THE STORY OF LUCKY JIM.
"From the moment when I appeared among you as Brooks, my work was
double. I was bent upon posting myself thoroughly in regard to Jasper
Lamotte, and day by day I became more interested in the career of this
remarkable man.
"Step by step, I trod backward the path of his history, since his advent
in W----, gathering my information from many sources.
"It would be tedious to enter into details; suffice it to say that while
I worked here, two others, trained to such research, were beating up the
past I was so anxious to become familiar with. And a third, across the
water, was gathering up the history of John Burrill, another object of
interest to me at that time.
"And now I will reverse the order in which we made our search, and,
beginning where my men left off, give you, in brief, the history of a
remarkable man.
"The man we know as Jasper Lamotte figured in various cities,
twenty-five years ago, and still earlier, as _Lucky Jim_, a handsome,
well educated, sharp witted, confidence man.
"He seldom gambled, and made his swindling operations of various sorts
reap him a rich harvest; and, by his unvarying good luck, in escaping
the dragons of the law, as well as because of his lucky ventures, he
became known to his intimates as Lucky Jim.
"In these days, Miss Sybil Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy old
Maryland aristocrat, came to the city to reside with an aunt, while she
completed her musical education. Lucky Jim saw her, and fell in love
with her beautiful, haughty face.
"He contrived to make her acquaintance, and the rest was easy; it was a
repetition of the old story; he was handsome and fascinating, she young
and unsophisticated, with plenty of headstrong Southern blood and self
will.
"After a brief courtship, Lucky Jim married the Maryland heiress. Her
father, as may be supposed, repudiated the marriage, but she clung to
her scamp, and so the old Maryland aristocrat sent her a small fortune,
which was hers, inherited from her mother's mother, and beyond his
control; and bade her consider herself no more a Schuyler, of _the_
Schuylers.
"For a time, Lucky Jim rode smoothly on the top wave of prosperity; his
wife easily duped, believed him a Wall street operator. Frank was born,
and then Sybil, and the Maryland beauty queened it in an elegant and
secluded little home.
"But the crisis came. The silver cloud turned its dark side.
"Lucky Jim played a losing game, one day, and his wife suddenly found
herself face to face with the truth.
"They lived through stormy times, but Jim had, in his palmy days, left
his wife's fortune intact, and now it proved an anchor to windward.
"They absented themselves from this country for more than two years;
then they came back, and Lucky Jim brought his family, which now
included Evan, to W----. The Maryland fortune enabled them to set up as
aristocrats, and Lucky Jim seems to have aspired to become a power in
the community.
"I don't think he often attempted any of his old confidence and
swindling games; but, during his absences from home, which were
frequent, during his earlier residence here, he made a study of fine
burglary.
"I can fancy how carefully he put his new schemes in practice, and how
he passed himself off upon W---- as a rising speculator.
"He probably spent years in gathering together that select society,
known as the Diamond Coterie.
"At first, it consisted of four; himself, a city pawn-broker, known as
Ezras, who received and negotiated the sale of the stolen goods, and who
is as keen a rascal as ever escaped justice, and two noted cracksmen,
who had headquarters in the city, and were famous in their day, but who
were compelled to withdraw in the midst of their high career, one dying
of a malignant fever, the other being killed by a woman.
"To replace these departed worthies, Ezras, who was always on the alert
for pals, and who had had various crooked dealings with Jerry Belknap,
brought this gentleman and Mr. Lamotte, or Lucky Jim together.
"Belknap proved the right man in the right place, and was soon admitted
into the Coterie. Next to come under the favorable notice of Ezras, was
John Burrill, who had come over from England, bringing with him some
ill-gotten gains, and who set himself up in New York as a swell
cracksman.
"Now, Burrill, the English boor, had an ambition. In this easy-going
America, he hoped in some way to build himself into an aristocrat, and
to shine as one of the lords of the land. To this end he hoarded his
share of all the spoils, and, adding it to the sum brought from England,
he began to find himself a rich man.
"Meantime, Mr. Lamotte had speculated a little too freely; he had built
a mansion, and built his factories. He had been living like a prince,
and some of his late ventures had failed. Something must be done. And
then his eye fell upon Burrill; he coveted the Englishman's hoarded
dollars.
"He found it easy to persuade Burrill to come to W----, ostensibly to
take the position of overseer at the factories; really to be more
readily duped by Lucky Jim. Burrill came; he saw how his comrade was
respected and bowed down to by all W----. He had always admired Lucky
Jim for his gentlemanly polish and his aristocratic manners; and he now
concocted a scheme for his own aggrandisement. The Lamottes had made
themselves aristocrats, they should make an aristocrat of him.
"You all know the result; John Burrill divorced his wife; Jasper Lamotte
sold his daughter.
"While Frank Lamotte felt tolerably sanguine of winning the heiress of
Wardour, the Wardour jewels were left unmolested. But when a rival came
into the field, they determined to have the jewels, even if they lost
the heiress.
"Accordingly they planned the robbery and the elopement, and you all
know the afterpart.
"Miss Wardour, you once offered a reward for the arrest of the robbers
who invaded Wardour Place, _not_ to recover your diamonds, but for the
sake of justice. It is for the sake of justice and for the future safety
of peaceable citizens that I have run the Diamond Coterie to earth. For,
be it known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that Miss Constance Wardour,
like the wise young lady she is, took her jewels to an expert, one fine
day, long ago, and had them all duplicated in paste; and while Jasper
Lamotte and his clique were industriously carrying into safe hiding
these paste diamonds, the real Wardour jewels were reposing safely in
the vaults of a city bank, and they repose there safely still!
"When Jasper Lamotte went to the city, two days before the killing of
Burrill, he went to dispose of some of those paste jewels; and, not
until then, did he learn how the heiress of Wardour had outwitted him.
"Miss Wardour, the career of the Diamond Coterie is at an end.
"Old Ezras has long been under our eye. Last night I sent a telegram,
which will cause his instant arrest; and there are enough charges
against him to insure him a life sentence, had he yet seventy years to
live.
"John Burrill has passed beyond our reach. The news of his murder
frustrated my nicely laid plans for his arrest, and turned my mind for
some time from the Diamond Coterie to the task of clearing Sir Clifford.
"Frank Lamotte, too, with all his sin and selfishness, has passed before
a higher tribunal.
"There remains only Jerry Belknap and Jasper Lamotte.
"To Jerry Belknap, I have promised protection--not because he deserves
the same, but because in no other way could I avail myself of his
services; and, to make my chain of evidence complete, I needed his
testimony. He will go out to the frontier, and never appear again in New
York.
"And now, perhaps, you can comprehend why I brought that charge of
perjury against Jasper Lamotte. For his wife's sake, for his unhappy
daughter's sake, for the sake of Evan Lamotte, who implored me, while
going to give himself up to save another, that I would not let further
disgrace bow his mother's head to the dust. For the sake of these
unfortunate victims, I would let Jasper Lamotte go free, so far as we
are concerned. The charge of perjury is enough for W----. The officers
have chosen not to place him in confinement, so, if Jasper Lamotte is
suddenly missed from among us, who can be questioned or blamed?
"I have acted in this matter solely on my own responsibility.
"I have seen Jasper Lamotte, and I gave him two alternatives to choose
from. He could remain and be arrested as the head and front of the
Diamond Coterie, or he could take passage on board the first ship bound
for Australia, to remain there the rest of his natural life. He chose
the latter, and I have appointed my agent, 'Smith, the book peddler,' as
his guardian, to see that he carries out his contract to the letter.
"And now there is one thing more:
"After Burrill's death, Jasper and Frank Lamotte made a search for
certain papers supposed to have been upon the person of the dead man;
they never found them, for the reason that I, as Brooks, had relieved
Burrill of the care of these same papers, weeks before, substituting for
them blanks, which no doubt, Burrill had hidden somewhere, in one of his
fits of drunken caution.
"These papers define distinctly such portions of the Lamotte property as
in reality belonged to Burrill; and if I am not mistaken in Mrs. Lamotte
and her daughter, they will wish no share in it. I will put these papers
into your hands, Mr. O'Meara, to be held for future action."