The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-05-30

49, etAs WI 10 tht
exact double of Mr.. Northcote. He
was wearing Mr.. Northcote's
clothes. and he seemed perfectly
at home, sir"
And when did you first begin
to have suspicious about this
amazing deception" asked the
magistrate.
1T was the night of Lord San
gates dance, sir-the night of
the murder. Mr.. Burton left
about half-past ten. and he hadn't
been gone matter of a quarter
of an hour when boy came round
to the house with note for me.
II was in the masters writing.
sir, and II told me to come down
in a taxi to Z Bakers Rents,
Stepney, as quickly as possible.
II couldn't make It out at all,
having. as | thought, just seen
Mr.. Northcote out of the house.
Still, there 1t was. So looked
up Baxter's Rents in the directory.
and then rung up a cab and told
the man to take me down as far
as the corner of East street. 1t
was a pretty rough neighborhood,
sir, just off the river, and SEEM
ingly fuller of foreigners than
English people.
Number seven turned out to be
a sailors lodging house. l found
the master there-hed told me
what name to ask for him under
but at first sight | shouldn't
have known him. He'd always
used to be most particular about
his appearance, sir, but that night
he was unshaved and dirty, and
dressed in the toughest of clothes.
We'll, sir, he took me into the
little room he'd eot--like a pig
sty it was-and he shut the door
tight and put the bed against 1t,
as If he was afraid of something"
"You no longer thought that he
and Mr.. Burton were the same
person." interrupted the magis-
trate.
Milford passed his hand across
his forehead. IL don't know, sir;
| was that amazed | can't rightly
say what | did think.
The master told me to sit
down on the bed, sir. Then he
started talking very slow and
quiet. First of all, he told me
that he was Prado. From what
he said, 1t seems that he'd gone
out from England when he was
almost a boy, and that everyone
in Can Luca believed him to be a
South American. He'd escaped
from the palace just before they'd
blown 1t up, and he thought at the
time he'd got away without being
seen.
"Of course, me being a steward
in the Blue Star, sir, I'd heard
all about the way he'd made him
self president, and | didn't need
to be told that there were plenty
of people ready to shove a knife
into him If they had half an idea
he was still alive.
well, that was what the trou-
BILE was, sir. Somehow or other,
it had come out that he hadn't
been killed in the explosion, and
the San Luca people had got on
his track. The people who'd come
after him belonged to some secret
society that he'd pretty near
wiped out.
1T was then, sir, quite by
chance, that he'd come across M.
Burton. 1t was that night he
went out in the taxi, sir. He'd
gone to sign some papers at mis-
lawyers, and coming back along
the Embankment he passed Mr..
Burton standing on the pavement
He saw the likeness at once, sir,
and it suddenly struck him that
this might be a way of escape IL
he could work it properly. Any
how, it seemed a chance, so he
stopped the cab and got out and
spoke to Mr.. Burton.
"He asked Mr.. Burton to sup
per with him at the Milan, sir.
According to what Mr.. Northcote
told me, they had a private room.
We'll, sir, when the master
saw what sort of a gentleman Mr..
Burton was, he made him an Of
fer straight out to change places.
Mr.. Burton was to put on his
clothes, and go back to Park
Lane, and pretend for three
weeks that he was Mr.. Northccte.
So they dressed up in each others
clothes, and Mr.. Burton went
back to Park Lane"
And what did Mr.. Northcote
do?"
HE put up at Bruce House for
the night sir. The next morning
he went down east, and bought
some secondhand sailors clothes.
His idea was to get away quiet to
Australia; but there wasn't any