The Washington times., 1912-09-18

that Finney would have murdered any,
body. He was the tsoftest hearted.
most most sentimental, good creature 1 ever
"Nevertheless, Mr.. Finney never had
any legal title to the diamonds, Miss
Driscoll, said Sir Octavius. Therefore
You never had. The necklace has
passed through many hands since 1t
left mine, and 1t has been the source
of many foul misdeeds, but / will now
prove to you. Give ME the necklace, in
spector, If you please"
Davidson handed the necklace over.
Sir Octayhls possessing himself of the
Inspectors blotting pad, laid the neck
lace Lengthwise across it, with the dia-
monds face downward. He placed an
elegant forefnger on sort of medal
lion in the center of the gold work in
which the stones were set.
Now observe" said he, although
this poor ornament has passed through
80 many hands no one, will venture
TO swear, has found out the secret of
the medallion,\ which was wrought by a
very cunning worker in metal "a Hindu)
-look!'
Sir Octavius pressed his fngernail on
the side of the medallion-a lid few up
packed a tiny roll Of yellowish parch-
ment
''Oblige me. inspector" said Sir Oc-
tavius, by taking out that little parch-
iis"' iit.% ana fea''ns "na' Is "ri''e" upon
Davidson picked the bit OF parchment
out with a pin, unrolled Il and gaZed
at the writing traced upon it. 1t was.
no larger than a penny stamp, and the
writing was most minute, Luz Sc clear
that he would easily read, and the in
spector presently read out:
This necklet of sixty-three stones>wa
given to Octavius Burke by the Mahar
anee Of Dahicurrie. Hindustan, in re-
turn for valuable service"
Now, Miss Driscoll," continued Sir,
Octavius ~ think that settles the ques-
tioE OF ownership. That, and certain
facts which / have been able to put be-
forc them, have satisfied the author!
ties here, at any rate, and the diamond
necklace Is acknowledged % them ~
be my property Is not that so, inspeC-
tori"
1T is. Sir Octayius-the necklace is
undoubtedly yours" replied Davidson.
TN that case" said Sir Octavius, II
VIII put IT in my pocket and proceed to
tell you how l came to lose 1t, how I
have been endeavoring to trace t, and
how at last I was lucky enough to st.
ply missing link in my chain Of evi-
narrative in the irish Times this morn
"Ah," said Miss Driscol. so you
read 1t, did you?"
IN bed at o'clock" replied Sir Octa-
vius. And by o'clock I was in this
Office. had good two hours start
of you. Miss Driscoll, though it really
wouldn't have matteNd If you had six
Of me. But now for my story
Sir Octavius settled himself in his
chair, folded his arms across his tight
ly buttoned frock coat and commenced
the following narrative:
1T Is scarcely necessary" he said.
looking around upon Miss DriscolI, Miss
O'Leary, and Inspector Davidson with
a polite bow and smile, ito tell you
how and why 1t was that the Maha-
rance of Dahlcurrie-a most beautiful
and deeply interesting ,woman-present-
ed me with the diamond necklace which,
like Helen of Troy has been the cause
of so much agitation and trouble
though. of course, of very different
nature.
1T is sufficient to say that l stood
hgh-very high indeed-in her esteem.
Wished %sS ali the masnoence snS Of
Oriental to reward me in the most SUBJ
stantial manner. Her reward was the
necklace of diamonds which at last ha 8
come back to mel greve to say in a
mutiliated state-after many years of
separation. Let us say no more of her
we will pass on to the way in which
the diamonds were lost.
when ! quilted India after a long,
and think 1 may say, distinguished ca
reer, ! sailed from Bombay on the Brah-
mapootra. ! carried the diamond neck
lace with me Is a matter of course, for
I had view of disposing of it In Europe
rather than in India.
You may remember, possibly, some
Of you, that the Brahmapootra went to
pieces on hidden reef on the north
coast of Africa. and that many Of her
passengers and crew we're lost I was
one of the survivors; my life was saved,
but my diamond necklace was lost.
How or at what moment it was stolen
from me l have not been able to make
out-all that know it that 1t was sto-
en- about the time that trouble came to
the Brahmapootra.
~ never heard anything of my neck
lace again, as you very well conceive,
and for ive years gave up all hope of
n q n q
thing happened The newspapers rang
for several DAYS with startling accounts
OF a series OF sensational murders in
the southwest OF England round about
Plymouth and Dartmoor.
IT read them out OF mere curiosity
What happened was this: A pawn.
broker. Aaron Joseph, well-known In
Plymouth, was found strangled in his
back parlor. A Hindu, known to some
of the a-going fra aternity in Plymouth
and Devonport as Lal Dass, was found
stabbed through the heart in a low
lodging house. A seaman named John
Lindsay was found In a hut on Dart
moor half burnt but recognizable
though his skull had been battered al.
most TO pieces. He had been stripped
and near him lay heap of convict
clothes.
AT the sams time an escaped con
vict from Dartmoor. one Stefano Vas
salli. was shot dead by a pursuing party
of warders, and he was found q b'
wearing L,ndsays clothes. Two mel
shot Vassalli-warderS named Lloyd ant
Hollins Within few hours OF Vas
Sails death Lloyd and Hollins retraceC
TO the spot, and Hillins murdered Lloyt
by dashing out his brains with a stoni
and buried the body in a crevice In tn,
rocks. After that Hollins disappeared
and from that day to this he has neve
been heard from.
Now, I began to see some chance o
tracing my diamonds. 7 had a list o
the names OF every man. woman, o.
child, passenger or crew. on the Brah
mapootra. and among them were th'
names OF Lal Dass, John Lindsay, ant
Stefano Vassalli.
II came to the conclusion that thes
were the thieves.-these were the mel
who had stolen my necklace, and tina
the necklace was the cause of this chail
of murders. And | put II in this way
that in some fashion or other Vassalli
when shot by the warders was in pos
session of the necklace; that Lloyd an,
Hollins found 1t on him; that Holm
murdered Lloyd for the sake OF it,
The thing was to find Hollins-bu
Hollins could not be found. He ha'
vanished as completely as II he hat
evaporated into thin air. I did all tina
could to trace him. but our labor
were without the least result. He hal
heen "A soldier and hailed OriRinall