Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-21
THE RED BUTTON

/ better advantage than in Port OF
Spain. 1 Agreed trusted him alb
solutely, you see Then he told me
that he could dispose of them more
easily. and for more money, II ne
appeared to be the owner. So maze
out and signed bill of sale, deserlp-
ing in detail every piece to the lasl
ring and pin, and transferring them
absolutely to him. Now l know
what foolish thing 1 did. For that
made the jewels his property in law,
as surely as though he had bought
them from me.
1.-THE steamer on which he planned
to sail for England-he told me-
was due to leave Port of Spain on
Wednesday morning. On Monday
night he visited me and took away
the jewels. He said that he wanted
to register them in advance with the
purser. He promised to come again
on Tuesday night. He did not ap-
pear. | learned the next morning
that he had left on Tuesday for New
York. I started for the pier from
which the Southampton steamer
sails. in order to see if there was
nv mistake. On the way, / mel
a friend of the family who had been
waiting to warn me. He had found
out about Captain Hanskas career
in Caracas. He proved to me thal
the captain was an adventurer ano
almost a professional gambler. Then
7 understood. l told no one about
the Jewels until Juan came back; pu'
7 wrote q letter to Captain Hanska
in care of the steamship company
Somehow. it reached him. He an
swered it with a cold letter, claiming
the Jewels absolutely and stating
that he bought them from me-
THAT arrived just after Juan cams
back from Caracas. Juan had no.
succeeded in raising money the
plantation went into bankruptcy
That is the matter with my eyes
They had always been troublesome
but now | gave them real disease
by weeping over the loss of our prop
erty."
Here, as Miss Estrilla made hel
statement, she spoke broken phrases
about another loss. The police ques-
|
she meant. Upon finding that she re-
ferred merely to the loss of whole
hearts love, they dismissed this par
of her statement as immaterial, anc
did not enter it upon the record.)
81 told Juan, of course. He wai
very kind to me. He did not re-
proach me: but we could do nothing
he found. Captain Hanska had land
ed in New York-the passenger lists
showed that. 1t was certain that hi
had smuggled the jewels into tht
United States without paying duty
and we confirmed that afterward
Juan has found out a great dea
since then about jewel smuggling
The agents of your government
watch the big purchases in Europe
and notify the custom house to look
out for them; but an irregular pur'
chase at remote point like Port Of
Spain--it is easy for an expert tc
smuggle such jewels through the
customs. We decided at last to go tt
the United States and see. if we
could get them back-if not the
jewels, at least the bill of sale-be.
cause If the diamonds were in oul
possession with the bill of sale de-
|stroyed, we could prove by half the
people in Port of Spain that they
were ours. We were safe in stealing
them srom Unexpectedly safe. Fol
he wound not dare complain to the
New York police, since If he claimed
them publicly, we could have him ar
rested for smuggling.
Juan thought that all out. We
took what little money we had left
and started for New York. telling our
friends that we were going to settle
in New Orleans Juan wrote to our
uncles in Caracas and secured the
New York agency for a small asphalt
company of theirs. That was done to
conceal our real reason for being
here. On the voyage. by eyes grew
worse, / cried so much. l was very
ill with them when l landed.
Juan and / took rooms apart
We had learned enough about Cap
tain Hanska to know where we
might look for him. Juan traced him
to Mrs. Moore's boarding house. II
seemed certain that Captain Hanska
had not sold the jewels yet, else he
would not be living so cheaply. The
first thing was to find where they
were. Finally Juan and I formed a
plan and acted upon it.
Juan had discovered that the back
room on the top floor of Mrs Moore's
house was vacant. Captain Hanska
lived below; there was no good rea.
son for him ever to come up on that
floor. I took the vacant room, call
ing myself Miss Estrilla, as you
know. Juan had been watching
Captain Hanska like a detective He
moved me in one day when the cap
tain had gone to Staten Island. MY
presence in the house was safer thar
| 1t may seem to you. I did not leave
my room even for meals, since my
eyes were really in very bad condi.
| ton. Then, I wore dark glasses, ar
| eye-shade and a heavy scarf about
my head-I do not believe my owr
mother would have known me. Cap.
tain Hanska had never seen Juan OIL
his picture-it just happened thai
there were no photographs Of him in
our house at Port of Spain.
Juan lived in an apartment-hotel
] We were in communication all the