THE BLACK PILGRIM

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20728, 11 February 1939, Page 24 (Supplement)

THE BLACK PILGRIM

By George Stanley

The Black Pilgrim is a strange adventurer, who puzzles both Scotland Yard and many criminals. He beats crooked people at their own game, preparing the stage for their downfall, and then communicating particulars to Scotland Yard, leaving it to the latter officials to make effective arrests. i Make the acquaintance of the mysterious Black Pilgrim, and i watch him carry out his daring and amazing plans, in a new adven- | ture—j the CASE of THE "COUNT” I -Maurice Wysentein, alias Marquis Wyse-Wytchett, Count de Wytc-hett and other equally high sounding titles too numerous to mention, strolled ; leisurely along the promenade at i Bournemouth to his waiting car. His extremely prosperous appearance and the opulence of his hired car and j chauffeur were due to the fact that | ho had recently made a "kill.-' It had j been to the extent of over five thou- | sand pounds obtained from the | credulous widow of a north country : mill-owner. j The extraction had taken place in ! the Midlands and, having accomj plislied his design, Maurice had left, I taking the five thousand in cash and j the bulk of the lady’s jewellery as I well. This was lying in a safedeposit at the moment, until such time as the debonair Maurice should | deem it safe to send it away for j disposal. I For years, Maurice Wysentein, j under numerous disguises, had been ; rooking the fair and evidently weaker i sex of sums varying from hundreds jto thousands. In fact, no sum was j too small enough for him to stoop to \ pick up. j But when he stooped to rob the ! girl desk-clerk at the Splendira Hotel | of the paltry twenty pounds which ! represented her savings of years for ; a Continental holiday, it was to prove the worst day’s work he had ever ! done. j Of course, Maurice had gone from j the Splendira by the time the unhappy ! girl realised that her trust had been j misplaced. But the tall, powerfully built man, with the warm brown eyes, ' who found the unhappy girl sobbing ! her heart out in the gardens, knew fairly well where the plausible ; Maurice might be found. Emily Ptige, the junior clerk at the Splendira, bad taken to the tall browneyed stranger from the start. Unlike the majority of the visitors to the hotel, he had always spoken to her, as he did to the other employees, in a friendly fashion rather than as a sergeant-major addressing a new recruit. Thus, when the stranger found her ; sobbing in the twilight, she had no hesitation under his skilful probing of revealing the whole of the unhappy story. The debonair Maurice de Wyse, in which name the trickster had signed the visitors’ book, had arrived at the hotel about a week before the stranger. By a little judicious flattery and a few small attentions, he had won the interest of Emily Page. Under his masterly manipulation she had been as wax in his hands. When she foolishly mentioned that she had been saving up for a long-awaited holiday In Chamonix, and hoped to go in a few days, as she had at last collected the necessary money, Maurice had displayed interest at once. He had offered to get the tickets for her and make her arrangements so that she could travel first-class for the price of third as he had, so he said, some connection with the tourist’s agency. It may seem, viewed in cold blood, that Emily Page was a silly little fool to part with her money. Hard-headed business men in America, however, are frequently buying gold-bricks, and credulous colonials seem only too willing to part with their wallets to entire strangers. Of course, cupidity is the stumbling block in all cases, and in poor little Emily Page’s, her desire lor first-class travel overweighed her discretion. "I know where Mr de Wyse can be found,” said the stranger at last. ‘‘l will advance you the money which he obtained from you. By the way, how did you learn that he was a trickster?” "Well, don’t tell anyone I told you,” explained Emily, "but those two young men who arrived this afternoon are detectives! They are trying to catch him. Why don’t you let them know where he is?"

A story of a modern Robin Hood.

"Because I should never get the I twenty pounds back,” answered the i stranger. ‘‘Don’t say a w r ord to them j either; otherwise, 1 shan’t be able to ! advance you the money. Also, I want : to have a word with Maurice de Wyse I myself. You’d better give me an . 1.0. U. for the money, so that I can j collect it from Maurice de Wyse.” ! Satisfied with this somewhat fan- | tastic story, and really only too anxi- ; ous to get her twenty pounds back i at any price, Emily Page agreed. At the stranger’s dictation she | wrote out and signed the 1.0. U., taking the twenty pounds, which he ■ handed to her, with avidity. | The stranger had left the hotel by i the time Emily Page’s desire to talk : had overcome her discretion. As he | had anticipated, she began by show- : ing the money to a friend, and soon j the interest of the two detectives had j switched to little Emily, j Her story regarding the stranger • who bad lent her twenty pounds was 1 viewed with a certain* amount of | doubt, and finally they left, regarding i little Emily as one who was ready to j tell any lies to get into the limelight. [ Meanwhile Maurice de Wyse had ) passed like a ship in the night and, | obscured by Ihe fee; of his changing I identities, had returned to London, i There, in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury, he rented three box-like I rooms in a block of flats, j Satisfied that he had thrown off the i scent of the detectives, who he j guessed would be hot on his track the | moment Emily Page began to squeal, j Maurice settled down to enjoy the j balance of his holiday. Suitably attired, he strolled down into theatreland, the first evening I after he had gained the safety of his I flat. Calling in at a restaurant in Soho, where he knew that he could ! get good food and wine at the minij mum of expense, he enjoyed a really 1 pleasant meal, and the fact that he I was taking it at little Emily Page's | expense, seemed to afford him considerable satisfaction. He finished the meal and proceeded to the theatre, where he laughed so much at one of the character’s in the comedy, who reminded him of his latest victim, that he occasioned comment from his immediate companions. This sobered Maurice at once, for | the last thing he desired was to draw | attention to himself in public. lie remained quiet for the rest of the play, and strolling home afterwards, j sat in his flat over coffee and a j liqueur before he retired to bed. In spite of his guilty conscience he passed a dreamless night. On the following morning he decided to visit the nest-egg which he had stored up for his old age. Taking a bus to the city he stroiled down Threadneedle Street until he came to his destination. Producing proof of his identity he was escorted to the chamber of the safety-vault where his accumulated savings of years were gathered. For it was a peculiarity of Maurice Smith, for so the plausible trickster had been christened, that he did not trust banks. In some w : ay he felt that he might lose his money in a bank, and although he ran a small deposit account with a local branch for purposes of reference, the bulk of his possessions were in the safety-vault. Tn order to provide a satisfactory explanation for his mode of living, Maurice posed as a diamond merchant and, on occasions, he did a little business on the ‘street’ around 'Hatton Garden, where one can often see similar small-time merchants buying and selling stones in many tea-shops an l bars. Among a select circle of the criminal section of the community Maurice was ‘ known as a ‘safe’ fence for stolen dia- j monds. In his safe-deposit reposed most of the stones which he had been acquiring, for about a tenth of their value, over a period of years. It also contained a thick package of high \ value notes in various European cur- | rencies, together with a fake pass- \ port, all ready to hand in case the j necessity should ever arise for him to leave the country quicker than he expected. Thus, when Maurice took a stroll round Hatton Garden a few days after his visit to the safe-deposit, he was not surprised at the tall, powerfully built man with a dark almost Hebraic complexion, who murmured a few’ discreet words which made Maurice smell business. He followed the man into the teashop which he had entered, taking a seat at the same secluded table, and when the waitress had taken their orders and disappeared, Maurice waited for his companion to speak. "Shorty Long gave me the wire to come along to see you,” began the man. “He told me that you took his last lot of stuff and that you’re safe. He gave me the word and said that I was to say ’’Got something on the ice.’ Is that all* right ?” “It might be.” answered Maurice, cautiously. “What have you got?” “These," said the man. and. producing a bulky package of tissue paper, be unwrapped it and discreetly I exposed t.be contents. “1 ve got to make a quick do of it,” said the man. I“I wani the money at once. Now. | what will you give rne for the lot?” Maurice picked up the stones one by one and tested them carefully before be answered. “What do you want for them?” he asked. “Six hundred?” suggested the man, hopefully. “What?” jerked Maurice. "I’ll i give you three .and then I’ll be losing i money in the finish. They’ll have tu ; | be cut.” They wrangled over the deal for some moments until at last, in desper- • ation. the man agreed to accept three • 1 hundred and fifty pounds providing th* ! money was paid at once. The deal w'as j too gooa a one to miss, and Maurice ' j was determined to get the stones. He left the tea-shop accompanied by the ' i stranger. Boarding a taxi with his 1 companion be set out for the buildim r j which housed bis safe-deposit, an. I when they arrived there, lie left tin i man wailing in the lobby, while In i visited and obtained the necessary sun j of money. Me returned to the lobby where (after verifying the contents «»f tlie t:s I sue wrapped parcel, lie banded ove the notes, and tin.* stranger, afte I promising further business, hurrie. Bearing bis newly acquired diam • omls. Maurice returned to tlie vault i and, after despnsiting the stones i I safety, made tils way slow y back t [ his flat, mentally congratulating him I self upon the enormous profits wlm- ; | 1( . would ventiia!l> mak- over Mi : ir.-uisae:inn. Luck, be fell. Was run ; niiig liis way. 1 i