Evening gazette, Monday, February 10, 1896 · page 7

 

 

 

THE THIEEON THE SHIP

 

 

 

 

“Mrs. Melhurst’s compliments, sir,
and would you please come down to her
stateroom immediately?”

I had just shut myself into my little
office on deck, having run through the
ship’ s accounts before turning in that
night. It is quite a mistake, by the
11.,'ay_ to think that we pursers have no
more onerous duties to perform when
at- sea than to watch over the passen-
gers’ comfort, read papers on Sunday

~ . and keep a store of nautical informa-

tion at our finger ends for the benefit of
ev ery curious voyager. Nowadays the
purser. of a crack American liner—mak-
ing, perhaps, a record passage of six
'days or so—has his work pretty well cut
out for him during the entire voy age.

011 the present; occasion I had scarce-
ly got my accounts fairly' 1n hand when
1 11- as interrupted by a slight tap at the
door. I arose at once and opened it,
and there stood Mrs. Melhurst’s Cana-

dian maid, with flushed face and nerv-‘

ous, agitated manner.

“Is there anything wrong. 9” I asked,
w ith some surprise, when she had deliv-
ered her meSsa'ge.

“There' 1s, sir,” she replied, hastily.

“All I know— ,

She was- about to make some other
statement, but pulled herself up sud-
denly and tripped along the deck with-
out another w01 d.

I switched off the electric light, locked
1hc door and hurried away after her.
\Vhen I got to Mrs. Melhurst’s state-
room I saw at once that something had
occurred to cause her serious anxiety.
The berths, the couch and even the
:floors were littered with the contents
of cabin trunks and hand—bags. In the
midst of the confusion stood the lady
herself, looking decidedly perplexed
1nd annoyed .

“This is very singular, Mr. Morse,”
:he said, pointing to an empty je1ve1

case which lay open on the upper berth.

“\Iy diamond ornaments are missing."

“You don’t say.so!” I exclaimed, in
sheer astonishment.

,“I do say so!" she replied, sharply.
“You can see for yourself that they are
gone.’ \

“How did it happen?”

“I cannot possibly tell you. At din-
ner this evening I happened to mention
to Mrs. Latimer that I had picked up a
certain crescent-shaped brooch on the
continent. She expressed a wish to see
it. When the tables were cleared I
came in here, took out the brooch and
left the jewel case lying on the berth,
but when I got back the case was
empty.”

“How long were you absent?” .

“Not more than half an hour.”

_I was totally staggered. I examined
Ihe lock carefully, but there was ab-
solutely nothing to show that it had
been. tampered with. I’could hit upon
no better suggestion than that Mrs.
)Ielhurst might possibly have miSlaid
the jewels somewhere. This had the
sole effect of cxasperdting the lady to
s uch a degree—for it seems that she had
already searched every nook and corner
in the cabin—that I was glad to beat a
retreat in order to lay the matter be—
fore the captain. '

I had just got to the head of the sa—
loon stairs when I heard some one
bounding up after me, three or four
: teps at a time. I turned and saw Mr.
L.Z3arter~—who, by the way, had made sev-
oral voyages with us on previous OCCT'.‘
sions.

“I say, Mr. Morse,” he said, taking me
Lonfidentially by the arm, “you’ve got

:.oIne queer customers on board this

. rip”
“How so ?”

“Why, some one’s gone and walked a
df with my silver cigarette case, a:

couple of rings and a pair of goid,—”

“The deuce!”

“Well, it looks uncommonly likens
if the individual you refer to had a
hand in the business, for I don’t see
how any ordinary mortal could get into
onc’s cabin, with the door bolted on
:he inside, unless he managed to
squeeze through the porthole.”

’Pon my word, thin gs were beginning
1' 1 look serious and no mistake! I lost!

'..0 time in hunting up the captain and
made him acquainted with the state of

:1fi’ai1s. He was just as much puzzled
15.1 I was myself. The first thing next
:11or11ing he scnta message to \Irs. Mel-
:1urst,1equesting a private intc11" 10w in
'1is cabin on deck. He also signified his
1" ish that I should be present.

:pon the singular occurrence.
Nevertheless, we determined to keep
c:.lose 1v ateh upon the stateroom' 1n fu-.

iure. It 11 as pretty c11dent we had a

“black sheep” on board—probably an

old hand at the business. For the next

1"e11 day s w e had no further complaints

“1119, thief was evidently “lying low ”,

waiting until tranquillity was restored

before making a fresh attempt. Mean- 5

while I kept my eyes open. I observed

the little peculiarities ‘of the different 5.

passengers and took particular note of
the manner in which they occupied
their time.

 

'On board ship when, you find a man
who shows a marked preference for 1115
own societyabove that of the loungers
on deck or habitues of the smoke-
room oneis inclined to jump at the
conclusion that'h‘e has some solid rea-
sons for his ezxclusiveness. If, in acidi-
tion to this, he happens to be of an un-
communieative disposition, with black
hair and swarthy complexion, given to
wearing a slouch hat and long coat——
1ightlv or wrongly, you put him down
as a decidedly suspicious character. '

Now, we happened to have a passen-
ger on board—a Brazilian named De
Castro—who tallied in every way with
this description. But for the fact that
I had conclusive evidence to ’show he

could not have beendirectly concerned

in the robberies—for inquiries proved

he had remained on deck the whole

evening—he certainly would have been

treated to a private interview in the

captain’s cabin. As it was, I was forced

to conclude that black hair, swarthy

complexion, slouch hat and cloak were
,. _ p . I?!” 1 ,, ‘ ‘ .

1. 3 both I
questioned the lady closely, but her re-
plies did not tend to throw any. light ‘

cence.

Nothing further occurred to excite
suspicion until the last day or two of
the voyage. Then, one evening after
dinner: word was brought to me that;
three other staterooms had been rifled
in the same mysterious manner.
Watches, jewelry and even money had
disappeared, though in all three cases
the passengers stoutly declared they
had left their doors locked.

When the alarm reached me I hap-
pened to be standing in my deck office.
’I had in my hand 20 sovereigns, which
I had just taken in exchange for Ameri-
can money to accommodate one of our
passengers. I didn’t wait to lock up
the gold; I simply placed it on my desk,
switched off the light and hurried
away. I had no fear for the safety of
the sovereigns, my door having a par-
ticularly intricate lock, in whichI took
good care to turn the key before leav-

ing.

I remained below for an hour or so,
investigating these fresh complaints,
but, as in the other cases, I was utterly
unable to make‘ head or tail of them.
Vexe'd and bewildered, I went back to
my office, unlocked the door, turned on
3"’the light, and mechanically stretched
out my hand to take the sovereigns
from. the desk. My hand closed upon
nothing more solid than thin air—my
little pile of gold had vanished!

For a moment or two I stood there
gazing blankly before me, so utterly
confused and dismayed that I could
scarcely bring 'my wits to bear upon
the my sterious affair. Then I managed
to pull myself together, and took a look
around my little cabin. In the course
.of my observations my eye happened
to rest upon the port hole, which stood
wide open, the weather being oppres-
si'rely hot. .

I regarded the innocent looking port-
l1ole with the air of a veritable Sher-
lock Holmes. I went outside and thrust
my arm in through the opening, but
my hand did not reach within fully two
yards of the desk. Still, it struck me as
being the only way by which the thief
could have got at the money, and I de-
termined to put my theory to a practi-
cal test.

I hurried down into the saloon, wdere
most of the passengers were congre-
gated. As yet few of them were aware
of the robberies, for we had kept the
matter as secret as possible. I went
straight up. to a young American gen-
tleman who I knew had a great many
trinkets in his stateroom and was
rather careless too in the way he left
them lying about.

- “Don’t show any surprise,” I whis-
pered, glancing around at the other oc-
cupants of the saloon, “but mightI ask
whether your stateroom is locked?”

‘Glt i$.9! _

“Well, just paSs me your key; I want
to try a little experiment. Wait till
I‘m gone and then stroll up on deck.
Let yourSelf be seen—on the lower deck
particularly—but don’t pay tooclose
attention to anyone you may notice
loitering there.”

I went and shut myself' in the state-
100m, crouching down so that I could

just- keep an eye on the porthole over

in tha t cramped position until mylimbs
fairly ached, and I was half inclined to
give it up as abad job.

But suddenly, asI —_glanced up at the
_ p01 thole, my blood ran cold, and' 1n all
my life I never had such difficulty to
kcepdown a yell. In the dim light I
. saw a long, thin hairy arm thrust in
through the opening. ’ The next 'mo—
ment 0. small black hand had fastened
, upon a leather case lying close to the
window and withdrew it as quick as
thought almost.
I sprang to my feet and bolted out

saloon stairs and made for the lower
deck. There, just aboutfithe spot where
I judged the stateroom to be situated,
I came face to face with. the Brazilian,
De Castro. In spite of the heat me was
i wearing his long cloak with the deep
1 cape, and had his eternal cigarette be-
tween his teeth. He looked at me with
an air of frank surprise, and I looked at
him 11 ith an air of profound suspicion.
Suddenly a happy thought flashed
through my mind. I turned round and

. sprang down the saloon stairs, lunning
E Iull tilt against the chief stewart, who
! w as standing at the bottom.

' “Get me a handful of nuts—quick!”
I cried.

When he brought them I hurried
back on deck.
i av: ay a little tow ard the stern I went

close up, stood right in front of him,
and then began dbelibei‘ately to crack
the nuts.
He regarded me with a pitying sort of
; look but I paid little attention to him.
. Pgesently I saw a corner of the cape
drawn aside and behind a pair of small,
: gleaming eyes fixed greedily upon me.

It was enough. My suspicions were
confirmed. I flung the rest of the nuts
in the sea, and walking straight up to
De Czfitro, said.

“I must ask you to accompany me to
the captain’s 'cabin. ”

“Vot you mean?” he asked, drawing
back.

I was determined to stand no non-
sense, and straightway took him by
the shoulders. The moment I laid my
hands upon him I heard a vicious snarl
under his cape; it was pulled suddenly
aside and out flew a monkey. '

The little brute went at me tooth and
nail. I saw the gleam of a knife, too,
in the Brazilian’s hand, but I let him
have my fist straight between the eyes
before he could use it, and he measured
his length upon the deck.

The quartermaster came running up
and the ras’cal was dragged off to the
captain’s cabin. When searched there
Mrs. Melhurst’s diam0n_,ds Mr. Car’ter s
cigarette ease and rings and a miscel«
laneous collection of other valuables
were found upon him. In his stateroom
we discovered a perforated box, appar-

 

 

nal.

quite compatible with a man’s inno- l

the top of the lower berth. I remained '

side. into the passage. I dashed up the,

The Brazilian had moved -

_ appeared recently:

 

.ently intended for the use of the men»
key, who was evidently quite as accOm— ;
plished as his master. —Cassell’s Jour- .

'VOLAPUK HAS A RIVAL. I'

Esperanto Is the Name or This New Unl-
versal Language. '
Esperanto is not the name of a new

of a comic song, but it. is the name of
an artificial language, which is fast
gaining adherents in France, and that
‘is already able to boast of many fol-
owers in Europe, the United .States,
and even'in some parts of Africa.

language is a Frenchman, bearing the
aristocratic name of D’Eyssautier. He
says that Esperanto is by no means a
new. language, nor even a recent dis-
, covery. This international language
has been in existence nearly ten years,
and there are at least- 10,000 adherents
in different parts of the 11 orld. -

The author or originator of Esperan-
to is a Russian gentleman, Dr. Zamen-
1101‘, of Warsaw. He says that one may
learn its grammar in an hour, and all
its vocabulary of words in a few days.

The 'official organ of .t-he language,
the Esperantisto, is utterly opposed to
the Volapuk organ, for it has literary
tendencies.

The fact is, Esperanto hopes to de-
throne Volapuk altogether. Verses
may be written in it, and translatiOns
of the Iliad and Hamlet have been pub-
lished.

Like all _ artificial universal lan-
guages, the roots of Esperanto are de-
rived from the best known of modern
tongues—English, French and German
—these offering the least difficulty to
students.

CLEVER S'HAMMING.

ParleJIou'sekeepers Will;Now Look Askance
at Sanitary Experts. »

One of the “knights of industry” who
abound in-Paris accomplished a. 'very
sharp theft recently, says a Paris let-
ter. He walked around ,to _a newly-
constructed house on the Boulevard

Henri Quatrc, which had lately re-‘

ceived some tenants, and pompously
represented himself as the special ar-
chitect of the board of health, sent
to inspect the sanitary arrangements
of the new dwellings. The concierge,
deeply impressed by the grand appear-
ance of the man, and believing in his
official character, admitted him to the
rooms of one of the tenants, who hap-
pened to be connected with the Lyons
rail1vay. The occupant of the flat was
out, as the sham architect took care
to ascertain beforehand.

The sharper sent the innocent con-
cierge downstairs for a. measuring rod,
and immediately set to work to force
open a safe, whence he took a pa eket
of Jailway shares and Ci+ .,'y of Paris
bonds, amounting in value to over
.43 3.00. The safe was firmly closed be-
fore the return of the concierge, who,
suspecting nothing, accompanied the
sharpei around the apartment. Af er
the sham architect had finished his tour
of inspection, he politely dep'arted.
When the official of theLyons com-
pany came home at noon he discovered
his loss, and entered into immediate
communication with the police, who
are now looking for the sham archi-
tect.

PRETTY WOMEN “BUYERS.”

Employed by Shrewd \Merchants with
Never-Failing Grand Results.

“What won’t merchants nowadays do
in order to gain a business advantage?”
asked the drummer from Ohio, who
then, says the Buffalo Express, partial-
ly answered his own question by say-
ing: “I went into a big department
store in Philadelphia last week. I found
that the buyer for my line of goods was
a woman, a mighty handsome woman.
I made an appointment with her for the
next morning. When I arrived with my
samples, I found half a dozen salesmen
ahead of me, and had to wait my turn.
The buyer was busy just then with a
fellow who sold cheap jewelry. He was
a susceptible youth, and the girl was
stringing him for all he'was worth.
You'd have sworn that she was in love
vith him. She called him by his first
name, leaned her head confidingly
against his as they looked over the
samples and insisted upon pinning the
goods into his scarf and shirt front to
see how they would look. As a result,
she bought all she wanted for a song.
That young fellow‘s employers are
probably wondering yct 110w he came to
sell so cheap.”

LIVED, HlS LIFE ALONE.

Spent Years at a Hotel Without Speaking
.1 to Anyone.

A year or two ago a well-to-do gentle4
man died in a New York hotel. He. had

thing about him beyond the fact that
he paid his bills promptly and regular-
ly. He chose to make no acquaintances,
says the New York Advertiser, and was
satisfied to appear to the hotel manager
as “No. 01, K,” or by whatever number
his room designated. The hotel man-
agement had changed several times, but
he lived on there, a calm, u11rufiled ex—
istence. As a guest such .1 man is a
jeu e1, a.,nd as may reasonably be sup-
posed, he\vas not likely to be harrassed
byp‘unneccss ary attentions.
'died :and it was found that he was a
gentleman pf‘indepen dent fortune—the
newspapers, of course, making the dis-
covery—some people marveled for a day‘
or two, and then forgot him. I recall
the incident now only to illustrate that
in a great city like thiswhat appears

be the most exclusive.

Sized Up His Customers,

tevideo, the following advertisement
“A very rich young
’woman would like to marry a young
man- of good family. ‘ If necessary,
she will pay the debts of her future
husband. Send answer with photo-
graph to I. I’., at the office of the jour-
nal. ” The inserter of this announce-

Meierstein, a merchant tailor, who had
just set up an establishment in Mon-
tevideo. By this plan he precured pho-_.
tographs of many undesirable custo-

 

liquor or of a new appetizer, nor that '

Among those most proficient in the

' States too.

lived in the hostelry for years, and yet_
not a soul knew him personal] y or any-.

“’hen he '

to be the mos t public life may in reality

In one of the leading journalsof'Mon- ,

ment was 110' other than one Isaac.

 

 

A MAN'S woMAN

‘ i 3118 18 not sweet. the woman that I love, i

Nor is she fair
Nor wise in any love that looks can tell,
And yet she knows the secret of a spell
From feet to hair. ,
Ah, no, not wise, the Woman that I love.

She is not fair, the Woman that I love, ~
Nor is she wise
Nor sweet, and yet she speaks from feet to
air, 2
With turn of waist or throat, and I am Share.
Held‘ in her eyes.
A‘h, no, not fair, the woman that I love. .

She is not wise, the woman that I love,
Nor. is she sweet

V N or fair. The spell she weaves, is it of sensé?

’Tis undefined and subtle, yet intense
Flame. without heat.
Ah, no, not sweet, the woman that I love.

Nor fair, nor sweet, nor wise is she I love.
Beyond 2. 1121119."?-
Incarnated mystery of negatives -
Unsolved, unsolvablef a spell that lives!
Elusive flame,
That which she is, the woman th 17 I love.
—-Old 11113111111 Poem.

 

WHERE “HABANAS” COME vROM.
Most of Them In England Never Saw Cuba
' at Any Time.

- ‘Where did this box of cigarp come
from?” asked the. writer -- the other day.

standin'g'in the shop of a large London ‘

tobacconist.

“That, ” said the tobacconist, “came
from the United States ”

“And" this—where did this come
from?” 1

“Also from the United States. ”

“Also this iother?”

“Oh, that ' came from the United.
I’ll tell you: all about it. 1
Suppose I had 2, 424 boxes of cigars in,

- this shop,,an_d that they were taken pro-,

portionatelygfrom the imports from all‘
countries that send us cigars; then ,1, 315,
of these, or considerably morer than half, ;
would have come from the United
States.” 2

“Then you mean to say that 13 out of
every 24 cigars smoked in London are
American?” I gasped.

“That’s just it,” he said. “You see,
the Americans send to Cuba for tobacco
leaves, which they use for covering;_the
cigars they make of VirginiapOhio'and
Maryland tobacco. i

“0f the remaining 1,085 boxes,” he
continued, “the largest number come
from the Philippine islands, from which
we get our Manillas—that in, 244 boxes?
Almost an equal number, 228, come from
our near neighbor, France; 171 from
Belgium, 102 from Holland and 61'
from Germany. Then a. very large num-
ber, 195, were sent [from the British
East Indies. Now, you see, only 92
boxes remain, and we have not come to
Cuba, the country of true ‘habanas,’
yet. Of these 92 'Hongkong has sent-
half, 47.; 11 have come from the chan-
nel islands, 8 from the Canaryiislands
and 12 from Spain. Four are from Aus-
tralia, 4 from the British Westi-Indies
and nearly 4 from all other‘fBritishpos-
sessions. Now there are‘..only,§.18 more
boxes, and they come from: all ‘quarters
of the globe, including THavana. You
will see that of all foreign cigars more 2
than ’half came from the United States;
and of 'the remainder more than half 7
come from France and other European
countries. No, sir, the ‘habanas’ ”which
come from Havana are a small lot. ”—
London Answers. _

 

A FAMOUS EPITAPH.

It Marks In Poughkeepsle the Grave of I
Sell Exiled Englishman.

There are some interesting epitaphs in
the old graveyards in Poughkeepsie, but
probably none of them has been 90 wide-
ly known and admired as that on the
stone which. marks the burial place of
John Taylor in front of Christ church,
on Academy street. This epitaph has
been widely published on both sides of
the ocean, it is said, and is believed to
have been written by the English poet
William Roscoe and sent over for his
friend Taylor’s gravestone. Yet the
stone lies neglected, and the last three
lines of the epitaph, have been broken
off, probably during the work preceding
the building of the new church. The
epitaph was published in Benson .1.
Lossing’ 3 book on “ Vassar College and
Its Founder, ” and was greatly admired
and frequently quoted by Matthew Vas-
sar, Jr. , as many of his friends remem-
ber. The inscription and epitaph on the,
stone are as follows:

In this spot
was inferred
J ohnTaylor
Attorney at Law
the eldest son
of Doctor John Taylor
of Bolton le Moors. England,
who died of the yellow fever
Sept. 11th. 1805. .
Ag ed 86 years.
1far from his kindred friends and native skies
Here mouldering in the dust poor Taylor lies.
Firm was his mind and fraught with various
lore
And his mild heart was never cold before.
110 lov’d his country. lov'd that spot of earth
Which gave a Hampden, Milton, Bradshaw
birth.
But when that country, dead to all but gain,
Bowed her base neck and hugged the oppress
or’ 3 chain
Loathing the abject scene he drooped and sigh
ed,
Crossed the wild waves and hero untimely
died.
Stranger what' er thy country creed or hue
Go and like him the moral path pursue;
Go, and for Freedom every peril brave .
'And 110ny scorn to be or hold a slave.

The last line is one that has been par-'
ticularly admired and frequently quoted,
and it is gone from the stone, which is
broken off just after the' fourth 'line
from the end. That this stone should
have been so mutilated seems little short
of vandalism. John Taylor is said to
have come to this country about the
same time that the Vassar family came,
shortly after the close of the American
Revolution, and at a time when the
English government was repressing all
outspoken friends of reform in fear of a
repetition in England at the French revo-
lution. He was the uncle of Mr. Hudson
Taylor, and the greatuncle of Mr. Bob:
ert E. Taylor. His father, Dr. John Tay-
lor, was a very prominent man in Eng-

7 land, with many influential friends, one

of when: was the poet Roscoe, .who

wrote the epitaph, which reminds one ~ . 1

 

very much 0"! some cf Goldsmith’ a best
linea.—Pougl1keepsm Eagle. ' ‘ -'

 

 

 

 

 

——-—‘>——o“4-.~o”¢—-"——.—

 

(ln—ly Eight-Page One ‘ Gem;
Paper in! Connecticut;

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walk, Westport, Saugatuck, New

Canaan, Darien.‘ Rowayton,_
and Noroton. I

No other Paper in N orwalk compares with it for .

Local and General News. ‘ ”r

Its local news is bright,

reliable and

2';

After once, reading The Evening Gazette you will
be convinced that it is the. best evening paper

inkWestern‘ Connecticut, and will take” no other.

Having a special correspondent in each town,'it is en--
. ’ ’ 1 .

well written.

abled to. furnish- the latest and freshest. news.

ONLYI

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31111301111?

 

.4—Soda crackers 5 cents per pound, 6 :‘ A

 

.. ‘ pounds for 25 cents at Betta 85 FJ‘arring- ‘ .

22-11;