Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-07-20

gram arrived, addressed to this
William Smith. Here it is" and
he spread out one Of the sheets
on the desk before the minister.
Delcasse bent forward eagerly
and read:
William Smith. Hotel du Nord, Tou-
Ion, France: Our mother requests that
you abandon trip, cancel all arrange
ments, and return at once.
"Well?" and Delcasse looked
up at his companion.
"That would seem to show, sir"
said Lepine, "that William Smith
was only an ordinary traveller,
after all. You will see that it was
filed at Brussels at noon of Sun
day, the Oath. 1t was delayed in
transmission, and for some reason
was not received at Toulon until
8 o'clock in the evening. Messages
here are not delivered on Sunday
evening after 8 o'clock, and this
was held until Z the next morn
ing. At that hour, William Smith
was no longer at the hotel"
"Well!" asked Delcasse a sec
ond time.
"Wel?" asked Delcasse a Sec
ond time.
"Well," Lepine continued, Eat
10 minutes past 6 on Monday
morning, this message was filed at
the office here" and he spread out
the second sheet of tissue.
Again Delcasse bent forward.
and read:
Alfred Smith, Restante, Brussels: We
continued u trip as planned. All well.
Next address Nice. William.
"You will see," Lepine went on,
that these messages are such as
an ordinary tourist would send
and receive"
But Delcasse was not listening.
He was reading the message a Sec
ond time and yet a third, and there
was a wrinkle of perplexity be-
tween his brows. At last he looked
up, and the project was aston
ished at the expression of his face.
"There is one thing l forgot to
tell you last night, Lepine," he
said. II did not myself see its sig.
%nificance until ] had got to bed.
The first telegram received from
any foreign power in reference to
the disaster was from the German
emperor"
Lepine smiled.
"The German emperor was the
first to get word of it," he said. CT
examined the other kilograms filed
Monday morning. At 10 minutes
to Z, the German consul here mott
fled the minister of state at Ber-
lin Of the explosion. Admiral Bel
lue did not file his message to you
until 40 minutes later. No doubt
he wished to assure himself of the
extent of the disaster, in order not
to alarm you needlessly. You
should have received it not later
than 8 o'clock.
cit was, in fact, a few minutes
before that hour. And when I
reached the Elysee palace, l found
the president with a message from
the kaiser i'm his hand. 1t struck
me as most peculiar"
1T was irohic, certainly"
agreed Lepine, "but, under the
circumstances, easily explained"
aYou think, then"
II think that Orchard has as
sumed too much; l think that, be-
fore we accuse these men, we need
more proof"
Delcasse pushed back his chair
and paced for some moments nerv-
about the room. At last he
sat down again, and rolled and
lighted a cigaret.
"You ire right" he said; eve
need more proof. It is for you to
find it, if it exists. And at this mo-
ment, / am interested not SO much
nathe movements Of these men, as
in the cause of the explosion. Even
supposing that they had q hand in
it, how was it Accomplishment"
Lepine returned the kilograms
to his pocket.
81 agree with you.n he said