Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-08-16
WHO STOLE
THE JEWELS?
By DAVID WALTER CHURCH
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

j
! Horace Jones and his wife the other
day. Jones has accumulated a snug
Cum hunting up rascals. In other
words. ne is a detective. When we
were drinking our coffee and smoking
l asked him to give me the most i'm
poitan. case in which he had ever
beer employed.
You me2u the most important to
ny employer or to me"
well, g It be the most important
! Cas- 10 o..
"All tight. I'll give you the Will
! liam4 case"
saw his wife look up at him, evil
IDENTIFY with al intent to stop him, but
| he told the story all the same.
Mrs. Williams came to the Of
! fee one day-she was a widow--and
! stated that something was occurring
! in her house she wished investigated.
| She possessed q number Of valuable
/ family jewels, which she kept in a
safe imbedded in the wall on the sec
ond story of her dwelling. She alone
! knew the combination, and yet the
! jewels were gradually disappearing.
| She had a goverHess for her children,
Miss Elizabeth Ward, whom she sus-
! pected. l having been detailed on the
case, she was giving these facts to
me. At this point interrupted her.
"I thought you said, Mrs. Williams,
that you alone know the combination.
How can Miss Ward open the safe
without itY
"Possibly in this way: She has q
| brother who is a skilled mechanic in
/ the service of q safe and lock COM
pany. He visits her frequently, and
suspect that either he has instructed
her in lock picking or she conceals
him in the house and he watches his
opportunity to pick it himself unob-
served
at struck me that to discover the
truth all she had to do was to watch
and she would catch either Miss Ward
or her brother stealing the jewels. But
If she preferred to pay detective for
doing it 1 was quite willing. 1 was
introduced into the house as a nephew
of Mrs. Williams, from a distant land,
and, of course, to Miss Ward.
81 found the governess a very at
tractive young lady. Had I not felt
very sure she was an adventures I
should have fallen in love with her.
Indeed, I'm not sure but Don't like
to hear it, eh, dear? That's quite
natural. I'll switch off from that part
of the story, though I'm sure you have
no reason to be jealous. Well, took
up my residence for few days or a
few weeks, as the case might require,
and was assigned a bedroom directly
opposite the safe in which the jewels
, were kept.
ut didn't take me long to find out
that Miss Ward was as smart as a
steel trap, and l made up my mind
that to catch her-or her brother,
which was the same thing-I would
have to be awake every night in the
week. But she seemed worried. With
!, the true detective instinct, I saw
through that. | inferred that her
brother was dominating her, compel
ling her to keep on with the thefts,
while she feared this scheme would at
last be detected and one or both would
spend a term in the state prison. At
any rate, she was worried.
81 remained awake all night for sew
eral nights in succession, and as l had
| no excuse to remain in bed all day
gave up the plan of catching the thief
, in the act and determined to try and
worm myself into the confidence of
Miss Ward and see If I couldn't get
the secret from her. I found her
quite willing to be courted and
Horace interposed Mrs. Jones.
Pardon, my dear" Then to me: MY
wife can't bear to hear me- speak of
my premarital affairs"
I "Of course she can't" 1 chimed in
/, like your wife to talk about her own
l premarital affairs?"
"Um! That's different. But to go
on with my story. I didn't get much
I from the governess, and while l was
making up to her Mrs. Williams re-
ported that she had lost another jewel
Meeting Miss Ward after this theft,
i IOunu ueE III Il very Ddu uuuOE.
Why I could not understand. for nei.
Their she nor any one else had been
caught stealing She astonished me
by coming out bluntly:
"'Mr. Detective, if you wish to find
out who is stealing the jewels change
your room
You could have knocked me down
with feather. l knew had met my
match and answered never a word. /
went to Mrs. Williams and told her l
would take a room farther from the
safe. She gave me one at the end OF
the hall where l could see without
being seen, the light, which was kept
burning low all night. being directly
over the safe.
Thine passed, during which was
getting impatient at doing nothing.
though l was not dissatisfied at being
kept in the house with Miss Ward.
One night l heard light tap at my
door. Putting on a dressing gown. I
opened it. Miss Ward was standing
! a,.I