The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-12

"Poei Peel" Ascend later, d" Comehere!
The man who had made the motion
tucked his hat under his arm and sauntered
UP the aisle, turned into the passageway to
the box and edged through those crowding
for look. with an air of quiet authority.
"This is Mr.. Poe, Christopher Poe,"
her father introduced in Hurried tone.
"You have heard me speak of him. He is
the banker"
ooh, yes; so glad to know you. You
saw the stone drop just now?" the girl
asked quickly, her eyes still searching.
eyes; but, really, there is no use look
ing" Poe's tone possessed strange fnality.
He bent to remove the light chain of fine
gold which still chung to the gardenia, and
made casual examination of it.
"Nipped off with pair of pliers" he
smiled GA common trick, easily executed
by fifty men in Paris. Your tightly pinned
scarf prevented it from dropping or being
stolen in the crowd. You felt nothing,
suppose, on the way from the carriage to
the entrance9" this last to Miss Blondell
81 was a bit anxious" she admitted,
turning up her flushed face. "Ipressed the
jewel tightly through the scarf. Now that
you speak of it, did fell something cold
touch the back of my neck for an instant,
but felt quickly for the chain and found it
safe, only protruding slightly above my
scarf In the back"
"And already severed by pair of pliers
concealed in clever hand" added Poe.
eft has happened often, this nipping. You
were pressing the stone with your hand on
the scarf. The thief knew he could not get
the gem in the crowd; he waited for you to
unpin the scarf when you were safe in the
box and off your guard. The stone slid
down and dropped the moment you threw
the wrap back and leaned forward; but
you did not notice it at the exact
instant of falling; several seconds passed :
before the discovery, and that was all the
thief needed"
"Absurdl" laughed Miss Blondell. "You
don't mean that the thing is stolen. It's
surely here somewhere. It couldn't have
from the box In that instant"
Certainly no person saD it disappear"
replied Poe. "I was watching the curtain
myself, it did not move. There was no one
in the passageway behind the box and surely
no thief inside it,
"Then how could the stone have dis
cried the girl. "You can see
at glance there are no cracks or crevices it
could have slipped through or lodged in"
"That's the only assurance have that it
IS stolen" answered Poe, bending his short
waist and picking small splinter Of wood,
not a quarter of an inch long, from the leg
of chair near the doorway.
"But it's absurd to think that anyone
could have stolen the jewel in the second it
dropped to the floor before stopped to find
it,
"It couldn't have bounced up three feet
Al - IL
been picked up by the gentleman in the
box" oestopped abruptly, his
brows shot up on his forehead and the
satirical wrinkles again appeared, joining
the corners of his nostrils and lips. He had
glanced toward the other box and found it
empty. For second he fingered the splin-
ter of wood in his pocket, the wrinkles
deepening and his eyes fixed.
Turning short he said in low tone to
Blondell, "Wait for me at Palais d'Orsay,"
then he bowed absently to the girl, ducked
through the plush curtains and hurried out
an exit.
AS he sat in cab five minutes later, on
his way to music hall in Rue de Clichy,
Poe looked and acted more like
a bored Frenchman in search of pleasure
than anything else. Had the Jehu who
drove known the truth about his fare he
would have been more particular in his
work, and would never have dared to juggle
with the little taximeter at his side. But
only two men really knew Poe. His friends
knew only that he had more money than he
could spend; that he was one of the six
ice-presidents of the Manhattan National
Bank, and director in several Others. Burns
and Mitchell were the two who knew him
we'll and they marvelled at the. man. To
them alone was it known that Poe gave
practically his entire time to running down
bank crooks. His position at the Man
haitian was honorary, he was what they call
4 "stop-gap," drawing no salary and work
ing s0ish the bank rather than for it. This
allowed him the leisure to indulge, often
with Burns and Mitchell, in tracking down
bank thieves. Poe's criminal knowledge
was greater than any living mans. It was
said of MIN by Burns and Mitchell and the
few officials in the Bankers Protective
Association who guessed at Poe's quiet
work that he was as familiar with the
naunts of "peter" men and safe-blowers as
be was with the art centers of Europe.
On this occasion Poe was merely enjoying
a vacation in Paris and had stumbled onto
an interesting crime, an attempt at the
solution of which he could not resist.