Chapter XXIII: Wharf 32

Harris Burnett, who was merely an agent sent by Kelly, by order of William Dow, had exactly followed the latter’s instructions. In spite of the courage and strength of the captain and detective, he reinforced them none too soon, for Gobson, mad with anger, was becoming difficult to hold. He foamed at the mouth, gave horrible shrieks, poured out the most frightful curses upon his wife and rolled upon the floor, and, for lack of other weapons, used his teeth like a wild beast. However, his three adversaries succeeded in mastering him, and he was so firmly bound and gagged that he could have been left alone without danger. As for Kitty Bell, she sank sobbing on the bed.

“Madam,” said William Dow, “I am obliged to arrest you, but I renew the promise I made you. I shall speak to the judges about you in a manner to render them as indulgent as possible, on account of your frankness and the services you have rendered.”

“Ah! do as you will with me, sir,” answered the young woman.

“Mr. Young will accompany you to my house, that you may resume your own dress, and he will afterwards bring you here, where you will rest a few hours. We will go to New York by the first train in the morning.”

Mrs. Gobson obediently took Young’s arm, for without this support she could hardly have sustained herself, and left the room without daring to look back.

As for Saunders, his love for Miss Ada had returned, and kneeling beside her bed he was still weeping. William Dow forced him to rise, and led him to the boudoir, in order to take him as much as possible from his sad memories, by keeping him from the statue which so cruelly reminded him of the past.

The captain and Mrs. Gobson returned about a quarter of an hour later. The young woman sank exhausted on an arm-chair, hiding her face in both hands. It was a singular tableau which this elegant and mysterious sleeping-room presented, now transformed into a field of combat; and he, whose intelligence had so quickly made it the theatre of his justice, glanced around it with just pride. On one side sat Mrs. Gobson, perhaps weeping more for her vanished dreams than for her dread of reality; on the other, reduced to powerlessness, the wretch who had been conquered by the same weapons he had made use of.

“Burnett,” said William Dow to the agent, after a few moments’ silence, “watch this man. We will return in a moment.”

And then, leaving the prisoner and his wife in the care of the chief of detectives, William and Burnett raised the woman of wax and carried her into the adjoining villa, and placed her on the same lounge where Kitty Bell first saw her.

“Now, Young,” said William Dow to his friend, “return to Gobson, and in a few moments I will join you.”

The captain obeyed, and the detective went up to see Miss Jane. The young girl was pale and trembling, as well as her governess, for she wondered if anything had happened to her friend, having heard the pistol-shot in the next house. On perceiving him she gave a cry of joy and threw herself into his arms.

“Come, my dear child,” he said, “and you, too, Mrs. Wandright; I have an explanation to make.”

And preceding the teacher and her pupil, who followed him without understanding what it was all about, he led them into his study. At sight of the wax figure on the lounge, Miss Jane stepped back.

“Do not be afraid,” said William Dow, taking her hand, “but come and look at her. Here, Jane, is the Mrs. Gobson whom you saw here one day when curiosity tempted you. It is only the statue of Miss Ada Ricard, the victim of the mysterious murder whose author I discovered.”

Ashamed to find that William Dow had learned what jealousy had caused her to do, the pretty child hung her head, blushing, but gave her friend a happy, grateful look, murmuring, “Forgive me,” and her friend returned it with a smile and affectionate caress.

Having informed Miss Jane and her governess that he should be absent a few days, Mr. Dow begged them to go up to their rooms and he joined Young and Burnett. They had dragged James Gobson up against the wall, and for humanity’s sake had slipped a cushion under his head. The wretch was foaming at the mouth and his eyes glared, but he did not try to cry out or to combat with them.

The captain and agent watched him in turn that night, and at daybreak William Dow hastened to the chief of police at Boston to inform him of what had passed, and to ask his aid in order to convey the prisoner to New York without further delay.

This officer, who had faith in our hero, immediately gave the necessary orders, and toward noon, without the same being made known at Jamaica Plain, for Young had given orders to the servants in the house, James Gobson was conveyed on the railroad under charge of Burnett and two agents from Boston who had joined him.

The assassin was calmer, but what they knew of his past led his guards to mistrust him. They kept handcuffs on him, telling him that at the first cry, or attempt at rebellion, they would tie his legs and gag him again.

Young took a seat in a car reserved for him with Mrs. Gobson, who was resigned to her fate, and William Dow, after telegraphing to Kelly, seated himself with Saunders, whose mind was again off the balance.

The journey was marked by no incident, and at eight o’clock that same day all the characters of our story reached New York.

The first face William Dow espied on the wharf was the expansive one of Fat Kelly, who was accompanied by Mortimer and Davis, who had been notified. It is useless to say how these gentlemen greeted the skilful detective. James Gobson was captured--that was the most important fact; but they were eager to know the details of his capture, and they plied William Dow with questions.

“Pardon, gentlemen,” said the latter, “we must first attend to the prisoner, or prisoners; we will talk afterwards.”

James Gobson did not attempt resistance, but it would be impossible to describe the look he gave his wife. She could hardly stand, and had to be carried into the waiting-room.

The assassin, after having his identity proved, entered a carriage waiting for him, and Mr. Kelly ordered Young to take him at once to Blackwell’s Island, where he was to be imprisoned until he was called before the criminal court a second time.

The worthy Saunders did not know what to make of it when William Dow said to him:

“My dear sir, return home, resume business, and think of this tragedy only as a bad dream, until the law has need of you again. But before then I shall come and see you.” And clasping the hand that with a sigh was held out to him, he joined Kelly, Davis, and Mortimer, who were impatiently waiting for him.

It was decided that owing to Mrs. Gobson’s exhausted condition and the services that she had rendered the cause of justice, that she should have comparative liberty, but under the surveillance of the two agents, and she had already left for No. 17 East Twenty-third Street.

Everything being settled thus, Mr. Kelly quickly went with William Dow to the central office. He was eager, as well as Mortimer and Davis, to know the whole story and all the details.

William Dow told them from beginning to end, and then said to Kelly, who was almost shaking his hands off:

“Well, have I done right--have I kept my promise?”

“You are a splendid man, my dear Dow,” he answered. “How the devil came you to have your suspicions? You can tell me now.”

“Certainly; besides, nothing is simpler or less mysterious. I must first confess that I had in my possession a certain report of your rival, Robertson which contained precious information. Ah! his agents are keen and smart.”

“It is no more trouble for them to be so than for that great blockhead, Young,” observed Mr. Kelly, shrugging his shoulders.

“I agree with you. Well,” continued Dow, “and while in yours, trace of Miss Ada was lost in her entrance to Yorkville, in that of Robertson, on the contrary, they mention her as being in Colonel Forster’s yacht, at Staten Island, three days before the body of the drowned woman was found at Shakespeare’s tavern. Saunders told me that a boat, in which were the Colonel and Miss Ada, had been run down and capsized, and that the latter was drowned; but I questioned the best seamen in the harbor, and I myself made experiments with floating objects, and while learning about submarine currents I obtained the almost complete certainty that a human body could not be carried in so short a time from Staten Island to the top of the river. Besides, nothing was less certain than the fatal consequences of the accident of which Saunders accused himself. I concluded from that that either Miss Ada was not drowned at Staten Island; or, that if she had perished on these shores, her body could not have been brought by the current to Wharf 32. Therefore the woman who was in Forster’s yawl was not Miss Ada, although Robertson’s agent, who had her photograph--the only one Saunders possessed--might have recognized her on board the Gleam, unless there were two women on the yacht; but the colonel talked of only one, the Miss Ada whom he carried off.”

“This is well reasoned,” said the officers.

“There was then, either with Colonel Forster or drowned at Staten Island, a woman who was or was not Miss Ada, at the very moment when at the bottom of East River was lying a woman who was soon also to be recognized as Miss Ada Ricard. This coincidence was too strange and complete, and improbable, not to lead me at once to think that I had found an absolutely planned crime, a substitution of persons. Now, as we could not substitute an Ada dead for an Ada living, for what would have been the object, it was for an Ada dead that a living Ada had been substituted.”

“Very true, Mr. Dow, very true,” said the magistrates, bowing before this logic.

“This first reasoning,” continued the detective, “naturally led me to suppose that it was really Gobson, the jealous husband, who had taken a woman to Colonel Forster, but not Miss Ada, his wife. It must be another woman, and since I admitted that he was the man who took her off he must also be the assassin.

“As for the hour when the crime was committed, nothing was easier to certify; it was in the carriage itself, for in the boat in which James Gobson crossed the East River was but one woman, and that woman was living. The officer on watch on the Liberia heard a cry when the steamer came near running it down. What Kitty Bell told me later proved to me that I had reasoned justly, and fixed the place and moment of the crime. Gobson smothered his victim in the carriage, and if he spoke the words reported by the driver Katters it is nothing astonishing; for his cunning and skill we know very well. He wished that this man might some day affirm, if necessary, that Miss Ada was living when she left the carriage, but she was dead. Kitty Bell waiting for James Gobson in a house at Yorkville, the murderer would never have committed the blunder of carrying into the house a living woman who might have screamed, called for help or betrayed her presence, and make the one who was to take her place fear that she was becoming the accomplice of a murderer. But the dead Ada he murdered at his ease, took off her jewels, excepting the gold bracelet, which he found among the Sioux, and which one of those Indians, no doubt, picked up on the young woman’s door-step, as it probably fell off when she was carried away; then, having done this, Gobson dressed Kitty Bell in his victim’s dress, and took her to Forster as Miss Ada, and when he returned he had accomplished the last act in his tragedy. That is to say, he took away the corpse, embarked with it again and threw it in the water, after fastening to it the barrel of tar which he found in his boat, or which he stole, it matters little. When, later, after escaping the gallows in spite of Kitty Bell, who would have been delighted to have him hanged, James Gobson married that woman, it was both to have his share of Miss Ada’s fortune and to make sure of the silence of his accomplice. Mrs. Gobson could not denounce her husband without destroying herself. This marriage of itself would have sufficed to awaken my suspicions; was it like a woman to do what the one supposed to be Mrs. Gobson did? Miss Ada would have let her husband be hanged, for she feared him, and if she had saved him she would never have become his wife. Between Gobson who would have remembered, and Saunders who asked only to be forgiven, she would not have hesitated. This, gentlemen, was how it happened; you know the rest.”

“You are an astonishing detective, my dear Dow,” cried Fat Kelly, in the utmost enthusiasm.

“That is perhaps saying a great deal,” said William, smiling; “but what is more certain, is that I am a man, and being such I can do no more. I will ask you and these gentlemen, therefore, for permission to go home. It is forty-eight hours since I have been in bed.”

“Certainly, my friend. Only one word more. Since you knew all this, why did you not simply arrest Gobson instead of taking the trouble to bring about that dramatic episode at Jamaica Plain?”

“Dear Mr. Kelly, I will explain to you, but I am sure that Mr. Mortimer and Davis, who are lawyers, have already divined my reason.”

The two magistrates smilingly bowed, and the detective continued:

“Acquitted and reinstated by the criminal court, Gobson could no longer be pursued for the same crime, evident as his culpability might become, and had he even confessed all. Now, I, William Dow, had sworn that this man should be punished for murdering Miss Ada, and I made him murder her a second time. By striking that wax statue, which he took for his wife, James Gobson made himself guilty of an attempt to murder, the effect of which was destroyed only by a circumstance independent of his will. He, then, is under the jurisdiction of the criminal court, and, as I wished, the murder was really attempted upon Miss Ada. Do you understand now?”

“My God, my dear friend,” said the chief of police, “I am only a blockhead like that stupid Young while you, you----”

“I only kept my promise to you and the vow I made to myself.”

Mr. Mortimer and Davis joined their thanks and congratulations to those of Kelly, and knowing that William Dow needed rest, they gave him his liberty.

The next day, as will be understood, nothing else was talked of in New York but the new arrest of James Gobson; for the papers, being covertly informed by order of the chief of police, could completely satisfy the curiosity of their readers by relating to them the smallest details of the events that had happened at Boston.

The mystery with which the murder had been enveloped was at last unveiled; this horrible crime was going to be punished. The public conscience was satisfied, and Kelly, who since James Gobson’s discharge had lost so much ground with his electors, was in the way to become a great man. For, although all had been told about the tragedy at Jamaica Plain, the name of William Dow had remained a secret; the latter exacted it from motives best known to himself.

Only the political adversaries of the chief of police were in despair, and the head of the agency of Robertson Brothers & Co., who was up for Congress, found that he had no chance for success owing to the sudden change in affairs.

Kelly’s partisans profited so well by the event, as the election day approached, that the victory of Mr. Kelly became more certain.

During this time Mr. Davis and Mortimer were preparing the case of James Gobson, who was still in prison at Blackwell’s Island, and awaiting to be transferred to the Tombs, a few days before his appearance before the jury. He had completely broken down, losing all that bravado and assumed indifference which so cunningly characterized him at his previous incarceration for the murder of Miss Ada Ricard.

Kitty Bell renewed her confessions before the examining magistrates, and a hearing had been appointed for the day after election, when one morning Captain Young plunged like an avalanche into Kelly’s office, crying:

“Oh! Mr. Kelly, Mr. Kelly, such a misfortune has happened!”

“What is it?--what is it?” asked Kelly.

“James Gobson is drowned!”

“Drowned! What do you mean?”

“Yes, drowned. Just as he was crossing the planking at Blackwell’s Island to enter the government boat to come to the Tombs, he pushed against the guards and leaped into the water, dragging one of the unhappy men after him.”

“And did that man also disappear?”

“No; fortunately he was saved, but they could not fish up Gobson.”

“That is a pity, for I should really have taken pleasure in seeing him at the end of a rope; but what can be done? Has the river been searched?”

“They are still working at it.”

“Well, let them continue to search, and if the rascal’s body is found, let it be sent to Bellevue Hospital, to Dr. O’Neel. It will at least be of some use after his death.”

Having said this, Kelly dismissed the captain, who did not understand the philosophy with which his chief took James Gobson’s death. The officer immediately reflected as follows: That the assassin would have made revelations to his judges that would have brought to notice William Dow, and would have lessened the role of Kelly. He was therefore delighted that the accused had disappeared.

Kitty Bell, it is true, remained, but he knew that by promising her the indulgence of the court she would say only what he wished. Nevertheless, at the news of this suicide, the disappointment was general, and the opponents of Mr. Kelly tried to profit by it, but the movement was started in his favor, and election day for Mr. Kelly was one of triumph.

William Dow was in the latter’s office when they came to tell him the result of the voting. He was elected with twenty thousand votes more than at the last time. The effect of this announcement upon Mr. Kelly can well be imagined.

“To you I owe this victory, my dear friend,” he said to the detective, embracing him with enthusiasm; “how can I prove my gratitude to you for all this?”

“By giving me the first possible opportunity to make myself useful,” answered William, with a sad smile, “for in attending to your affairs I also attend to my own.”

“Oh, yes; that mystery in your life, a mystery in which the pretty and charming Miss Jane must play a part. When will you have confidence and friendship enough for me to judge me worthy of being your confidant?”

“Some time, my dear Kelly, some time. Jane has gone to New York with her governess, but I wish to have her take a trip, for she is ill. I will tell you some day what terrible tie attaches me to this dear child, for whom I would give my life, and whom I make suffer, alas, from a malady which to any one else would be an immense joy, for it might cure her.”

Greatly puzzled at these words, spoken so sadly, Mr. Kelly was about, perhaps, to beg for the key to the riddle, when, after knocking, Captain Young appeared.

“Sir,” said the captain to his chief, after shaking hands with his visitor, “they have just found James Gobson’s body.”

“Ah!” said the officer; “where?”

“Under Wharf 32, opposite Shakespeare’s tavern.”

“Under Wharf 32,” cried William Dow. “Well, my dear friends, was I not right in stating that Ada Ricard’s body had been thrown into the water at Blackwell’s Island, and on that side of the river. One would say that Heaven itself wished to furnish the proof of my theories. Having fallen into the water near the spot where he threw his wife, James Gobson--and observe, after the same interval of time--James Gobson reappeared just there where the corpse of the unhappy woman was discovered, under Wharf 32.”

“This is, indeed, truly wonderful,” exclaimed Kelly.

As for Young, he could not find a word to express his thoughts; only his looks plainly said that his former admiration for the intelligent detective had become enthusiasm.

A few days after this conversation, Kitty Bell appeared alone before the criminal court, for the maid Mary, supposed to be Gobson’s accomplice, could not be found. Kitty Bell was simply convicted of complicity in the kidnapping, and her judges, aware of the services she had rendered in the cause of justice, condemned her to only a year’s imprisonment. She received her sentence with utter composure, having determined to submit to the decree of the court, whatever it might be, without any show of feeling that he whom she had so dearly loved might detect.

Ada, or rather Anna Bell’s fortune went to her father, who was still living.

Six months later, Kitty Bell, at Mr. Kelly’s request, was released, and entered a cafe in New York, where she made her fortune in less than a year.

Then her success on the other side of the ocean led the still pretty Mrs. Gobson to try her fortune in Paris, where we met her at the house of the leader of the opera bouffe, who came near engaging her. She would evidently have been a great attraction, but the impressario did not dare risk the adventure, and the beautiful American disappeared. Perhaps she will yet meet our stout friend, Mr. Saunders, who, after keeping the Woman of Wax at his house several weeks, one day sacrificed it for the benefit of Barnum’s Museum.

William Dow remained the true friend and aid of Mr. Kelly, until an event occurred in his life which we may some day narrate--an event which enabled him to finally take his place in society, which a horrible adventure, followed by a promise, made him abandon.

THE END.

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CARTER, NICHOLAS

Accidental Password, An. Magnet No. 53. 10c.
American Marquis, The. ” 7. ”
Among the Counterfeiters. ” 39. ”
Among the Nihilists. ” 43. ”
At Odds with Scotland Yard. ” 49. ”
At Thompson’s Ranch. ” 56. ”
Australian Klondike, An. ” 8. ”
Caught in the Toils. ” 14. ”
Chance Discovery, A. ” 19. ”
Check No 777. ” 46. ”
Clever Celestial, A. ” 75. ”
Crescent Brotherhood, The. ” 83. ”
Crime of a Countess, The. ” 5. ”
Dead Man’s Grip, A. ” 85. ”
Deposit Vault Puzzle, A. ” 21. ”
Detective’s Pretty Neighbor and Other Stories ” 89. ”
Diamond Mine Case, The. ” 71. ”
Double Shuffle Club, The. ” 68. ”
Evidence by Telephone. ” 23. ”
Fair Criminal, A. ” 62. ”
Fighting Against Millions. ” 11. ”
Found on the Beach. ” 65. ”
Gambler’s Syndicate, The. ” 18. ”
Gideon Drexel’s Millions. ” 99. ”
Great Enigma, The. ” 2. ”
Great Money Order Swindle, The. ” 91. ”
Harrison Keith, Detective ” 93. ”
Klondike Claim, A. ” 1. ”
Man from India, The. ” 50. ”
Millionaire Partner, A. ” 59. ”
Mysterious Mail Robbery, The. ” 13. ”
Nick Carter and the Green Goods Man. ” 87. ”
Old Detective’s Pupil, The. ” 10. ”
Piano Box Mystery, The. ” 17. ”
Playing a Bold Game. ” 12. ”
Puzzle of Five Pistols, The, and Other Stories. ” 97. ”
Sealed Orders. ” 95. ”
Sign of the Crossed Knives, The. ” 79. ”
Stolen Identity, A. ” 9. ”
Titled Counterfeiter, A. ” 3. ”
Tracked Across the Atlantic. ” 4. ”
Two Plus Two. ” 73. ”
Van Alstine Case, The. ” 77. ”
Wall Street Haul, A. ” 6. ”
Wanted by Two Clients. ” 81. ”
Woman’s Hand, A. ” 16. ”

CLAY, BERTHA M.

Another Man’s Wife. Eagle No. 48. 10c.
Another Woman’s Husband. Eagle No. 42. 10c.
Between Two Hearts. Eagle No. 84. 10c.
Fair but Faithless. Eagle No. 102. 10c.
For a Woman’s Honor. Eagle No. 4. 10c.
Gipsy’s Daughter, The. Eagle No. 11. 10c.
Gladys Greye. Eagle No. 59. 10c.
Heart’s Bitterness, A. Eagle No. 109. 10c.
Heart’s Idol, A. Eagle No. 21. 10c.
Ideal Love, An. Eagle No. 119. 10c.
In Love’s Crucible. Eagle No. 70. 10c.
Marjorie Deane. Eagle No. 79. 10c.
’Twixt Love and Hate. Eagle No. 95. 10c.
Violet Lisle. Eagle No. 14. 10c.

CLEMENS, WILL M.

Life of Admiral Dewey, The. Historical No. 7. 10c.

COBB, C. W.

The Mountaineer Detective. Magnet No. 40. 10c.

COBB, SYLVANUS, Jr.

Ben Hamed. Columbia No. 18. 10c.
Golden Eagle, The. ” 19. 10c.
King’s Talisman, The. ” 21. 10c.
Yankee Champion, The. Eagle No. 78. 10c.

COLLINS, WILKIE

My Lady’s Money. Arrow No. 58. 10c.

COMFORT, LUCY RANDALL

Cecile’s Marriage. Eagle No. 121. 10c.
Widowed Bride, The. Eagle No. 86. 10c.

CORELLI, MARIE

Ardath, Vol. I. Arrow No. 26. 10c.
Ardath. Vol. II. ” 27. ”
Romance of Two Worlds, A. ” 18. ”
Thelma. ” 55. ”
Vendetta. ” 36. ”
Wormwood. ” 47. ”

DARRELL, CHARLES

When London Sleeps. Eagle No. 105. 10c.

DAUDET, ALFONSE

Jack. Arrow No. 59. 10c.
Partners, The. Arrow No. 67. 10c.
Sappho. Arrow No. 10. 10c.

DE GONCOURT, E. AND J.

Germinie Lacerteux. Arrow No. 4. 10c.

DELPIT, ALBERT

Coralie’s Son. Arrow No. 35. 10c.

DENISON, MRS. MARY A.

Daughter of the Regiment, The. Eagle No. 116. 10c.

DE PONT JEST, RENE.

No. 13 Rue Marlot. Magnet No. 96. 10c.

DE TINSEAU, LEON

His Fatal Vow or Sealed Lips. Arrow No. 23. 10c.

DEY, MARMADUKE

Muertalma; or, the Poisoned Pin. Magnet No. 58. 10c.

DONNELLY, H. GRATTAN

Darkest Russia. Eagle No. 94. 10c.

DOUGLAS, A. M.

Midnight Marriage, The. Eagle No. 6. 10c.

DOYLE, A. CONAN

Beyond the City. Arrow No. 6. 10c.
Firm of Girdlestone, The. Arrow No. 69. 10c.
Sherlock Holmes’ Detective Stories, The. Magnet No. 72. 10c.
Sign of the Four, The. Arrow No. 17. 10c.
Study in Scarlet, A. Arrow No. 3. 10c.

DU BOISGOBEY, FORTUNE

Blue Veil, The. Magnet No. 44. 10c.
Chevalier Casse Cou, The. ” 63. ”
Convict Colonel, The. ” 33. ”
Crime of the Opera House. The. Vol. I. ” 35. ”
Crime of the Opera House, The. Vol. II. ” 36. ”
His Great Revenge. Vol. I. ” 54. ”
His Great Revenge. Vol. II. ” 55. ”
Matapan Affair, The. ” 38. ”
Red Camellia, The. ” 64. ”
Red Lottery Ticket, The. ” 31. ”
Steel Necklace, The. ” 27. ”

Transcriber’s Notes:

This novel is a translation of _La femme de cire : Mémoires d’un détective_ by René de Pont-Jest, the middle part of a trilogy about detective William Dow. It was first serialized in the _Boston Globe_ from May 3 to June 11, 1884 under the title _The woman of wax; or, Memoirs of a detective_. When reprinted in book form, the original author’s name was omitted and only the translator received credit.

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.

Inconsistent hyphenation (e.g. bloodthirsty vs. blood-thirsty) has been retained from the original.

In a few places, paragraph breaks in conversations seem to be in the wrong places. These instances are present in both the original newspaper serial and the later book reprint, so they have been left unmodified.

The word “autonedon” is likely a typo for “automedon” but is reproduced as printed in both the original newspaper series and the later book reprint.