A Neat Capture.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXI, Issue 3570, 26 June 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Neat Capture.

Several robberies had been committed in a well-known and .popular hotel in one of our largo cities. These robberies were af a very mysterious character, and baffled all ordinary. devices for their detection. That they were all the work of one man, or set of men, was apparent from their similarity. As descriptive of the two which preceded it, let me tell the story of Mr and Mrs Pascal.

They registered in the hotel, which I may call the “King Edward,” and selected Room No. It), on the second floor, which was also the apartment which had been despoiled twice before. They were accompanied by Miss Helena Regis, Mrs Pascal’s niece, she having a communicating room, which fronted on the street. The landlord cautioned the guests to bo careful of their valuables, which, of course, they promised to do.

Mr Pascal, the day following their arrival, having business to look after in a neighbouring town, left the ladies to themselves. After a late dinner, they came upstairs, and, partly disrobing, each retired to her on room, madamo-to nap, and Miss Regis to read, the door 'between the two rooms, however, being wide open, and the outside doors carefully bolted and locked.

It, was four o’clock when Mrs Pascal awoke from her siesta, and both ladies began to dress. Miss Regis bad not been asleep for a second, a recent novel having enchained her attention. Madame, previous to lying down had taken off and placed upon the dressing stand her handsome diamonds, valued at nearly a thousand pounds. This article of furniture was but a few feet away from the bed, and in fill view from the conch in nearly all positions. A person standing or seated opposite the door of the other chamber had them in sight also. Mrs Pascal, ha ving robed herself .in another dress, sought her jewels, and after a few minutes’ search the conviction was forced upon her that they had been stolen. Instantly she summoned the clerk, who called in the hotel proprietor, and a fuller investigation was made; but the diamonds were nowhere, to be found, nor could the detective who had been employed by the hotel since the second operation, and who remained in the house' as a guest, give any solution of the matter. .There was absolutely no cine to the robber. The proprietor was almost at his wits’ ends, for well he knew that unless this mystery was ferreted but his hotel would soon become an unprofitable concern. Reflecting on the matter, he decided to apply to a well-known detective agency, and after his story had been related, my chief concluded’to undertake the case, and-placed me in charge, with instructions to spare neither zeal nor money in discovering the thief. I insisted upon Ihc retention of-the hotel- detective as a “cover,’’ and -stipulated that.ho should ostensibly be in charge of the case, and that, the proprietor himself should maintain the secret, : and not interfere in any way whatever, unless called upon by my chief. When I sat down' to Thfiik "over- the matter, I was first struck by the exceeding difficulty of the case. I ha’d no clue upon which to work, and that a thief Khonld he able to effect an entrance into a bedchamber with a wide-awake person in sight and hearing staggered .my experience. I saw that I had a most -crafty person to deal with, and an entirely new trick to understand. The longer I thought over it the more puzzled I became, for I knew Sam Pence the hotel detective, must have made a pretty thorough-' canvass of the operation, examined the doors, windows, cupboards, etc., as well as been bn the alert for suspicious characters, lie, I know, was a good enough man for ordinary business, but outside of that had no imagination or skill. Clearly, this was a case for a most delicate operation. But I made up my mind to a course 'of action, and resolutely followed it out. with what result the reader may learn at the close of this narrative.

Hie Pascal party left after a week's sojourn, and Room No. 19 was vacant for a day. when a Mrs Pc Fancy Moore and her maid occupied it. Mrs Moore was one of those ladies who may be described in music-symbolism as “f.f.f.” or’“fat, fair, and forty.” Rachel the maid, and an old maid at that, might be catalogued as “p.p.p.”' or “patient, pale, and prudish.” Madame Moore owned an “f.f.f.!’ voice, but Miss IlocluTs was a pianissimo squeak. Poor Rachel was in complete subjection to her .mistress., and walked behind l)cr iu the- softest, meekest, possible manner.

■ They had not, been many days in the hotel before Sam Pence displayed his .wit in .describing them “Pumpkin and Prune.” Sam- saw • the gorgeous display of 'diamonds, jewellery, and many-coloured silks which Madame Moore wore, and in a quiet tvay warned Rachel of the danger of leaving valuables carelessly about in (heir room. Poor Rachel hardly vouchsafed an answer to his impudence; but all at once it struck upon his benighted intellect that it would be a good thing to show her some little attention and secure her co-opera-tion in the watch for the thief. Acting upon that suggestion, he became quite gallant, and while Rachel appeared very coy and exceedingly meek, Sain concluded to trust her, should he find an opportunity to have an uninterrupted talk. Madame Moore came upstairs On a certain Wednesday,-fairly blazing with diamonds, and entered her room, where Rachel partly disrobed her, and discreetly quitting the room, the maid retired to the adjoining one, while her mistress indulged in her “cat nap," as she called it, and which generally lasted a good two hours. At madame's request, the window curtains in Rachel’s room were drawn, so as to shut out the light from the street, Rachel took up a book to read. 'Flic diamonds were placed carelessly upon the dressing-table. In the course of half an hour the sound of deep snoring was heard from the bed, and Rachel, dropping her book, tixed her eyes upon the looking-glass in her room, in which was to be seen a rclleefi.iii of the jewels, 1

Had the reader been looking on, he might- have seen a black line cross the glass and descend upon the table; had he been listening, he might have heard a very slight click, and noticed its gradual ascent and disappearance. I saw through the whole trick at once, and without changing my clothes (for I was Rachel), I grasped my revolver and slipped out of the room, to call Sam to my assistance. I managed to cast off some of my (Rachel’s) toggery on the way, and in a wonderful plight I appeared before him. Of course he was stupified and chagrined for a minute, but Sam was a thoroughly good fellow at heart, and did not refuse my request. Had any of the boarders 'seen me on my trip upstairs, they would have been shocked, for ou my way I shed wig and various white garments, which I need not particularise, appearing decidedly en dishabbillc, my attire partaking of the garments of both sexes. I had also summoned the landlord through the ‘telephone, and taken a pair of iron bracelets out of “Rachel’s" light trunk.

We tried to get into the upstairs room, but before the door could be battered down, the robber had cast an iron wire and on apple out of the window. Fortunately for mo, Madame Moore, who was in reality my wife; saw the articles descend, and hastening downstairs she summoned a policeman, and "secured a seedylookiug fellow, who was walking rapidly away with the wire and the fruit . lie was brought back to the hotel, marched up to the room above Madame Moore’s, where I was holding a little experience meeting. When Wecdin, for that was the name the robber gave, saw his “pal," he weakened “on the moral dodge,” he had assumed, and proceeded to make the best terms he could for himsejf and his partner. In short, I succeeded in recapturing all the precious stones save one small one, wiiirh had been “spouted" to,pay the expenses to carry on the war. The wife wc captured was provided with light nippers at the end. which were controlled by a silk cord. When the jaws of the vice ■■wore in position, the cord was tightened, and they closed around the valuables and- were drawn up into the robber's hand. I discovered, also, a trap in the Hoot, cut out by the thief, large enough to admit his head, and which when not in use, was covered'up by the carpet. Out of the plaster ceiling iu Madame Moore’s room he had managed to cut an orifice largo enough to pass in and out the wire, and give his eye command of the dressingstand. This orifice; when not in use, was closed with an indiarubber plug, painted to represent the plaster, all this having been done sonic mouths before, through the agency of a comrade and his wife, who occupied the room for a day. The supposed diamond caught up in this last operation had been placed in a plugged apple, tied to the wire, and thrown from the window, and was to have been placed with the others stolen.

We learned afterwards that Weedin'# intention was to carry the plunder to the Continent, where he hoped also to realise handsomely by his invention. This, it will be seen, closed one of the avenues b.y which detectives find a clue to the discovery of criminals through the sale of their plunder to pawnbrokers. Wo.edin was sentenced to two years’ hard labour.

Sam Pence might have enjoyed much sport out of my miscellaneous drees had I net now and then gently reminded him how he was hent ou. “making up to Rachel.”

Ifs what he got, anyhow, for calling my wife and me'“Pumpkin and Prune."