The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-02-28

0uAihhSfSs ~ 'oAuy bub Whui oliuO
me at once was the very mutilated
condition Of Essayan's statues. Hard
ly a n but lacked some member OF
the body. Aud then | remembered
Essayan's comment upon this fact. and
how he had boosted that he did not
know one from the other--knew only
that he had raid out twelve million
dollars for them.
Nov, this was my scheme. / did
not intend to steal a statue. l planned
to steal parts of several statues; to
chop a leg from one that had two legs,
an arm from one that had two arms;
a torso from a statue that was other
wise complete; fingers and legs and
ears and other members to make up
my complete art object.
Summers, my plan succeeded be-
yond expectation. l have robbed Es-
sayan of an entire statue; yet so skill
fully has it been done that the ignor-
ant fool will never discover that he
has lost anything"
To this the papers bore witness on
the following day. l Gull this extract
from the Boston Record-Mirror.
"a daring robbery was attempted last
night at the house of Mr.. Essayan, the
well-known banker. The thieves made
their appearance in an automobile,
and had almost succeeded in effecting
an entrance when they were surprised
by the night Waterman. A desperate
struggle followed, but the night watch
man having foiled their attempt to
kidnap him in their machine, sue
ceeded in drawing his whistle and in
warning the police. officer zero gave
chase upon his motorcycle and follow
ed the burglars as far as the Common,
when he was struck by some missile
and felled unconscious. The thieves
succeeded in escaping and so far have
not been traced, though 1t is thought
that the identity Of at least one of
them is known to Mr.. Essayan-who
had, in fact, been led to expect just
such an attempt. 1t is believed that
Mr.. Essayan's art gallery was the OBJ
ject of the attempt. However, a care
full examination by Mr.. Essayan re-
yealed the fact that the gallery was
never entered"
A month later Nikolai and l were in
London, in the guise of art agents
from the Levant. We interested Mr..
Berg in our new statue.
Dug up near Gambia, Crete" said
Nikolai, in broken English. THE mu-
tilated condition is ascribed to the
fact that the statue was demolished
and buried by an earthquake about the
time of Augustus
1T has been pieced together credit
ably" said Berg, examining it with ex-
tr~aordinary interest. "A truly remark
able piece of work. ! should say that
it had been made eXperimentally by
one versed in the various schools of
the civilized world about the time of
Christ. Other statues, for instance,
show the influence CT some special
school, but this head seems to have
been modelled after the school OF Phi
dias; here we have one leg of con-
temporary Cretan sculpture and its
fellow of Roman work. Possibly a
composite, prepared by pupils in the
local school. AS a curiosity it should
be Of vast interest; but l am not pre-.
pared to offer IN eXorbitant amount.
How much do you want for it?"
1.-TWO hundred thousand dollars
American" Nikolai answered.
Call it a hundred and fifty thousand
and I'll purchase it," said Berg.
Nikolai agreed reluctantly.
by the way" he continued, when
Berg had signed in Essayan's name
lis hat the Mr.. Essayan who received
the mysterious empty mummy case
last month, as reported in the arr
papers? l think / have a clue to tho
sender. Tell him to look inside and
find whether there is not something
written in English upon a piece o.
papyrus."