The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-03-27

A~BIT OF
WAX
b. WILLARD BRAKEMAN

l had gone out to India to serve az
IN accountant in a banking house; but.
becoming homesick. l 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 3
client Of the house desired that carry
for him to Boston a valuable sapphire.
He would pay me handsomely for tt
delivery in that city.
l needed the money and accepted the
commission. | called for 1t the day !
lin 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 "a a peck
ct there.
My route was by Alden. the Sues ca
nal. the Mediterranean and over the
Atla ntic 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 woman. The lady
told me that shortly before she sailed
the wOmnD-Susan she was called, be-
cause her Indian name was hard to
pronounced 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 was III in rough
weather, but well on a smooth sea.
Susan took very good care Of her.
Since l had told no one that | car
ried u valuable gem and no one ex-
cept myself and the man through
whom 1t came to me knew where 1t
was | felt very little fear OF losing it.
I simply wore the coat in which it was
sewed by day and used it for a pillow
by night, 10 that 1t was always either
On my back or under my head. But
one thing occurred during the voyage
to y me to suspect the possibility
OF any q being on my track. One
day wheE, about to. enter my state
room | noticed something white not
a.. big as a pea on the door directly IN
der the lock. I have no idea what In.
duced me to pick 1t up. but J did 80
and. crushing it between my thumb
and foreinger. found 1t to be wax.
Could any one have been taking an
impression Of the lock on my state
room door? | dismissed the sngxes.
ton at once al farfetched. =
We had left Gibraltar and were
nearing the Azores when n mofnins
I awoke with q head swimming sen
sat1on. smeiled a peculiar odor in the
room. 1 put up my hand to grasp my
coat, for ! felt that my head was with
ont support. and was horrifed to 6nd
the coat was not there. l arose and
looked about the DON for 1t as best !
could. but It was not In the room. /
tried the door and found it iorked.
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 ciew to this robbery. Ii an i'm
preston had been made for u KEY the
key must have been made aboard the
ship. 1t could o have been filed
without the filing being heard. Doubt
less 1t 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 bad 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 a confession that he had
been tipped BY a olady's maid to do
some ding on a key. When called
upon to identify the iady's maid he
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.
Ny coat was found among them, but
the sapphire was missing. We were
obliged to tie a rope around Susan,
threatening to put her overheard, BE-
fore she broke down and told MS where
she had concealed 1t.
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 believin. that | carried the sap.
phire.
This Is The explanation Of how Su-
san acquired this information She
HAD ts.rh tt,in,inrnaid in the hOte.
where Tia. ""liet al the Sapt,hire stay.
ID AMI had Suddenly entered the room
ami had >,,n INN handling it.. She
fEld watched hin and had Seeu him
=" 4" the t:ini:rrS There Sh,. had sue
~'"r,lrtl nv making the acquaintance Of
the wn,i.an who had dome the sew.
ing oh my coat This was enough.
A ili.Tfiap ~ huts Ind .,nf fran, th>