The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-04-03
A BIT OF
WAX
BIZ WILLARD

l had gone out to India to serve As
IN accountant in a banking house; but.
becoming homesick. decided to return
to America. A few days before ] sail
ed the head Of the firm called me into
his private Office and told nj that q
client Of the house desired that carry
for him to Boston a valuable sapphire.
He would pay me handsomely for its
delivery in that city.
l needed the money and accepted the
commission. l called for 1t the day l
sailed. wearing a coat with a pocket
In the lining, in which the sapphire
was sewed by an Indian woman who
was called in for the purpose, though
she did not see the contents OF the
pocket or know that there was q peck
ct there.
MY route was by Alden. the Suez ca
nal, the Mediterranean and over the
Atlantic to New York, quite a long
journey and all in the same vessel. !
made the acquaintance Of an Ameri-
can lady. Mrs. Gillette. whose maid
was a young Indian ON The lady
told me that shortly before she sailed
the woman-Susan she was called. be-
cause her Indian I'M was hard to
pronounce-hearing that she was In
tending to sail for America. came and
begged her to take her with her as her
maid. with no compensation except
paying for her passage. The lady.
who was subject to ~seasickness and
wished some one to wait on her. con
sented. Mrs. Gillette vas Ill in rough
weather. but well on a smooth sea.
Susan took very good care Of her.
Since | had told no one that l. car
ried a valuable gem and no one ex-
cept myself and the man through
whom it came to me knew where it
was | felt very little fear of losing 1t.
| simply wore the coat in which It was
sewed by day and used it for a pillow
by night, SO that 1t was always either
en- my back or under my head. But
one thing occurred during the voyage
to me to SUSPECT the possibility
Of any n being on my track. One
day wheh about to enter my state
room 1 noticed something white not
as big as a pea on the door directly un,
der the lock. | have no idea what In
duced me to pick it up, but l did so
and, crushing it between any thumb
and forefnger. found it to be q
Could any one have been taking IN
impression of the lock on my state
room door? dismissed the sugges.
ton at nee az farfetched.
We had left Gibraltar and were
nearing the Azores when one morning
awoke- with a head swimming sen
satfOn. | smelled n peculiar Odor in the
room. l put up my hand to grasp my
coat, for I felt that my head was with
out support. and was Mortified to find
the coat was not there. | arose and
looked about the room for it as best |
could. but 1t was not in the room. |
tried the door and found it locked.
The key ! had concealed under my
mattress. 1t was where | had placed it.
The remembrance of the bit of wax |
had found came back to me as the
only clew to this robbery. II an i'm.
preston had been made for q key the
key must have been made aboard the
ship. 1t could not have been filed
without the filing being heard. Doubt.
less it had been made in the ships
workshop. | went below and asked
the man in charge Of the metal work.
ing shop II he had been called to make
a key. He said that he had not. but,
after some thought. said that one of
the stewards had been in the shop
fling something. He remembered the
steward. and we found him.
reported the matter to the captain,
who called the steward before him
| and obtained a confession that he had
been tipped by a lady's maid to do
some fling on a key. When called
upon to identify the lady's maid be
pointed out Mrs. Gillette's Indian girl.
Susan.
Before Susan got wind Of the mat
ter a ~stewardess took her in charge and
another went through her effects.
My coat was found among them. but
the sapphire was. missing. We were
obliged to tie a rope around Susan.
w pOS e OOdEU Uc'
fore she broke down and told us where
she had concealed It.
No blame whatever was attached to
Mrs. Gillette. She had not the slightest
conception that her maid was not only
a thief. but had entered her service
knowing that. she was about to leave
for America on the same steamer as
| and believing that | carried the sap
phire.
This is the explanation OF how Su.
san acquired this information She
had been '-i,,int"rnaid in the hotel
where the owner nt the sapphire stay.
I'd and had suddenly entered the room
AMI had ~rcn him handling it. She
hrnl wHtri'.'t him ami had seen him
-" 4" the bankers There she had sue
'.'ti,si it, maxim. the acquaintance Of
tho w'n,inn who had done the sew
Ing M my cont This was enough.
4 brother Ut hers had got from the
passengers list Of the STEINER ON which