nounced the officer.
Daniel McGovern deposed as fol-
lows:
He had c2swered a call and driven
a fat old lady to a certain address,
and been told to wait. She had LETT
a handbag in the cab, but as she
was coming back he had not thought
anything about it, and had simply
prepared to wait as directed.
"And," said Mr.. McGovern, "fust
thing 1 knowed, down come this
young chap like lions was after him
and in he gets, and shoves his valise
agin my shins. 'Keb No. 26,l75,
sir says 1. All right says he, go
ahead and gives an address,. And,
being as it was the anne street from
which I had drove the fat old party,
I thought it was all right, sir"
st believe the man to be honest in
his statement" interrupted the de-
tective.
$50 he stops the keb, sir, and along
comes this here woman"
Julia Smith gave an indignant gasp,
but Mr.. McGovern calmly continued.
"In she gets and he gives the adj
dress of a church, sir, and away we
goes. But this here gentleman, sir,
he war onto the young chaps little
game and he followed close. My fare
is a sharp Teller and he seen he was
| follered. &c back where we come
! FROM says he, quick as you can.
And that's all I know, sir"
The detective here. took up the
| story. He had been called up owe
the telephone by a woman evidently
greatly agitated, and been told that
a valuable package had been left in
a handbag in cab No. 26,175. The
cab had been told to wait at a GER
tain street corner, but had disap-
peared. He had hurried to the spot
and by great good fortune discovered
another cab also waiting, whose
| driver had heard the address given
cab No. 1 and could follow. So he
had made the arrest, and here was
the handbag.
1t was an ordinary black silk bag
of a type much affected by old ladies,
but we all stared at it as though we
had never seen n before, and the
| officer opened it as though he expect
ed to explode. I watched with q
strange fascination the silk move as
! his hand explored the bag, and saw
him grasp something and draw it to
| the top with much the same sensation
that as a child I waited for a juggler
to draw guinea pigs from glass tubes