The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-04-02
A WELL
LAID PLAN
But One Element In
Ii Had Not Been
Provided For
By F. A. mitchell

| oi'"h 4" ''"Au anu ndu pedc0llks
CONF excl. My voice was of a me
GiGm pitch FOR man: but. having one,
taken a -iIls part on the stage. | hal
learned to SPEAK in falsetto, very like 9
| woman
One day | was handed newspaper
in which there was personal that
read as follows:
IL Annette Thurber will communicat,
with Ii. L. b. she will hear something &c
| her advantage.
1t was explained to me that Annette
Thurber was "A nie4 of one Nicholas
Bradford, who had recently died. leav.
Ing large estate. Miss Thurber had
E-pt house for him and nursed him
during his last illness. He had told
her that he had made a will leaving all
his property to her and she would find
1t In certain tin box in which he kent
his papers. the box being on n shelf I'm
the closet of his home office. After. his
death she had looked in the box and
had not found the document.
No will forthcoming. the proper1y
would he divided between the tesla
tors nephew, Henry Lathrop Bradford
the son of an older brother. and An
nette Thurber, the daughter of his sis
ter This Henry Bradford was n
scamp. His uncle had befriended him
and tried to make n man of him. had
failed and had disowned him. Miss
Thurber believed that he had stolen
the will from the tin box in order that
he might under the law obtain half the
estate. The personal had undoubtedly
been inserted by him with a view TO
some arrangement with her. What
that intended arrangement was she did
not know.
A reply was made by Miss Thurber
stating that she would receive Henry
Bradford at her home any day he
chose to call between . and 3 o'clock I'm
the afternoon. No attention was paid
to this. and, the case having been placed
by Miss Thurber in the hands of detec.
tives. a new note was dispatched I'm her
name saying that she would meet
Bradford at any time or place he might
appoint. Miss Thurber then received a
bit of paper on which was written.
Lincoln park. q. %. 8 p. m.
1t was evident that Bradford did not
propose to give Miss Thurber any evl.
dence against him He might DENY
that the personal had been inserted by
him or that he had sent this bit OF IA
per. his object being 20 meet her with
out witnesses for some rascally pur.
pose. The opinion OF the chief was
that Bradford had stolen the will; that
he feared to be accused OF the theft
and wished to make compromise by
which he might receive his share of his
uncle's estate.
Miss Thurber and I were brought to-
gether, and 1t was observed that we
were about the same height and build.
Having secured all the information
that was to be had on the matter, |
was arrayed In one Of her costumes,
and at o'clock in the evening on
the 10Th of June the sixth month";
tripped daintily into Lincoln park. |
had been shown n photograph Of Brad
ford and Miss Thurber was known to
him, so, since Lincoln park was simply
a block set apart for breathing space,
there was no difficulty in meeting and
recognizing each other.
1t was not long after my entry into
the park that a well dressed man step
ped up to me and remarked that 1t
was fine evening
Are you Mr.. Bradford?" asked.
Yes"
What is the meaning of all this !
secrecy"
Come this way" was his reply, land
l will tell YOU
He led the way to a bench. l sat
down, AMI he sat beside me.
Il wish to see YOU" he began about
Uncle Nick's will 1t has been intimat- !
ed to me that certain person knows /
that will exists bequeathing all the |.
estate to YOU. This person will pro- !
duce the will for a consideration"
How much does he want?" asked. +
coming at once to the point.
"The estate Is worth 100000. The
will will be surrendered for third of
the value of the property. You give a
note for the amount to be taken up
three months after receiving the prop
erty"
No" l said. after feigning to think
the matter over. IF a will exists
would rather take my chance of itp
coming out. And if it does" l here
assumed threatening tone, Il shall
send the person who stole IL to the
for long term of years"
There was silence for few minutes.
at the end Of which he asked me how
much / would consent to pay. I told I
him that l would not bind myself to
pay anything until / had seen the will
and was convinced that the property
was left TO me and the document was
genuine. IL so convinced l would rive
note for $4,000. He keyed me up to
$4,000, which closed the bargain.
had no object I'm dickering with him.
except to induce him to believe that
was making a real deal.
| asked him when and where the ex-
change OF the note for the will should
take place, and he replied that he had
10