The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-10

took place, and then you can question
the ships officers on any points which
may seem doubtful. Ali Singh occu-
Two Of his personal attendants slept
on mats outside his stateroom, while
others were distributed In various parts
Of the ship. / kept close eye on the
lot and can give you a diary Of their
actions every day since the vessel left
Canton. They kept very much to
themselves. So far as can tell, none
Of them, except All Singh himself,
spoke English, and he remained so
aloof from every one on board that
was never able to exchange a word
with him. His secretary had fair
knowledge of French and was able by
that means to make known their COM
mon wants to the stewards. They new
er went ashore at any port touched
lduring the run. So far as could tell
they dispatched very few letters, and
certainly received none, because the
purser acting on my instructions, kept
a sharp lookout in that respect. In
| fact the voyage was most uneventful
until three days ago, when fire broke
out in the stokehole and spread very
rapidly to some bags of jute In the
forehatch. 1t was discovered at once,
and all danger vanished within about
five minutes. But there was deuce
Of a smoke while it lasted, and, Of
course the affair caused some natural
excitement among the passengers.
There wouldn't have been the least
panic however, If it wasn't for those
Internal Chinks. Talk about the China
man being impressive and fatalistic
have never met such set of towards
in my life. Ali Singh himself was one
Of the worst. He and his gang set up
such hullabaloo that they freighten-
ed the women and made matters worse
by trying to rush one of the boats.
tell you sir, that l was half inclined
to suspect some trick or other, and
took good care to remain close up with
them during the whole affair. Some Of
the ships officers got wind Of what
was going on, and tackled them rather
roughly. meaning to lock them up in
their cabins until they were quieted.
There was a regular row near the
boat. which they were trying to swing
ON her davits. All Singh was pushed
against a stanchion, which broke sud
denly. and he fell headlong into the
sea with fearful yell. I saw him
swept away, as the ship was travelling
fourteen knots at the time. and it IS
believed that he was struck by the pro-
peller. because we found his blood
stained turban floating in the water.
That was good twenty minutes after
ward. The captain turned the ship
in a circle. and lowered boat almost
at the exact spot where the man had
fallen overheard"
"Good" chortled Kemp IT know a
few Chinks downtown in New York
whom 1 would like to get rid of as
easily"
There's one curious thing. sir"
went on the detective ut was found
that the stanchion against which All
Singh was leaning had been fled
through and was calculated to give
way under the least pressure"
Manning would have been better
pleased had this evidence of prior evil
intent not been forthcoming. 1t was
disconcerting. If only by the sheer alb
sence of motive. But there could not
be the slightest doubt that the detec-
tive's story was true Not only did
the ships log record its bald features,
but two of the officers corroborated it
In every detail The Chinese, more
over, wore the purple garments Of
mourning and submitted with true
eastern nonchalance to the measures
taken for their deportation.
Though both Manning and Kemp
felt that fate had made their task
easy, they relaxed none of the precau-
lions devised earlier Not only was
the list of passengers scrutinized most
thoroughly, but the gangways were
watched for hours after the ship had
tied up.
The police boats, too, hung about
until night fell One sharp eyed
watcher thought he saw a mans head
| in the water, and the launch darted
rapidly in that direction but the placid
surface of the Hudson remained undis-
turbed. 1t was evidently false
alarm.
| So Manning went home to bis fat
and slept the sleep of the care free,
conscious that he had left no stone un-
turned in the performance Of his duty.
| Next morning two communications
reached him which seemed to have
some slight bearing on Ali Singh's
movements. Kemp phoned to say that
a notorious half caste known as Hong
/, kong Harry had been seen in the VI
entity of an opium joint kept by All
| Chow.
This guy is a dope flend" explained
the police captain. '.IIe is wonder
full athlete and has got away from my
men several times by scaling walls and
climbing rain pipes in way that
would seem possible only to monkey
He dresses well. Just like the average
young New Yorker. and rather looks
down on dyed In the wool Chink like
All Chow. So I'll have him watched. y
"Quite right" agreed Manning
Even though All Singh be dead. we
may learn something about his schemes
by grabbing his associates wish now
that we had let some OF those China
men land. 1t might have been usefu
to follow them. Anyhow, let me know
If anything turns up"
! The other minor circumstance was
a note from an official of yassar Col