Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-12-27
The Daily
Short Story
THE LONG QUEST.

drove her witless. She had left
! little CIarisse in her cradle asleep
/ to run down to the corner, hoping
/ to meet her husband, who had ar
ranged to come home earlier than
usual. She was disappointed end
had returned to the house to find
/ the cradle empty.
Upon a table lay one hundred
dollars in bank bills, pinned to a
note that read: You will receive
this amount during the absence Of
your husband and child, both of
whom are held as hostages pend
/ ing the execution OF a certain con-
tract on his part. Both will be
cared for comfortably unless you
raise a hue and cry. Be patient
| and submissive and both will be
] restored to you with ten times the
pay he would receive in his posi-
ton as a government engrayer."
I, who came into the mysterious
case two weeks later, felt the flame
of a vivid pity as / gazed upon the
face of Lettie Downs Her eyes
were worn with weeping and IN
their weary depths was a sus-
/ pense and suffering that was in
dnitely pathetic l had d wife and
child of my own and clOuded as
was the hope of restoring to this
( poor tortured soul her loved ones,
| exerted the best that was in me
| had been out of work for weeks
and my engagement as a detective
/ by the Sterling agency presented
an entirely new field to me.
Brady Downs had vanished as
completely and suddenly as though
the eaEth had opened and swallow
ed him up. The little child had
been kidnapped in the full flare Of
day ard no neighbor had observed
the daring abduction. Not a trace
could be found OF either. l visited
every friend of Downs his wife
named, but there was a blank
complete after he had left his
work upon the day of his disap-
! pearance. l had perfect descrip-
ton of him and a photograph CT
! the little child. When it was stol-
en- it wore a plaid sash. This its
mother had made from an old tar
tan that had been in the familE
for over a century, a peculiar
! Scotch pattern of distinctive tribal
origin. Mrs. Downs gave me a
sample of this.
l ransacked the city. For two
months | penetrated obscure
slums, haurts Of the criminal, mys-
teriOus dens where blackmail and
( ransom experts were likely 10 hive.
| 1t was of no avail and my EN-
plOyers were beginning to grumbie
at my lack Of success when quite
accidentally l stumbled over a clue.
II was in a wretched tenement
district of the city that | chanced
! to notice a group of little tots
playing in a sandheap. One OF
them wore a scarf of bright colcr
about her ragged, discolRred dress.
l got close to the group. I con
suited the sample scrap Mrs.
Downs had giten me- They were
of a piece. l enticed the child into
a conversation. Half a dozen nick
els secured the sash, which she
told me she had found in a rub
bish heap behind a big old building
she pointed out TO me.
Within an hour Mrs Downs had
identified tho sash positively. With
in two. I. disguised as a common
rag picker. with bag and hook
prowled about the building the
child had pointed out
A court led off from the alley
and l reasoned that the sash had
! been thrown out with the rubbish
from some apartment in the grue-
some old buildings. | pOked anna
various rubbish heaps, hoping to
! find some further evidence of the
| proximity OF . child. As | was
about to leave a heavy door open
ed in cellarway and a mar came
out carrying huge clothes bas-
ket piled full with odds ana c1ns
! of paper. He built a fire and Dok-
ed the heap together to burn rap
idly
Just then a dash of rain came
up and he went back to shelter.
leaving the almost consumed heap
to smoke and smudge. apparently
satished that most of the scraps
! had been moderated.
| was poking about the debris
with my hook when I came upon
/ a roll of paper half burned out.
AS pulled it forth my eyes buIg-
ed. 1t was evidently a proof sheet
of one side of a bank note pate,
l seized and pOcketed the treasure
In flash l blocked out 4 theory
there was a nest of counterfeiters
in The building. Had they kidnap-
ed Brady Downs to force him II
assist them in their designs? 7
/ could soon know. | FASTENED To
headquarters.
We raided that building within
an hour. We found in ono mart
of it an old woman in cbarga of
the kidnapped child, in another half
+ a dozen notorious criminals and
in their midst, a captive, radv
Downs, forced to work upon \
bank note plate under menace thar
| otherwise his wife and child
would be done away with
The last plate would have been
finished in week and | wouId
then probably have been set al
| liberty" Brady Downs told us after
his rescue. Il outwitted them.
/ though. Any bank expert noticing
t the McAdoo signature would have
detected something wrong for I
botched IL up purposely."
Out of my humble efforts came
+ the disruption OF a dangerous
/ criminal clique. the restoration of
a worthy man TO his family and a
/ generous reward that set my little
family and myself on our feet in
q substantial way.