The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-04-16
Who Stole
The Jewels?
b. EUNlG A

There was trouble In the Follansbee
family. A young woman had been In.
troduced to teach the younger children.
and Ned Follansbee, the eldest son.
had fallen in love with her. But this
was only a part Of the difficulty. Ger.
tain Jewels belonging to Mrs. Follans-
bee were missing. They had not all
disappeared at once but one at a time.
This indicated that they were being
taken by some one within the house.
Mr.. Follansbee had a talk with his
son Ned about the matter and accused
Miss Winters, the governess. Ned in.
dignantly denied the charge on behalf
Of the girl. He did not make a scene.
for he realized that since Miss Winters
was suspected she must be exculpated.
After the first hot words between "a
Their and son 1t was agreed between
them that neither should say anything
about her being suspected.
This conversation occurred after a
valuable bracelet had been missed from
q safe built into the wall for the stor-
age of silver plate and jewels. The
only persons in the house who had ac-
cess to the key Of the safe were Mr..
and Mrs. Follansbee. Mr.. Follansbee
was a nervous a and occupied a
sleeping room by himself. When the
Jewels began to disappear he was
keeping the key and suspected that
some one had stolen it from his room
when he was asleep, for be put 1t un-
der bis pillow with bis watch every
night when he went to bed
1t was agreed between the father and
BON that they should watch alternate
nights for awhile with a view to solv-
ing the mystery; but, finding this more
wearisome than dividing the night be.
tween them. they changed to the latter
plan. MIR. Follansbee watched from
bedtime till 2 In the morning and Ned
from 2 till daylight.
Meanwhile they were both very care
full to conceal their vigils from the
rest Of the family. especially Miss
Winters. Ned had perfect confidence
III uOI luuOScuSC uuu uuu III NAAASOASy
in treating her as he had always done.
As for Mr.. Follansbee, he saw very
little of her, and there seemed to be
no occasion for his betraying his sus.
picions.
There were several servants in the
house-a cook. a housemaid and a
chauffeur. Ned suspected the house
maid. she having access to every part
of the house at all times. he had ev.
cry confidence that by careful watch
ing she would turn out to be the thief.
The only puzzling feature to him was
how she opened the safe. But he &C.
counted for this on the supposition that
she had taken away q wax impression
Of the lock and had a pal who had
made a key from it. For the safe was
q very old fashioned affair put In be-
fore the day OF combination locks.
The watchfulness of the two Fol.
lansbees was not attended with sue
cess. One night the maid was discov'
cred by Follansbee Junior in the .kitch-
en- ut 8 o'clock in the morning. Ned
was sure this gave him a clew. he
kept in the dark and watched. The
girl lit the gas range and put on some
water to be heated. then, dipping a
cloth in 1t, held the cloth to her cheek.
Evidently it was a case of toothache.
Not long after this the maid returned
to her room.
The incident put a damper on Ned's
suspicious Of her, and a pang shot
through him as he remembered that
Miss Winters was the only other per
SOD, besides the members of the fam
fly. that had the run Of the house.
The watch had continued ten days.
and the mystery was still unsolved.
No Jewels had disappeared during this
interval. MIR. Follansbee was sure that
Miss Winters was the thief because
she was a very bright woman and
there vas no n else about who had
the ability to steal the jewels and es-
cape detection. Ned was Respondent
because he could not prove Miss Win
tiers to be innocent. The father gave
up bis watch. while Ned concluded to
keep up bis for a few days longer be
tween bedtime and daylight. which
since 1t was spring. came early.
One night between II and l o'clock
he was sitting in the library, where he
could hear a sound in any part of the
house. His vigils had deprived him Of
q good deaf Of sleep. and he was I'M
able to keep awake. There was nc
light in the room. AS he was dropping
or into a doze he felt a hand grasp bis
arm. Opening his eyes. by the light OF
q street lamp he saw Miss Winters.
"Cone qutck!" she said. and without
waiting for q reply led him to the hall
ON the second story. where she stopped
and listened.
Ned heard some one moving at the
other end Of the hall. Presently there
was a sound like something striking
metal. Then Miss Winters. still hold
ing his wrist led him toward the otheI
end Of the hall. He could e nothing
but heard the safe door open Mis-
Winters reached above her head and
turned on an electric light
There before the open safe stood Mr.
Follansbee.
Miss Winters, feeling a shiver run