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A LITTLE KEY BEARING A MONOGRAM SHAPES THE DESTINY OF AN
INTELLIGENT MAN--HOW THIS MAN CAME TO BE INVOLVED IN THE MATTER
OF WHICH THIS TALE DISCOURSES--MY PARTNER AND I--FAR-OFF
MYSTERIES MAY SOLVE NEARER ONES--A CONSULTATION--A COMMITTEE
"SEEK LIGHT," AND FIND CONSOLATION--BURGLARIES AND HIGHWAY
ROBBERIES BY THE WHOLESALE--MY PARTNER LEAVES FOR EUROPE--A
TOWN IN OHIO INFESTED--A "DOCTOR HUDSON" APPEARS IN THE
TOWN--HE MAKES A PROFESSIONAL VISIT TO ONE MR. PERKINS--A
COLLOQUY; SEEKING LIGHT--A CALLOUS HAND, AND A CLEW TO
MYSTERIES--"DOCTOR HUDSON" EXTENDS HIS ACQUAINTANCESHIP--HE
MAKES A NIGHT'S VISIT OUT OF TOWN, AND GETS WAYLAID AND ROBBED,
BUT MANAGES TO CREATE THE FATAL EVIDENCE HE WANTS OF THE
ROBBERS' IDENTITY--A COUNCIL OF PRINCIPAL CITIZENS--"DOCTOR
HUDSON" MAKES A DISCLOSURE--A SCHEME LAID--A "MILITARY
INVESTMENT" OF A DOMESTIC FORTRESS; AN EXCITING HOUR--BREAKING
INTO A HOUSE AT MIDNIGHT AND SURPRISING A SLEEPER--THE THIEF
LEAVES TOWN TO GO TO CINCINNATI TO STUDY MEDICINE WITH "DOCTOR
HUDSON"--A SUICIDE--PURITANIC MERCILESSNESS--THE MUSIC
TEACHER'S INGENIOUS LETTER TO HIS LADY LOVE.
It is of an occurrence, which took place seven years ago this very
month in which I am writing this sketch, that I propose to tell the
tale--at midnight; having been unable to sleep much of late, and having
now risen from my bed, taken my pen, and set myself at work, with the
hope that some continuous mental labor may bring on drowsiness by and
by; which, by the way, will not, I trust, affect or infect my narrative.
Seven years ago, then, this month, my partner was called on to go into
his native town in the southern portion of Ohio, to assist in ferreting
out the perpetrators of sundry highway robberies, burglaries, etc.,
that were constantly taking place there, and whom it baffled the
sagacity of the citizens of the place, and several constables, deputy
sheriffs, detectives from Cincinnati, and so forth, to detect. As a
_dernier resort_, the villagers had made up a purse, and appointed a
committee to proceed to New York, and wait upon my partner, with the
whole story of the countless robberies, and see if he could not lay
some plan which should prove successful in the arrest of the villains.
My partner had left his native place in his sixteenth year,--a more
than usually bright boy,--had wandered South, working out his own
fortune by slow degrees; studied law, and been admitted to practice at
Washington, Texas; tried practice for a year or so with some success,
but disliked the profession; went to Galveston; made the acquaintance
there of an iron-founder and machinist by the name of Hunt, if I
rightly recollect, who, taking a liking to him, employed him in his
office. My partner having excellent mechanical ability, passed much of
his time in the work-rooms of the machine department, and became quite
a skilful operator. One day some persons of foreign birth applied at
the machine-shop,--as there was no other place in Galveston where they
could get the work done,--to have some three or four keys made after
certain patterns which they provided. The work was done for them, and
in the course of time it came out that these keys had been used in the
commission of an extensive burglary at San Antonio. One of the keys had
been lost, and by chance bore a peculiar mark--a sort of monogram,
which Mr. Hunt caused to be impressed, when proper, upon any work which
was issued from his establishment. The key being new, and it being
evident that the skilful burglars must have had long acquaintance with
the premises which they invaded, a sheriff of San Antonio surmised that
the keys must have been made somewhere in Texas, perhaps to the order
of some old residents of that State. In fact, he had his eye of
suspicion upon some persons who had long borne unenviable
characters.--In what place were these made more likely than in
Galveston queried he? So he sent the key to a sheriff of Galveston for
his inspection, and asked him, if possible, to find out who made the
key, and for what description of person it was made. The sheriff of
Galveston instantly recognized Mr. Hunt's monogram. Taking down a pair
of handcuffs which hung upon a nail in his office, said he to the
messenger, "See here! These were made in England, but I had occasion to
get Hunt's establishment to repair them a little, six months ago, and
there, you see, (pointing to the monogram), he put on his stamp."
It was only the matter of a walk of ten minutes to Hunt's
establishment, and as many minutes more spent in getting a detailed
account from the workmen and from my partner--Hunt's then clerk--of the
personal appearance of the two men who ordered the keys, when the
messenger became convinced that the suspicions of the officers at San
Antonio had fallen upon the wrong persons; and he thought he knew the
real parties,--comparatively very respectable people,--one a well-to-do
and educated middle-aged planter, living a little outside of San
Antonio,--and so it proved. The parties were arrested and tried. My
partner was called as a witness to identify them. The trifle of a lost
key, and the little monogram almost carelessly stamped on it by the
mechanic, having led to such results, touched the romantic, speculative
nature of my partner, and he was never easy after that till, in the
course of time, he had found his way into the business at New Orleans,
from which city he finally came on to New York to reside.
Mr. Hunt kept up a correspondence with him for years, always trying to
get him back into his employ, making him excellent offers, but he never
returned to him, save on a visit. Now it happened that Mr. Hunt was a
native of the same village, or its vicinity, in which my partner was
born, and on his summer visits there,--which he made nearly every
year,--he had often descanted upon the great talents and ingenuity of
my partner. Thus was it that the committee came to wait upon him. But
it was impossible for him to go there with them, or visit the place for
a long while, for he was to take steamer the day but one thereafter for
England, at the instance of Commodore Vanderbilt, to aid in
investigations into some transactions in which it was believed that
certain American scoundrels, whom my partner knew, were involved.
We had been introduced to the committee as the partner of the firm, and
we had listened to a portion of the story, when my partner announced
the fact of his intended visit to England, and added; "But, gentlemen,
that need be no loss to you, for my partner here can be of as much
service to you as I,"--being, in his kindness, pleased to add,--"and, I
think, probably more. If you please to accept him in my place, I am
sure you will suffer no loss. He will track out the villains if anybody
can."
The committee expressed their great regrets at not being able to secure
my partner's services, but said they would tell us their story in full,
and if, after hearing it, I thought I could be of service to them, they
would like to have me go out there.
He listened to their recital of the numerous burglaries, robberies from
the person, and so forth, with great patience, each of us asking a few,
but a very few questions, at different points of their narrative. Long
before they got to the end of the doleful story, and after having asked
not over a half dozen questions at most, my partner, I clearly saw from
his manner, had formed his theory, and I saw that he thought it an easy
case to work up.
When the committee had finished, my partner said to them, "Gentlemen,
excuse us for a few minutes. I wish to consult my partner," and rising,
stepped into the next room, whither I followed him, shutting the door
behind me, when my partner, clapping his hand with an air of victory on
my shoulder, whispered to me, "An easy case, old boy, eh? I suppose
you've worked up the theory by this time? Don't you see straight
through it?"
"No, I confess I don't see through it all; but I've got some glimpses
of light."
"Well," said he, "I've told you about that San Antonio case, which
first started me into the detective business--haven't I?"
"Yes; but I don't see the bearing of that on this exactly!"
"Don't see? Why there was only one peculiar feature about that, and
there's the like in this case, if I am not mistaken; that is, these
robberies are perpetrated, not by old, skilful burglars, but by raw
hands, comparatively, who reside right about there, and are probably
'respectable citizens'--teach Sunday-school, likely enough."
With this from my partner, which struck me then as the true theory, we
analyzed the stories of the committee in the light of it, and became
perfectly assured that the theory was right, and were about proceeding
to the next room to talk further with the committee, when my partner
said, "See here, we mustn't tell these men our theory. Who knows but
some of them,--O, that can't be; they are too old, too clumsy, not
alert enough, and too honest too, for that,--but some of their
relations, their sons or nephews, perhaps, are the villains who are
doing all this work! No, we mustn't tell them." So we hit upon what we
would say.
Stepping into the room where the committee sat, looking as sedate and
sombre, by the way, as if they were judges sitting upon some complex
trial for arson, murder, and what not, they looked up, and one of them
asked, "Well, gentlemen, what conclusion have you come to?"