Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 82, 11 April 1904, Page 4

Literature.

THE MYST&RY OF MR POLBANK The flight Jof William Polbank was ,<bo sensation of the dax, A financier .whose namo stood high in the city, and whose transactions .were colossal, hie sudden disappearance was a holt from the blue. On the day previous to his disappearance he was the recipient of hundreds of congratulations on the mar- ] riage of his only daughter, Alice, with Sir James McAlister, a wealthyyoung Scottish baron»t. The wedding had teen attended not only by .the aristocracy of money, but by many members of the aristocracy of blood, for Sir James was a popular I' figure in society, and more than one ' matchmaking mamma had marked him down as an eligible parti for. her daughter. The wedding recaption took place in Air Folkank's beautiful town house, situated in one of the fashionable squares. The presents were magnificent, and everybody agreed .that the bride, who was a charming girl, looked supremely happy. After the bride and bridegroom had driven away to commence their honeymoon trip, and the guests had departed, Mr Polbank left the hous«, saying that he should dine at his club.

It was probable that, being a widower, and having always had the companionship of his daughter, lie did not care to spend the lirst evening of her, absence alone in his great house. As he was going out he told the butler that he might be late, and no one was to sit up for him. On the following morning, when it was discovered that he hail not been home the servants were astonished, but concluded that he had either stayed at a hotel, or, gone to a friend's house. The alarm only commenced when he j failed to put in an appearance at his city office, where several important matters of business were awaiting his attention. ' I His secretary was seriously alarmed whon he ascertained that nothing had been seen of Mr Polbank at his home since the previous afternoon. ' For the secretary knew that his «hie£ hod made an important appointment for the morning, and had he been able to communicate he would most certainly have sent a message to explain his absence, and have the gentleman who was going to call informed of the alteration in his plans. When the gentleman, a city magnate, arrived 1 at the office, and assured the secretary that he had received no message from Mr Polbank postponing the meeting, it was decided that. the police should be communicated with. The secretary was able to think of nothing but foul play as a solution of the mystery. No communication was made to ' Lady McAlister at first. It was felt that until some effort had been made to discover the fate of the financier it. would be unwise to alarm the young bride. ' Two days passed, and still there were no signs of the missing man. - The police traced him to his club, .where he stayed until about ten o'clock. The hall porter saw him t ' leave, and a member coming toward > , the club at the time recollected meeting him half way down St. James'sstreet. He was then walking in the direction of St. James's Palace. From that point all was dark. The great financier had vanished ' • from human ken in th« middle of St. Jamos's-street, at ten o'clock on a ( fine autumn evening.The newspapers got hold of the story on the third day, and made a guarded statement- In inner eity ( '; circles it was already knows, and ,* great uneasiness prevailed. The Shares in certain companies in which Mr Polbank was largely interested lell.;. There, was a distinct impression that something must be wrong withthd missing man's affairs, and it was being fainted that he had f-'made a ,Molt of it," in anticipation ol a crash. But after investigation city men quickly altered their view of the situation/ Everything was in order. There was a splendid balance to the missing man's credit at his banker's-. .There were only the ordinary out- > 'standing liabilities, and the securities were intact. When the story began to get Into tho papers, it was felt that Lady ' McAlister should be officially inform- , ed. Tho young couple had gone to > the Italian lakes, and were then at Lugano. A special messenger was despatched to wait on Sir James, and give him all the particulars that ,werc known, in order that he might communicate them with due caution to his wife.

Lady McAlister was greatly distressed. She could think of nothing ; jko account for the catastrophe. Her ( lather had not breathed a word to her o! any intended absence from town. On the contrary, he told her that be should feel very lonely, and v would like to have gone away for a . but he had so many pressing business sngagements that he would ' bo compelled to remain in London. The young wife iusisted that it .was her duty to return to London, v and assist the police in every possible way, and her husband agreeing with her they came back to town ■ at once. A legal arrangement was made by whwh the business could be carried on in the absence of the principal, and necessary cheques drawn -the sort oi arrangement thafwould have been considered necessary had the financier been stricken down with a serious illness—but every effort to ob,tain a clue to Mr, Tolbank's whereabouts failed. Lady McAlister wa« sure that her father had been robbed and murdered. When he left home he was in evening dress. He had taken no portmanteau with him, and no change of «lothes. Had h* intended Ito go away lie would certainly not have gons to kis club that night in evening dross. But at last a clue came. One morning a respeetably dressed woman entered a pawnbroker's shop, and offered in pledge a valuable diamond ringj It was a man's ring, and the pawnbroker examining it * found engraved inside it this iiiscrip- / jtion : "W.P. from A.F.": He remembered that such a ring had been de- <' £cnbed in a police notice, and turn- *, ing to the file fonnd that among the Jewellery worn by Mr Polbank on the *„_ night he disappeared was a diamond " ring answering the description of the one offered, and bearing this insorip- ■ tion. It had been presented to Mr Polbank by a lady friend to whom '{■ he had done a good turn. The woman was detaiucd, and a f messenger sent to Scotland Yard. 1 ' The woman, officially interrogated, ' seemed greatly alarmed, but she told a straight forward story, r" She was a widow with three childsf ran, living in two rooms on the ' .Bround floor of a house in a bye Tstreet in Westminster, in the ncigh- """ liourhood of the Aquarium. She wont out to work, leaving her Children at home in the charge of the leldest, a little gfrl of eleven. ' Things had gone badly with her lately, owing to the precarious na- ,■ itpre of her employment, and she lound herself in arrears with her rent She had only, occupied these rooms - three weeks, and the landlord, knowing nothing of her, had threatened " (to turn her out. tr On the morning of the last day of Ik"'grace allowed her, her little boy Hfcplaying about the room lost a marElKble. It rolled away and fell through |||B»crack in the skirting board. The l||||B!ild made the crack large enough to fingers between it, and in for his marble drew out a ■R||3?tlfther investigation into the woHgj||pM'S,.characffr proved her to be a honest woman, and HgHfP&.she had not taken up her residHgH'W'until some weeks after the disH£Sppe&ranee of the financier. MESpJe next inquiry was as to the tenhad occupied the rooms be■EsJj|rfe the, widow took possession of HW. Inquiries of the owner of the HBfii||£~ Which was what is known as HjHfeiproperly—and of the neighbjours HHBttetithe fact that the former tenfwas a man of bad character, as "The Gripper," or "Bill, on account of the of his hands. Hq had been

in gaol several time's for robbery with violence, and his methods were those of the garrotters who a« one lime were the terror of London. At the time he took possession of the rooms: in Westminster, Bill the Gripper had just served a sentence of six months.

With tliis information in tlieir possession, the police theory was that Mr Polbank had been attacked late at night by Bill the dripper, who had throttled him and robbed him, i and brought the booty back to his lodging. It was probable that in taking the money and the jewellery from his pockets to examine it after he got home the ring had rolled j away, and every ciYort of the robber to discover its whereabouts had failed. The gripper had licen last seen in his lodging the day after Mr Polbank disappeared. He had shared his rooms with another criminal, a man known as "Foxey," because of the colour of his hair. The two had left together. Why they had left was very soon ascertained. Both were wanted by the police for a burglary at Wandsworth of which they were strongly suspected. The "tip had been given them, and they had cleared out in a hurry. The neighbours thought they had money, for the dripper changed a five-pound note at a public-house in the neighbourhood on the morning of his departure.

A further item of information acquired by diligent inquiry amongst the inhabitants of the street was that early on the morning that the Gripper and Foxey left their lodgings, a man of about 55, who from his clothes appeared to be a labourer, left the house. No one had ever seen him before.

Inspector Martin, of Scotland yard, who had charge of tho Polbank mystery, was one of the cleverest detectives in London. With these facts in his possession, he- came to the conclusion that the Gripper and Foxey had set upon Mr Polbank, garotted him, robbed him, and that the man dressed as a labourer was an accomplice, who had probably been entrusted with some of the stolen properly to get rid of, as the Gripper and Foxey found it necessary to avoid their old haunts in view of the fact that they were wanted. The property would be the diamond studs and sleeve links, the watch and chain, etc., which Mr Polbank had about him, and of which up to the present lime no trace had been obtained, i

Inspector Martin cnlli'cl upon Sir .Tamos McAlister to give him the latest information, but in reply to the baronet's question he had to confess that there was an element in Hie case which completely baffled him. Presuming that Mr Pol bank had been attacked—probably in the neighbourhood of SI,. James' Park—garrotted and robbed, what had become of him afterwards ? No one had been lo,yml in London lying senseless or dead in evening dress, and if Mr Polbank had recovered after the attack sufficiently to walk away he would certainly have gone to the police or to a hospital, or to someone who would have helped him to reach his home. " That is the mystery," said the Inspee+or. "Mr Polbank was undoubtedly attacked that night and robbed, probably murdered ; but if so how was the body disposed of ?" " Do you think they flung him into the Thames 1" " No. I don't think Mr Polbank of his own free will would have gone to amy part of the riverside lonely enough for a murder of that sort to be accomplished without attracting attention. The Embankmeat Is well lighted. It is patrolled by the police from end to end. There are always a number of homeless people sitting about on a seat or sleeping in the corners. From some of these information would have been certain to have reached us had the murder Ween committed on the Embankment. Ihe reward offered for information is a large one, and the newspapers have made the story of the disappearance common talk, even in the doss-houses and casual wards ••". ■ V,, Sti " think -»<> doubt, the wish '* f , aU,er to th « thought-that Alv Polbank may be alive " "Where? Wandering about in evening dress ? You must remember that those scoundrels would have roWbed him of everything. Ho would not have any money to go to a tailor and buy a readj--made suit "• At that moment the bell of the telephone in Sir James' study rang violently, and the baronet went to the instrument. " Are you Sir James McAlister •>" ies."- " Is Inspector Martin with you •>" Ye-s."- J phone " ' lim *° COmu *° tht> tel °" The detective went to the instrument, and the baronet, thinking the communication might be intended to lK' private, left him for a few minutes.

When the baronet came back the Inspector turned to him eagerly. " An extraordinary thing has linoMr ™h w £?° tt ; e r re taM »* " b °« Mr Polbank's clothes, a clue has turned U p ;„ connection with them which may elucidate the whole mystery." •> " Really?" " Yes. I must go and follow it up at once. Briefly it is this- A waiter has called at the Yard with a dress coat and waistcoat. IXe bought them second-hand some time a?o. The waistcoat was too big for nun. In pulling (IH , Imml . , i( ,j ltor he broke it, and gave it to his wire to repair. She took it oft, and found to her astonishment a linen tub sewn inside the band. It bore tire printed address of a West End tailor, and in writing the »ame William I olhank, and the date on which the waistcoat was made. It is a common practice with some West Knd tailors to do this in order that their clients may distinguish the waistcoat of one date from the waistcoat of the same pattern but of another date. In two instances I know this custom has led to identification in casi-s of suicide. At any rate, there is no doubt now that we have the waistcoat a*d probably the coat Mr Polbank was wearing the night he disappeared." * * * # TTo bo continued.)