The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-04-11
WHO STOLE
THE JEWELSp
By DAVID WALTER CHURCH
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation, 1911.

was taking dinner with my friend
Horace Jones and his wife the other
day. Jones has accumulated a snug
sum hunting up rascals. In other
words, he Is a detective. When we
were drinking our coffee and smoking
l asked him to give me the most Inn
portant case In which he had ever
been employed.
You mean the most important to-
my employer or to met"
well. let 1t be the most important
case to you"
'All right I'll give you the VII
liams case"
saw his wife look up at him, evi-
IDENTIFY with an 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 number Of valuable
family jewels. which she kept in a
safe imbedded In the wall Gu the Sec
ond story of her dwelling. She alone
knew the combination. and yet the
jewels were gradually disappearing.
She had a goyerness for her children.
Miss Elizabeth Ward. whom she sus-
pected. having been detailed on the
case. she was giving these facts to
me. At this point interrupted her.
81 thought you said. Mrs. Williams,
that you alone know the combination.
How can Miss Ward open the safe
without I'll?
Possibly In this way: She has a
brother who Is skilled mechanic In
the service of safe and lock conn.,
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 unoh-
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
II she preferred to pay a detective for
doing 1t was quite willing. was
introduced into the house as 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 l not felt
very sure she was nm adventures
should have fallen IN love with her.
Indeed. I'm not sure but Don't like
| to hear 1t. eh. dear? That's quite
natural I'll switch on from that part
Of the story. though I'm sure you have
no reason to be jealous Well. took
up my residence for a few days or q
| few weeks. as the case might require.
and was assigned a bedroom directly
| opposite the safe in which the jewels
were kept
SIT didn't take me long to find out
that Miss Ward was as smart as 4
steel trap. and | made up my mind
that to catch her-or. her brother.
which WAS the same thing-l would
have to be awake every night in the
week. But she seemed worried With
| the true detective instinct, | 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 term In the state prison At
any rate. she was worried
II remained awake all night for sew
eral nights in succession, and as had
no excuse to remain in bed ali 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 couldn't get
the secret from her. found heI
quite willing to be courted and"-
"Horacer' interposed Mrs Jones'
Pardon, my dear" Then to me: "Niy
wife can't bear to hear me speak OF
my premaritat affairs
"Of course she can't" l chimed in
with Mrs. Jones. How would you
like your wife to talk about her own
premarltal affairsT
"Uml That's different But to 60
on with my story. didn't get much
from the governess and while was
making up to her Mrs. Williams re-
ported that she had lost another jewel
Meeting Miss Ward after this theft.
l found her In very bad humor
Why | could not understand. for nei
ther 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
ssYo11 could havo knookad mo dorun
with feather | knew had met my
match and answered never a word
went to Mrs. Williams and told her |
would take 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 / heard a light tap at my
door. Putting on a dressing gown.
opened 1t. Miss Ward was standing
in dark corner and pointed toward
the safe. There stood Mrs. Williams
funnbiing with the lock.
"'Shes asleep whispered Miss
Ward
MRS. Williams opened the safe, took
out something, closed the door and
went away The mystery was solved
As a sieepwalker she was transfer
ring her Jewels from the safe to tin
hoy IN her hefr0Om closet "
what became of Miss Ward?' l
asked
Jones looked at his wife. and both
smiled.
Timber and Lumber.