Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-02-08

1 any - pSS4o4 suit uDOA LldL GAY III
more cudgeIed my brains over it tht
more benumbed they became. unit
/ at last I picked up my hat and rushed
/ out OF the house. Having but little
4 idea that l would learn anything By
! so doing, I nevertheless Immediately
/ boarded a car and going to the shoT
! OF my tailor threw the note on the
counter before him. What do you
know about that note, Johnson" de
manded.
He picked it up, adjusted his eye
+ glasses and read It with a slowly
forming and negative pursuing OF his
! mouth. Then he held it forth
/ Nothing at all. What is there about
/ it," I took the card from him and
replaced it carefully in my pocket as
made my reply.
Only this-that it is forgery. And
while I did not for a moment think
that you had any information about
/ it, went to the pains of coming here
/ TO ask you. Neither do I suppose you
| know anything concerning the where
about Of the clothes mentioned" His
answer furnished me the second sur
prise of the day.
ooh, yes, I do. The suit is here
! all right. 1t was brought in yester'
! day by strange men who said you
wished me to press it for you. I have
| done so and it is now in perfect condi-
/ ton" l looked at him with the in,
| credulity with which one faces a per
/ son who makes an incredible state
| ment with straight face and under
/ the guise of seriousness.
Let me see the suit I ordered.
He did so, and 7 inspected it critic
ally. I could discover nothing amiss
with it externally, and searching the
| pockets found they were empty. How
| ever, that was to be expected. as !
! could remember having nothing in
them when I had hung it away, Ger
tainly nothing of any value to any
/ body but myself. I had only succeed
| ed in thickening the mystery which
enveloped this extraordinary transac-
| ton, and puzzled beyond expression,
| I arranged with the tailor that in the
| future he should allow none of my
| clothes which he happened to have
| in his possession to leave his hands
! upon an order ostensibly written by
| me unless the order contained a
| secret mark which we then and there
| agreed upon. Then instructing him
that if any one called for the suit in
! question and presented an order for
the same not bearing the minute
token of it's genuineness which we
! had just invented, that he was to de-
/ tain him until he could summon an
officer and have him arrested, I de-
! parted. What possible object any
person could have had in wishing to
| secure possession of a suit of my
clothes which contained nothing of
the slightest worth, and who having
secured possession OF 1t should go to
| the trouble of conveying it from my
house to the tailor shop was utterly
| beyond my comprehension. The for
ger had not injured the clothes. as
some petty-minded enemy might have
done out of a spirit of spite, and al
together l could conceive of no pos
sible benefit or satisfaction any one
could have derived from such an
elaborate and criminal subterfuge. Ut
terly baff1ed, l determined to say
nothing more about it for the time,
quietly awaiting any new develop
ments that might arise.
The next morning another strange
| thing had happened. l was dressing
for the day at my customary hour for
arising when suddenly the house
keepers knuckles fell upon the door
in a series of nervous taps. She al
most never came to the upper floor
before the breakfast hour, and I there
fore searched her face with some GU
riosity as I told her that she might
enter She Immediately burst forth in
an excited voIley.
ooh, Mr.. Tom! The house has been
burglarized again in the night What
on earth are we coming to with such
people prowling all around in the
darkness? I never was so frightened
in my life. I declare nearly fell in
a faint when I discovered it. Please
come with me and / will show you"
| Dumfoundedly, and with my necktie
still dangling from my hand, l fol-
lowed her squat figure as she climbed
down the front stairs, waddled
| through the dining room and kitchen
and then one foot at time descend
ed the steep stairs that led to the
| basement There was only one door
entering from the outside into these
| lower regions and that was never
used-in fact, had been bolted ever
since my occupancy of the premises.
The aperture in the side of the house
through which the coal supply was
dumped from the drive into the bin
was protected by an iron grating
which was always carefully locked
after such an operation, and the low
| windows which admitted light to the
| furnace room had fixed iron bars on
| the outside The police, LeDuc and
myself had gone over this region
| thoroughly in our search and had
! found that the locks had not been
! tempered with nor the gratings dis
! turbed; the dust and the rust had
proven that beyond contention. Now
! to my amaZement | saw that the
door had been forced by some power
! full instrument that had torn the re-
| ceiving socket for the bolt bodily
! from its fastenings. My hair arose
with a cold tingling of my scalp,
much as it might have done had /
! been suddenly confronted by some
! uncanny object in the dead of night
CTO BE CONTINUED
Postgraduate Course.