Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-10-31

n when I was with the
sJnlted States secret service. I slipped
into New York.
IT happened that from iratc citizens
ct wealth and position all over the
country there had been leaking through
20 washington for some time, to the
secretary OF the treasury and even to
The president himself, some of the most
stories OF how they had
beer spied on, duped. bled, shaken
down. and systematically hlackmailed
by some n in the customs service.
Ihe secretary had been amazed at
inc complaints. In fact. he could hardly
believe that there could be anything to
inc eXt'aordlnary stories. At first he
thought they were merely the squeals
81 the captured n the disgruntled.
Still, inysteciously, the stories kept on
coming IN. AT last the secretary had
turned the matter over to the secret
service. and the secret service had
turned 1T ovev to me.
The stories. SO far, had been mostly
OF the same character, too. In short,
the victims had not all come into court
with clean hands. They had been-to
put 1T Notwithstanding the tariff.
They had attempted to smuggle, and
had been caught at it. But, aside from
that, h mex provocation and the
manner of their capture had been so
raw that had made up my mind, al
most as soon as I took up the case,
to trust no one in the customs service
until l had made sur Of him.
For l knew that the CRATER, who
ever he was, must have built up a reg
ular system of acknowledgement out
his system" as detectives call it
which extended no one had any idea
how far.
I mad slipped into town quietly. Yet,
almost before I had had a chance to
start. I began to learn how wide was
the lln6orQ7o1ina nnnnoot}nn ~ The
CRATER. No one in New York should
nave known that l vas working on the
case. Stlll, almost Immediately, power
1ul friends of some n in the customs
service began to approach me in order
to shut me Off.
Big Names Figure in the Mystery.
Now that would have beer impos-
sible," I meditated, unless the big
crooks knew that something was doing.
at the start"
n more I thought about it, the
more 1t seemed as if the thing perhaps
ramified up to the head of the local
service himself. I determined to start
my secret investigation just a little
crook, who didn't know me or my
metho1, after having been warned to
look u n having looked out and
seen nothing. began to think that the
Wnoie thing was a fake.
There were some big names in the
government n in society involved in
the case before l got through, and, for
That reason, all of them have beer
changed in this story. But I began
quietly. to deive away at some of the
past history OF complaints. And the
more l delved, the more amazed l was
them.
Celebrated Case Of Hargrave Pearls.
There was, for instance, the cele- !
DRAFTED case of the H~argrave pearls. |
Marjorie Hargrave was a tall and
stately woman, with black eyes that
charmed n c~aptivated every one that |
came within range. She was somewhat |
a young New York banker, a million |
aire several times over-Mr. Mansfield.
1T seemed that in Paris the year be- |
fore Mrs. Hargrave had been looking /
at one OF the most dazzling pieces of
jewelry that was ever made. 1t was a
so that a section OF it could be worn
as q tiara. There were 500 diamonds
In 1t, 100 emeralds, and some 30 or 40
pearls. with n huge drop pearl fully
m inch in length. One night she had
eve worn 1t at a dinner in her apart
,nent. AS a matter of fact. Mansfield
Fad declined to buy 1t for her.
Imagine. now, the scene at the pier
rs the great transatlantic liner on which
Mrs. Hargrave had returned was
warped into her berth i n the North
river. Already the deputy surveyor
had sailed down the bay. met the ship.
entered the saloon, n ranged the first
cabin passengers on one side of h
long tables to take their declarations.
Mrs. Hargrave had r. little to de-
clare. she said. She was alone with
hor ,oof1 unI roolvy cho o0,,1dn,t cov
h had brought back anything of any
consequence.
Tho huge piles Of first class baggage
were deposited in heaps on the wharf.
and b lines Of opposing passengers and
s1sP ss Mtt, we're w,n .Srwso ~ n the ane aim ngni
pier. Piles OF feminine finery were ex- !
posed to alien gaze tumbled about and
paved over. Bags and purses were
empticd.
1t was In such a scene as this that
Mrs. HmTgrave was accosted by an In
apector. who acted very much as If he
had heard q piece Of news about a
dazzling stomacher.
The upshot was that Mrs. H%argrave
was searched. They didn't find the
stornached. for 1t was still in Paris. But
they did And a pearl necklace and some
other tc!nkets composed of brilliants of
marvellous perfection. worth about $S4,-
900. She had concealed them III her
purse. The necklace and other jewels
were seized. and after a good deal of
litigation the government won.
But when i began to investigate the
case. I found that there was another
side to it. 1t all went back to n night
IL: Paris. when q little dinner had taken
place Mt tho apartment Of Mrs. Har-
grave. a number of admirers had
ga:!.:e, eli to do her homngc. and. in u
mo,nn..+ Of vanity. the woman had dis
played the s%to.nacher that had been
hrptigl.: up On approval.
It had quite dazz!ed the eyes of
of the guests. Where did o get it?"
Io 1,oJ oolcd