The Nevada County picayune., 1911-10-13

ture of Lamon was published the Stepney landlady passed it over to her lodger and asked him if he did not think 1t was a remarkable case. He looked at the picture intently and also read the summarized account before he replied:
 "No; I don't think there's anything wonderful about it.
 Goodness gracious, MT. Park" she protested, with the yolubility of her class. T think it's the most romantic thing I ever heard of in all Fly born days"
 The engraver merely smiled.
 You needn't laugh,' she cried; "just imagine a murderer being at large in the streets of London!"
 There are many of them," he com mented dryly.
 "Yes, but we may be passing this Lamon on the street for all we know"
 Quite likely"
 And you don't think it's wonder ful!'
 He shook his head.
 "Only a clever criminal getting the best of the stupid police"
 They say murder will out" re- marked the landlady sagely.
 Don't you believe it, retorted the engraver. That's one of those copy book maxims that sounds well, but it | won't bear the test"
 But this fellow-this Lamon-will be caught sooner or later?"
 "Why?"
 Well, everybody will be on the lookout for him after this publication"
 The lodger threw his napkin aside I with. a gesture of dissent. He'll be safer now than ever,' he said; hell be on his guard" You talk as if you knew him" q do," he confided to her, "and from my knowledge of the man he will not let the police get him."
 That afternoon the landlady met a 1 friend who was a policeman, and re- peated the conversation she had had with her lodger at the breakfast table. | The policeman in turn reported it to | his official superior, and before twen- | ty-four hours had elapsed MT. Park, engraver, was being shadowed by one of MT. James FraZer's plain clothes men. But he stood the test we'll. He came and went silently but there was nothing in his daily life that did not seem to stand the severest scrutiny.
 The secretive lodger had a work bench in his room, supplied with tools, and at times he could be seen at work with a green shade pulled down over his eyes. Once or twice the man who was shadowing him lost the trail, but as the shadowed one promptly reap peared no great significance was at- tached to these temporary lapses.
 One day Chief Frazer learned that stranger had been seen in the vicinity of Preston Park. Brighton. making in- | quiries concerning the Gold murder. | The unknown person asked all sorts of questions and was particularly ! anxious to know the whereabouts of the ladies who kept the girls boarding | school near Croyden. This, 1t will be recalled, was the place where Lamon | had gone directly after leaving the U dlus anu WHCHIS, oA luU pICh OI | changing his clothes, he had made his escape. It so happened that the school was closed for the short holi- | day. The pupils were at their homes and the ladies in charge were spend ing few days in London. There was great consternation the | following day when 1t was learned that someone had entered the school. The thief had broken open a side win dow. and after ransacking a number | of rooms had escaped by the rear door. Drawers had been pulled out of their places and the contents | thrown about the floor. But the amaz- ing feature of 1t all was the fact that nothing had been stolen. At least. | that was the assertion of the ladies, and they were in position to know what they were talking about. They were maiden ladies and very precise | and systematic in their habits. They 1 had Q little book which contained a list of every article in the house. but also every ornament, every book and every particular article of wear | ing apparel. They made a careful sur vey of the establishment and found everything intact. Thus. but for the fright and the inconvenience of hay ing their property disarranged, no damage had been done.
 The police were at their wits ends. The murder was bad enough, but this useless housebreaking-to their official minds-seemed worse. It was sug- gestive of the supernatural. It got on their nerves. But Chief Frazer, in his London office. was thinking and pre- pairing to act. The day after the second scare at Croyden he sent for a trusted officer and gave him minute instructions.
 That morning plain clothes man called at the Stepney lodgings and
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