The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-04-10
-.t - b. :-F'-- -. 81 = -'"1.
A BIT. OF
WAX
Bv WILLARD BLAkEMAN

~ ~ NSh III
l had gone out to India to serve as
IN accountant in a banking house,; OUT
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 me that q
client Of the house desired that ! carry
for him to Boston q valuable sapphire.
He would pay me handsomely for IL
! delivery in that city.
needed the money and accepted the
commission. | 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 pock
ct there.
My route was by Alden. the S,lez ca.
nal. the Mediterranean and over the
Atlantic to New York, quite u long
journey and all In the same vessel.
made the acquaintance OF an Ameri-
can lady, Mrs. Gillette. whose maid
was q young Indian woman. The lads
told me that shortly before she sailed
the woman-Susan she vas called. be
cause her Indian name was hard to
pronounce-hearing that she was In
tending to sail for America. came AND
begged her to take her with her - her
maid, with no compensation except
paying for her passage. The lady.
who was subject to s~easickness and
wished some n to wait on her. con.
scented. Mrs. Gillette was III in rough
weather. but well on q smooth sea.
Susan took very good care of her.
Since | had told no n that car.
ried a valuable gem and nc one ex-
cept myself and the man through
whom It came to mo knew where 1t
was l felt very little fear Of losing It.
l simply wore the coat in which 1t was
sewed BY day and used It for q pillow
BY night 20 that It was always either
On my back or under my head. But
one thing occurred during the voyage
to cause me to suspect the possibility
Of any one being on my track. One
day whom about 10 enter my STATE
room l noticed something white not
~ big as . pea On the door directly un
der the lock. have no idea what In.
duced me to pick It up. but ! did %
and. crushing It between my thumb
and fore3neer. found it to b wax.
Could any one havs been taking an
impression Of the lock on my state
room door, dismissed the suSges.
ton at once 40 farfetchsa
We had left Gibraltar and were
nearing the Azores when one moaAins
I awoke with q head swimming a.
sat1ou. l smelled . peculiar odor In the
room. put up my hand to grasp my
coat for I felt that my head was with
out support. and was horri6sd to dnd
the O was not there. arose and
looked about the room for IL as best ]
could. but It was not in the room. l
tried the door and found It locked.
The key | had concealed under my
mattress. 1t was where l had placed it.
The remembrance Of the bit Of wax l
had found came back to me as the
only clew to this robbery. II m i'm
preston had been made for a key the
key must have been made aboard the
ship. 1t could not have been died
without the fling being heard. Doubt
less 1t had been made in the ships
workshop. | went below and asked
the nan 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
ding something. He remembered the
steward. and we found him.
reported the matter to the captain.
who called the steward before him
and obtained q confession that be had
been tipped by q lady's maid to do
some fling on 4 key. When called
upon to identify the lady's maid he
pointed out Mrs. (3illette's Indian girl.
Susan.
Before Susan got wind of the mat
ter q stewardess took her IN charge and
another went through her e1e>u.
Ny coat was found among them, but
the sapphire was missing. We were
obliged to tie q rope around Susan,
threatening to put her overheard. be-
fore she broke down and told rs 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
q thief. but had entered her service
knowing that she was about to leave
for America on the same steamer ~
l and believing that carried the sap
phire.
This Is the explanation Of how Su-
san acquired this information. She
had been cha mtn'rmaid In the hotel
where the owner of the sapphire stay.
ed and had Suddenly entered the room
and had seen him handling it. She
had watched him and had e him
~, fu thA l.i1karS Thup1, sha he'd Qnc.