Mezzoni the Brigand — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. 19 The value of the goods abstracted was estimated at one hundred thousand dollars as the very lowest amount to be named. There was not the first clew as to where they had been conveyed, or indeed how the robbers had entered or left the store. Every- thing in the shape of windows and doors was found securely locked, and in the usual condition in the morning. Even the iron safe, which had been opened, was found to be locked after the valuables had been abstracted, and so with various drawers and small cases about the establishment. The mystery only deepened on examination. No neighbor had heard any unusual noise in the night. In twenty-four hours after the event special re- wards were offered through every available chan- nel, promising most liberally for any information. The police were set to work, and no steps were un- tried in the endeavor to discover the perpetrators of the bold and heavy robbery. Woolf & Co., the firm who had been the sufferers in this instance, tele- eraphed to London, and sent also a special messen- ger to consult with the head of the house, suggest- ing that a thorough and careful English detective be sent at once to Naples to ferret out the guilty parties. Nothing was talked of at the clubs and in public places but the great robbery of Woolf & Co. It was more than a nine days’ wonder, and seemed destined to be a lasting mystery. Diamonds are always marketable and difficult to identify, especially when removed from their set- tings, but if any of the other articles were to be offered for sale, in their original shape, such careful description had been printed of them and distributed, Comicboo cS €O