RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE DETECTIVE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1291, 27 May 1880, Page 2

RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE DETECTIVE.

(concluded. ) I determined to go straight to the bank and deliver up the proofs of my success in tracing the forgers. A3 I sped on my way, truly thankful that I had accomplished my errand so easily, I found myself in the Argyle Cut, when suddenly I Jelt myself grasped round the neck by a pair of strong hands. I knew in an instant that I was in the hands of garotters, and, plunging wildly, I broke loose, and uttered a half-choked cry, I then received a severe blow on the back of the head, and, turning.round, I found that I had two antagonists to cope with. With one accord they set on me. The sudden pressure on my throat had so choked my utterance that I could not utter any cry for assistance. Thanks to my natural agility, and a fierce desire to preserve my pocket-book, I succeeded in preventing the scoundrels from again seizing me. In the struggle I received many severe blows, and I could feel the blood flowing freely from my head, and almost blinding me. Another' severe and well-planted blow felled me to the ground. The villains then knelt upon my chest and were proceeding to. rifle me of my watch, &c., when suddenly I heard a shout, and saw the scoundrels set upon by two men. A short, sharp struggle ensued, and the scoundrels getting worsted, turned and fled. Though stunned and weak, I had risen to take my share in the fight,, and my surprise can be-better understood than explained when I found that the two men to whom I owed so much were my steward and his grumbling friend of the Paragon Hotel. Here was a pretty state of affairs, I now was indebted, probably for my life, certainly for the safety of my valuables, to the two very men to proser cute whom I had expended so much money and time. My steward at once proposed that I should go to his hotel, which was close by, to repair damages,

&c. To this, of course, I could not demur, [ and 'in a few minutes we all three were seated in a snug bedroom. My steward and his friend proved quite adepts in the art of binding wounds, so that in less than . an hour I again felt something like myself, and, at their urgent request, lay down to endeavor to compose myself in sleep. In taking off my coat to have my wounds dressed, my pocket-book had dropped from the pocket; my steward picked it up, without my having noticed him, and at once handed it to me ; this was indeed heaping coals of fire on my head, first by saving me from the hands of rufujjjis, and then restoring to me the damaging proof of his guilt of crimes, punishable with long years of penal servitude. They then left me, with a promise to see me again in time for breakfast. Dazed with the rapid succession of such events, it can little be wondered at that I fell into a profound slumber from which I awoke late in the day. I arose and proceeded down stairs, and found from my host that both my stewards had sat watching me for hours, and that they had gone out with the intention of returning at tea time.

After partaking of a slight repast I sallied out, and hailing a cab was driven at once to my manager. The details of my visit are, of course, a profound secret, but suffice to say that by my exertions my steward was provided with a snug situation ashore, and has for ever renounced his former dangerous practices ; and my .bank manager has taken such precautions as will prevent his bank from being further troubled with forgeries executed by my New York artist. My stewards are both happily married, one to his late hospital nurse, the other to a bouncing daughter of a sugar planter on the Clarence, and ever and anon from out of their several earnings their previous victims receive anonymous letters containing good L 5 notes as restitution money.