The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-04-17
A BIT OF
WAX
b. WILLARD

III 0"CCOuuIAuI ~ u OOAnAAo Ao~S~s
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 q
client Of the house desired that l carry
for him to Boston a valuable sapphire.
he would pay me handsomely for It'll
delivery in that city.
needed the money and accepted the
commission. | called for 1t the day
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.
Ny 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 woman. The lady
told me that shortly before she sailed
the woman-Susan she was 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 as her
maid. with no compensation except
paying for her passage. The lady.
who was subject to seasickness and
wished some n to wait on her. con-
sented. Mrs. Gillette was III in rough
weather. but we'll on a smooth sea.
Susan took very good care Of her.
Since | had told no one that l car
RED a valuable gem and no one ex.
cept myself and the man through
whom 1t came to me knew where 1t
was l felt very little fear Of losing 1t.
l simply wore the coat In which It was
sewed by day and used 1t for a pillow
BY night, 80 that 1t 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 When about to enter my state
room l noticed something white not
as big as q pea on the door directly IN.
der the lock. have no idea what in
duced me to pick it up, but I did 80
and. crushing it between my thumb
and forefnger. found it to be wax.
Could any n have been taking an
impression Of the lock on nay state
room door? l dismissed the sugges-
ton at once as farfetched-
We had left Gibraltar and were
nearing the Azores when one morning
I awoke with a head swimming sen.
sation. I smelled a peculiar odor in the
room. l put up my hand to grasp my
coat for felt that my head was With
out support, and was horrtfied to 6nd
the coat was not there. l arose and
looked about the room for It as best |
could. but It was not IN the room. |
tried the door and found it looked.
The key | had concealed under my
mattress. It was where 1 had placed 1t.
The remembrance of the bit Of wax I
had found anne 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 fled
without the ding 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 had been in the shop
6ling 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 he had
been tipped BY q lady's maid to do
some ding On a key. When called
upon to identify the lady's maid he
pointed out Mrs. Gillette's Indian girl.
Susan.
Before Susan got wind Of the mat
ter q 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,
threatening to put her overheard, be-
fore she broke down and told us 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 believing that I carried the sap
phire.
This IL the explanation Of how, Su.
san acquired this infOrma ton. She
had beer, cha mlnrmaid in the hotel
where the owner ~ the sapphire stay.
I'd and had suddenly entered the room
and had >,.n him handling 1t. She
had watched him and had seen him
80 !" the i'ankrr< There she had sue
.r.drd IN making the acquaintance Of
the wuiihit WIN mud done the sew.
Ing on my GOAT This was enough.
A brother IT hers had got from the
passenger list Of the steamer on which
was to sail the names Of several
ladies'. Susan mad gone to each of