Oe

The Best 5 Cent Library of Detective Stories.

dintered According to Act of Congress. in the Year 1892. by Street & Smith. in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
Entered as Second-class Matter at the New Yori, N. ¥., Post Office, May 20. 1893. Issued Weekly. Subscription Price, $2.50 per Year. May 20, 1893.

No, 94, SrreeT & SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK, 31 Rose 8t., N. Y. P. O. Box 2734. 5 Cents,

SKIPPED FROM CUSTODY:

, Nick Carter’s Double Chase.

 

 

 

 

 

BY THE AUTHOR OF *“ NICK CARTER.”

 

\'

|

 

 

THE WOMAN WAS ABOUT TO STRIKE CHICK A SICKENIN ON THE HEAD, WHEN NI
WRIST THAT HELD THE WEAPON.

 

 

 
. NICK CARTE _ LIBRARY.

No. 94.

 

 

"SKIPPED FROM CUSTODY:
Nick Carter's Double Chase.

By the author of “NICK CARTER.”

CHAPTER I.
TRICKED BY A WOMAN.

The New York Grand Jury was in session, and the
prosecuting attorney had presented the case of James
Boyle for indictment.

“My witnesses,” said he, “are few, and the testimony is
clear and positive. First, I will introduce Mr. Carter.”

- ‘The great detective, who was in conversation with Chief
Inspector Steers in the corridor, heard his name calied,
and with a smile of confidence, passed into the room
where twelve representative men of the metropolis had
assembled for grave deliberation.

At a sitting of a Grand Jury the proceedings are
somewhat different from those of a court of law.

In a court the rules of evidence and of practice ina
criminal case, are strictly adhered tu; and the examina-
tion of a witness is hedged in by so many technicalities
that the testimony adduced becomes narrowed down to
those matters only which have a direct and positive
bearing upon the issue involved in the indictment.

But before a Grand Jury the widest latitude is exer-
cised in the procurement of evidence.

Hearsay testimony, as well as direct, is taken, and
much extraneous matter is frequently introduced, all
in order that the jury may arrive at the conclusion
whether there exists sufficient cause for the finding of an
indictment which shall place the defendant on trialina
court of law.

James Boyle had been arrested by the great detective
for forgery and larceny, the victim being Samuel Was-
man, a Broadway merchant.

From. the fact that Boyle was looked upon as one of the
smartest rogues in the Union, the proceedings attending
the arrest, the detention in the Tombs, and the indict-
ment by the Grand Jury, had been regarded with the
greatest interest by the public.

Nick Carter’s testimony elicited the following facts:

The greater part of James Boyle’s life had been spent in
Cincinnati. Handsome, dashing, and one of the “ bloods,”
his career in the noted Ohio city was one of dazzling
effrontery.

He firss attracted attention as a book-keeper for the
Anderson Carriage Works.

On a salary of one hundred dollars a month, he had the
finest team of horses in Cincinnati, and was daily driven
to his oftice by a coachman in livery.

After a time, and while he was spending money like
water, he managed to get a small interest in the works.

This he gradually increased until he came within a few
shares of obtaining a controlling interest.

But there was one member of the board of directors
who was suspicious of Bova. He employed an expert to.
go over the young man’s books.

The result disclosed a _ Shortage of thirty thousand

dollars. a
4

infatuated

bank to suit himself.

 

Further investigation showed that Boyle bought his
interest in the concern with the money he had stolen
from it.

He was arrested and indicted, but for some reason he
was never tried.

During his season of prosperity in Cincinnati he meta
very pretty girl, named Inez Fortesque, and he became
with her. He placed her in a’seminary in
Oxford, the most fashionable institution of the kind in
the West.

About the time his droutndnees in Cincinnati was dis-
covered, he married Inez and moved to Chicago.

There he gambled a great deal, and became such a high
roller as to get the name of “Gold Dollar Jim.”

After some months he apparently became tired of this
sort of thing, and by some means or other secured a posi-
tion in a savings bank near the stock-yards.

It was not long before he was running things in the
The bank finally went to pieces,
and Boyle was accused of wrecking it.

He was arrested, charged with embezzlement and
forgery. Bail was fixed at eight thousand dollars, and
was furnished by a book-maker. Boyle jumped it.

Caught by Nick Carter in Toledo, he was brought back
to Chicago, buf by some hook or crook escaped prosecu-
tion for the second time.

Then he went to New York, and for a while was inter-
ested in a book at one of the race-tracks. His partner
was one of the rich men of Brooklyn.

About six months before his arrest, he obtained a posi-
tion as book-keeper for Wasman, the Broadway merchant,
and matters seemingly progressed smoothly and satis-
factorily until Boyle met Belle Band, a fascinating young
woman who was a frequenter of the wine-room at Koster
& Bial’s Twenty-third street concert-hall. |

She was a brunette, slender, graceful and worldly-wise.
and Boyle became infatuated with her to an extent that
caused him to neglect both his work and his wife.

The latter stood her husband’s cruel treatment until
forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and then she tearfully
requested him to choose between her and the dashing
brunette.

Boyle chose Belle Brand, and engaged quarters on
Highth avenue, where the pair lived as man and wife
until Mrs. Boyle ferreted them out and caused them
to move.

Their furniture was transferred to rooms on West
Twenty-fifth street, and while they resided there, the
crime for which Boyle was last arrested by Nick Carter,
was committed.

To keep his charmer in a style befitting her beauty and
extravagant tastes, he forged his employer, Wasman’s,
name to checks for large amounts.

Nick Carter concluded his statement by detailing the
measures he had taken to conclusively fix the cr ime
upon the defendant.

The Grand Jury heard other witnesses on wideene ‘of
miner importance, and then found a true bill of indict-
ment against Boyle.

As Nick was leaving the building, he was accosted by
Belle Brand.

“You may get away with the Grand Jury, Mr. Carter,”

she said, with a wicked gleam in her black eyes, “but you au
| won't succeed in landing Jim in prison.”

“You speak as if I were pursuing your lover from mo-
tives of spite,” returned the great detective, coldy.

 

 

 
   

     
   

Se:

ee ee ee ee
Pag AR Se SER
FSS OE OR

 

 

   
 

 

 

  

   

“No. 94 NICK CART

 

ER LIBRARY.

 

 

“Spite, or no spite, Jim will never step his foot inside

_ of Sing Sing.”

“What will prevent him?”

“Circumstances.” 7

And with this enigmatical reply she left him.

Nick smiled as he gazed at her retreating form.
_ “She isa smart one,” he said to himself, “and it will
be well to keep an eye upon her and Jim until after the
trial is over.”

When Boyle heard of the Grand Jury’s action, Belle

Brand was visiting him in his cell.

She had obtained passes of admission to the prison by

' representing to the Commissioners of Charities and Cor-
‘rection that she was the only person in New York who

had a deep and lasting interest in his welfare, and that
she intended to use her best efforts to induce him to plead
guilty to the indictment, and thus save the State further
trouble and expense.

Mrs. Boyle who had not lost her affection for her way-
ward spouse, warned one of the commissioners, whom she
saw, against giving the dangerous and scheming Belle any
such facilities, but the warning was disregarded.

Both women were beautiful, but the brunette from
Koster & Bial’s was the smoother talker of the two.

On being informed of Mrs. Boyle’s action, she quietly
remarked that it was prompted solely by jealousy; and
then she added the information that a woman who had
lived such a life as Mrs. Boyle had in Cincinnati, could
scarcely be regarded as one capable of giving moral
advice.

“It’s going to bea tough game, I’m afraid,” said Jim
Boyle, despondingly, when the news of the indictment
reached him.

“Keep up your spirits,” replied his mistress, with a
glance full of encouragement, “and don’t forget that
while I am on deck the battle is far from lost.”

*‘T wouldn’t feel so down in the mouth, Belle, if that
sleuth, Nick Carter, had not got onto the case. There’s
no let up to the fellow, and he’ll never rest satisfied until
he sees me in Sing Sing.”

‘You’ll never go there,” was the determined response.

“You must have a scheme, then?”— regarding her
<uriously.

‘J have—half a dozen, and circumstances must deter-
mine which one shall be used.”

“Tell me what they are.”

While they conversed, Nick Carter was having a talk
with Warden Fallon.

The latter assured the great detective that every pre-
caution should be taken to prevent Belle Brand from car-
rying out any scheme for her lover’s escape.

A few day’s afterward Boyle’s counsel applied for a re-
duction of bail.

“Tt is five thousand now,” said the prisoner, “and I
ean’t give it; but get it reduced to half that sum and my
friends will dig it up for me.” :

The lawyer’s application before the Tombs magistrate

_ - was refused, owing to representations made to the latter

by the warden and Nick Carter.

Boyle swore a frightful oath when apprised of the fail-
ure and the great detective’s connection with it.

Belle Brand, who was with him—for a week she. had
passed more than half her time in his cell—said some-
thing that chased the angry frown from his face.

“T’ll circumvent that wretch of a detective if I have to’

lips.
“You have my consent to play him any kind of a trick
likely to help me out of this hole,” he quickly responded.

“Pll put the first spoke in his wheel before night
comes,” she said.

That afternoon Boyle’s lawyer appeared before the
Supreme Court in Chambers street, and obtained a writ
against the magistrate, requiring him to show cause on
the following day why the bail reduction should not be
made.

Soon after the issuance of the writ Belle Brand senta
telegram in cipher to one Nellie Stewart of Twentieth
street, Philadelphia.

Next morning, while Nick Carter was at breakfast, a
dispatch sent from the Quaker City was. placed in his
hands by a district messenger boy.

“Have struck Stewart’s trail,” it ran, “and with your
help can catch him, to-night, I think. Come on by next
train if you can.”

It was signed ‘‘ Chick.”

As his assistant had been in Philadelphia for some days,
in pursuit of an escaped convict, Nick very naturally
regarded the dispatch as genuine.

He was a passenger on the late forenoon train, and in
a few hours was in the presence of the brave and faith-
ful Chick.

“Why, what’s brought you to town?” was the latter’s
surprised query, after they had shaken hands.

“Your telegram, of course.”

“My ‘telegram ?”

“Yes. Here it is.

oe No.”

“Then I’ve been tricked—and by a woman.”

The great detective instantly suspected Belle Brand.

The language she had used in their conversation after
Nick had given his testimony before the New York
Grand Jury recurred to him.

She had boldly asserted that Jim Boyle would never
step foot inside of Sing Sing.

The false telegram, then, must be the first move in the
game to outwit the law and the detective.

While Nick, with a frowning face, was telling Chick
what his suspicions were, the newsboys were erying out
the headings of the sensational dispatches sent to the
evening papers.

“ Another train held up on the Texas Pacific—Escape of
Jim Boyle, the notorious forger—Death of——”

The boy got no further, for Nick had suddenly inter-
rupted him.

“Here, give me the Times, quick.”

What he read made his eyes flash ominously.

‘“You’ve taken the first trick, Miss Belle,” he muttered ;
“let us see if you are smart enough to follow up your
hand.” :

Didn’t you send it?”

 

CHAPTER Ii.
A GAME IN THE QUAKER CITY.

While Nick Carter was being whirled over the rails
toward the Quaker City, the case of the People vs. Jim
Boyle, on habeas corpus, was under consideration ae) the
Supreme Court.

During the argument Belle Brand sat beside her lover
with a smile of deep satisfaction on her comely face.

 

 

murder him,” were the words that fell fiercely from her

 

 
     
          
   

BORE RTE EL ETS

  

 

   
4

 

She had sent Nick Carter out of town on a false er rand,
and-she was now revolving in her mind the details of a
daring scheme for her lover’s escape from custody.

“Can Nellie be depended upon to keep Carter away
from the telegraph office when once he discovers that he
has been fooled ?” queried Boyle in a whisper.

“Yes. She is the smartest woman of her age in the
United States.”

“ Barring you, dear.”

“Tam not to be mentioned in the same breath with her.
I am well content to be her pupil.”

“She obeyed your orders so well in regard to the false
dispatch that perhaps she may hoodwink the astute Nick
when he gets to the Quaker City.”

“T am sure she will.”

Their whispering, ceased, for the argument had been
concluded, and the case had been postponed for decision
until two days hence.

Boyle had been brought to the Supreme Judge’s Cham-
bers by William Brown, an assistant keeper at the Tombs.

For five years he had been a faithful servant of the
law, and his integrity had never been questioned.

Fifty years of age, and serious-faced, he would never
have been looked upon as one given to frivolity or dissi-
pation, or likely to be seduced from the paths of virtue
by the wiles of a wicked siren.

And yet Belle Brand had arrived at the conclusion,
after she had cast her dark, languishing eyes upon him,
that he would prove but as putty in her hands when the
time came for her to try conclusions with nim.

Brown was kind-hearted, and that was one point in
favor of her plan.

He had also been favorably impressed bv Jim Boyle’s
handsome face and glib speech; and from the time of the
arrest had been rather of the opinion that evil circum-
stances and not an evil heart had DIOIBROG the commis-
sion of the crime.

When the officer and his prisoner left the Chambers,
Boyle said he would esteem it a great favor if Brown
would permit him to have a few minute’s chat witha
lawyer before going back to prison.

Brown hesitated, but the pleading tones of the fascinat-
ing Belle caused his stern countenance to soften.

“Bristow argued very well, but there are some things
he doesn’t understand,” said Boyle, “and so I’ve a notion
to get another lawyer.”

“There’s one, now,” spoke Belle Brand, suddenly.

Oliver Kean, a well- known attorney, was just then
crossing the street.

Boyle hailed him, and he came over to the group on the
sidewalk.

After a few minutes’ conversation, Belle suggested that
the street was hardly the place to transact important
legal business.

“TLet’s go down to my office,” said Kean.

“Where is it?” asked the woman.

“Corner of Chambers and Centre streets, up stairs.”

Belle’s eyes sparkled in satisfaction.

“All right,” she said, and the party moved along ~
ward the place designated.

On the ground floor was a saloon, with a private room
up stairs communicating with it.

Instead of going into the lawyer’s office, Belle sug-
gested that they occupy the private room.

“Tt is so much cosier,” she argued, ‘‘and besides”—-with
a sympathetic glance at keeper Brown, “we can have a
little refreshment while we are waiting.”

“That suits me,” said Boyle, “for I am as dry as a fish.”

The quartette went up stairs, and entered the private
room.

It was unoccupied.

Hardly had they seated themselves before a waiter ap-
peared.

Belle ordered champagne.

The lawyer withdrew before the sparkling liquor ar-
rived.

On learning that Bristow was already engaged on the
case, he refused to have anything to do with it.
_ Brown rose to his feet as Kean went out of the door.
_ “Come,” he said to Boyle, “we must be going.”

 

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

“Without having a drink ?” protested Belle Brand, in -
voice of pained surprise.
Brown sat down again.
The champagne arrived presently, and all took a drink.
The bottle was soon emptied.
‘Bring us another,” ordered Belle.
When the waiter had gone, she turned her beaming

face on Brown and proposed that they have a dance.

“Go it,” said Boyle, in a jolly voice, “and I’ll whistle a
waltz for you.”

The keeper wag no ascetic.

“Where is the harm,” he thought, “of having a ‘little
fun which costs nothing, and is innocent ?”

Soup he jumped, and grasping the slender waist. of.
Belle, began to spin her around the room. 4

The second bottle of champagne arrived while the ©
officer was in the height of his enjoyment. C

A few more drinks put Brown in a wildly hilarious i.
mood. 3

Having no suspicion that he was being made the dupe .
of a designing woman, he laughed as Joud as Boyle at the
fair Belle’s sallies of coarse wit.

Once, when he held a glass of champagne critically up
to the light, and said the bubbles in it made him mellow,
Miss Brand gave utterance toa ringing laugh, and tickled
his chin with her toe.

“She’s a frisky creature, decidedly,” said Brown to eT

himself, “but there’s nothing very wicked about her,
She is simply tickled almost to death at getting into a
place like this with Jim, where she can have a little fun.”

Never dreaming that the “fun” would eventually be at
his expense, the Tombs officer nodded his gray head rap-
idly when Belle gave the order for more champagne.

Boyle remarked at this juncture that it wasn’t often that
a Tombs prisoner was treated as well as he was being
treated.

“You’re a daisy, Brown,” he exclaimed, with enthusi-
astic earnestness, “and you ought to have Fallon’s ee
Let’s see, how long have yoy been keeper ?”

“Hive years.’

“ And what you don’t ae about the sinful side of

mankind isn’t worth knowing, eh?”

“T ought to bea pretty good judge of human nature by
this time, I think,” was the reply, made with semi-maud- —
lin dignity.

“So you had, and I’m glad you don’t
an out-and-out criminal.”

“ You’re not a saint, I’m afraid,” returned Brown, with —
a sad shake of the head and a wink in Belle Brand’s di-
rection.

“No, and yet——”

“And yet he’s not the scamp they charge him with be-
ing,” pyt in the brunette, with one of her most captivat-
ing smiles.
| “Tf you want my opinion,” said Brown, putting on a
judicial air, ‘‘I’ll give it to you.”

“Before we hear it,” rejoined the brunette, “let me

look upon me as

show you a little trick I learned when I was across the Dee 3

big pond last year.’
Jim Boyle wore a silk hat.

Removing it from his head, the frisky Belle stood on ae fF

chair and hung it on the chandelier.

“That’s no trick,” grumbled the keeper, when che i

stepned down.

“Perhaps not; but this is.”

As she spoke she gave evidence of her ability as a high
kicker by sending the hat flying across the room.

Brown applauded uproariously. Ce
The last champagne order was disposed of, and the fae
laughed and sang, and made merry in a@ manner that ~
caused the habitues of the saloon underneath to wink at ~
one another in enjoyable understanding of the situation. —

Miss Brand presently suggested that they light the gas,
pull down the blinds, and have another bottle. ~

Ti was not what she said in making this suggestion, but

it was the way in which she said it that made the cham- _
pagne-excited keeper promptly jump to his feet and start
for the window. o
While he was occupied with the blind Jim Boyle whik
pered a few words into Belle’s ear, and then- disappeared
noiselessly through the door. a

 
 
   

 

 

    

i. NICK CARTER LIBRARY. 5

 

<—

Brown turned in time to see his prisoner’s coat tails
vanishing down the stairs.

The sight instantly sobered him, for it is a penal offense
to let a prisoner escape.

If Boyle got away, all of Brown’s faithful service might
be wiped out in a moment.

That was a dear price to pay for a little wine and some
high kicking.

With a fierce oath the keeper sprang forward, and es-
gayed to reach the fugitive before he could gain the street.

But he met with an obstruction in the presence of the
slender, but resolute Belle.

With the fury of a tigress she leaped upon him just as
he was about to leave the room.

Her arms encircled his neck like clasps of iron.

“You sha’n’t catch him—I’ll strangle you first,” she
cried, fiercely.

Brown tried to throw her off, but the amount of wine
he had drunk prevented him from exerting all his natural
strength.

As for the woman, what she had imbibed had been as
nothing to one who for fifteen years had drank it oftener
than water.

The struggle was a prolonged and desperate one.

With teeth and nails she resisted the keeper, now
throwing the weight of ber body against his, now biting
the fingers that clutched her wrists and tried to throw
her off, and now scratching the flesh from his face, by
the fierce vehemence of her determination.

When Brown at last managed to work himself free
from her clutches, he:was so greatly exhausted that he
could but feebly stagger down the stairs to the bar-room.

His inquiry then elicited the disheartening informaticn
that Jim Boyle had darted out on the street five minutes
before.

The disgruntled keeper did the best he could under the
circumstances.

He kicked over a pail in which a new bottle of cham-
pagne was cooling, and told Belle Brand that she was his
prisoner.

“That’s all right, Brown,” she composedly answered.

Flushed and panting, but withal triumphant, she walked
by the keeper’s side to the Tombs police court.

The keeper’s statement was given, and she was com-
mitted to the Tombs for examination.

Detectives scoured the city’that night for the missing
Boyle.

But they did not find him.

Brown was suspended, pending examination, for his
dereliction of duty.

At the hearing some days afterward he was dismissed
from his position.

When Belle Brand was conducted to a cell in the

-_Tombs she thought first of her lover and then of Nick

Carter.

“Tf only Nellie Stewart does her part, all will be well,”
she said to herself.

At that moment Nellie Stewart was trying her best to

-_ agsist the cause of her friends Belle and Jim.
After Nick Carter had read the account of Boyle’s
escape he turned to Chick with the grim remark :
“There’s one way to catch the rascal, and I am going
to take it.”
“Want my aid?”
“No; you’re on this Stewart case, and it won’t do to
take you off when you’ve made such a good start.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Chick.
“T am going to send a telegram to Inspector Steers, ad-
_vising him to set Belle Brand at liberty.”
 “Ah,Isee. French tactics with the sharp-witted lit-
tie brunette.”

“Yes. She’s dead in love with handsome Jim, and if
he is released she will proceed immediately to hunt
him up.’

“T believe you.”

“She is shrewd and she is cunning, but she is a woman
and weak. _ Her infatuation for Boyle will make her play
nto our hands.

“T believe Boyle has not yet left New York, and there-
‘ore if Belle Brand is given her freedom immediately on

 

 
  
   
 

 

 

a

   

 

 
 
   
  
  
  
   
     
   
   
 
 

 

 

eceipt of my telegram, and she is shadowed as I shall

eae the arrest of the escaped forger ought to quickly
ollow

“What will you do in the meantime, Nick? Remain
here and await developments, or go on to New York ?”

“IT shall leave for home on the next train. From the
telegraph office I shall go to the railway station, so as to
be on hand, if possible, when Boyle is recaptured.”

The conversation between the two detectives had taken
place in front of a lodging-house on Broad street.

Chick was about to say something in response to Nick’s
last speech when a handsome blonde, with pale face and
an excited manner, stepped outofa door- way close by and
hurriedly accosted them.

“Gentlemen—excuse me—but which of you is Mr.
Carter?”

The great detective looked at her sharply.

She was under thirty, was richly dressed, and her face,
in spite of the agitation which now possessed it, was

‘strikingly beautiful.

As neither answered immediately, she went on in a
pleading voice, while the tears coursed down her cheeks.

~The chief of police told me where I might find you”— ~

addressing Nick—“and gave me such a description of
your personal appearance that I am sure I cannot be
mistaken in supposing that you are the gentleman I am
seeking.”

This singular. statement made Nick stare at her harder ~

than ever.

“My name is Carter,” he said, coldly. “What can I do

for you?”
“You can do me a great favor.”
“Name it.”

‘‘My husband is dying, and wants to see you at once, |

in order to make a confession.”
“What is his name 2?”
“Gibson Stewart.”
Chick now showed some astonishment.
“Then you are Nellie Stewart,” the latter said, quickly

and suspiciously.
“Yes; I am that unfortunate and misguided man’s -

wife,” was the answer, sobbingly given.

“Where is your husband ?” Nick Carter asked.

‘*At a house not far from the Delaware River. Oh, Mr.
Carter, you will come, will you not?”

She clasped her hands and gave him a look that would
have gone to any honest and sympathetic man’s heart.

Nick was both honest and sympathetic.

But he was also an experienced student of human
nature.

The woman might be acting.

He had heard her spoken of as one of the supe danger-
ous women in the country.

“What do you say, Chick?”—turning to his assistant
with a look of perplexity.

“T say it is a queer go,” was Young Hercules’ enig- -

matical answer.
“So it is.”
At this moment Nellie Stewart espied a tall, oan well-

dressed man, who was just getting into a buggy afew |

steps down the street.

She gave a glad cry, and called out quickly :

“Doctor, one moment, pléase.”

The man stopped and looked at her inquiringly.

“That is Doctor Hastings, who was been attending my
husband,” she said hastily to Nick, “and he is now going
out to see his patient for the last time.” :

The great detective had heard of Doctor Hastings and
knew him by sight.

He was one of the most reputable physicians in

Philadelphia.

“Will you go now?” she continued, eagerly, as Nick
hesitated.

“Veg,” was his prompt reply.

“Very well; I will ask the doctor to take me along
with him in his buggy, and you can follow us in a con-
veyance of your own. There’s a cab—there, at the cor-
ner,” she added, pointing.

‘““That’s fair and straight, Nick,” said the great detect-
ive’s assistant.

“Tt seems so.”

“Then let us.see this thing out.”

  
NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

: No. 94, x

 

 

“T’m agreeable.”

Nellie Stewart smiled her pleasure at the determination
ot the two detectives, and then hurried to the side of
Doctor Hastings.

A few whispered words and he assisted her into his
buggy. :

Nick and Chick followed them in a cab.

And now ensued a game of a most interesting

description.

CHAPTER III.
IN A DEN OF THIEVES.

While Nick Carter, in New York, had been keeping a
sharp eye on Jim Boyle, in order, if possible, to prevent
the escape of Gold Dollar Jim before the doors of Sing
Sing had closed on him for a long term of years, Chick,
in Philadelphia, had been engaged on a still hunt for a
noted criminal who had actually escaped.

The man was Gibson Stewart, one of the most danger-
ous thugs of the Quaker City, whose’ specialty for years
had been drugging strangers at night, and then robbing
them,

Arrested at last, he had been sentenced to the Eastern
Penitentiary for five years, and might have remained
there for the full period but for an order requiring his
production at the Court of Quarter Sessions at Philadel-
phia, to be sentenced on an old bill.

The person who procured the court order to this effect
was no other than the prisoner’s wife, who stated when
she made her application that Stewart had threatened to
kill her when his five years’ sentence should have been
served, that she now both hated and feared him, and
therefore desired, by raking up an old crime, to so add
to his term of imprisonment that he would be an old man
when it was served.

Nellie Stewart was a close friend of Belle Brand, and
Nellie’s success with her Quaker City strategem—which
was aimed, not to keep her husband longer in prison, but
to give him his liberty—had been. so pronounced that she
had advised Belle to try asimilar scheme to effect Boyle’s
escape from custody.

Gibson Stewart was taken from the prison for the pur- |

pose of answering in court by Warden Cass and a trusted
keeper.

The trio left Cherry Hill bright and early one morning,
and walked to Twentieth street and Fairmount avenue,
where they bcarded a car that runs past the City Hall.

The prisoner was not handcuffed, and other passengers
could not tell which was the convict and which the:
keeper.

Near the door sat a handsome beardless youth, whose |
large violet eyes were turned more than once on Stewart
as the car proceeded on its journey.

This boy was Nellie Stewart in disguise.

When the car reached Broad street the party started.
to alight.

{ witted wife of his to help him out.

 

The warden was the first to step off the platform.

Stewart followed, but when he reached the platform he |
sprang off the opposite side of the car, and rushed up!
Broad street.

He was younger and more active than the warden, and |
had the best of the race from the start.

If the keeper who had accompanied the warden had
been able to join in the pursuit in time, he might have
succeeded in overhauling the fugitive, for he was both
young and fleet.

But Nellie Stewart stopped hirn as he was about to leap
from the platform by playing the same game that Belle
Brand played in New York.

Flinging her arms around tle warden’s assistant, she
. clung to him so tenaciously that a few minutes elapsed
‘before he was able to enter upon the pursuit.

He would nave taken her into custody but for his de-
sire to recapture Stewart.

 

The latter left Broad street after running a short dis-
tance, and dashing into Cuthbert street, along-side of the
- Masonic Temple, was soon lost sight of.

After the chase and search had proved fruitless, Cass
reported the escape at the City Hall.

The next day the chief of police was visited by one of
Stewart’s victims, a wealthy bachelor who had _ been
knocked down and robbed, one night after he had been
taking in the sights.

“T want that man retaken and made to serve out his

sentence,” he said, firmly.

“We are doing our best to find him,” was the quiet
reply.
“T know that, but, chief, your best will. not rout him
out of his place of concealment. I know the rascal, and
he is as cunning as a fox. Besides, he has that keen-
You have the whole
city of Philadelphia to guard and look out for, and there-
fore you can’t possibly give to this affairs of Stewart’s the

attention it reqiures.”

‘“Perhaps you had better employ a private detective,”
suggested the chief, who was somewhat nettled by the
man’s remarks.

“You get the detective and I will pay the bills,” said
Stewart’s victim, quickly.

The chief looked thoughtfully at the floor.

The man before him had touched upon the truth.

The criminal business of the Quaker City had increased
greatly within the past month, and with the limited force
at his command, the chief had been obliged to work
over hours in order to cover the ground.

“Yes,” he said, as much to himself? as to the wealthy
bachelor, “T think you had better get some good detect-
ive, and if you will take my advice——”

“Your advice.is what I want.”

“You will send to New York for the man.”

“Can’t you trust the detectives of Philadelphia, or are
they lacking in skill?”

“They are lacking in nothing, but, unfor tunately, they
are all well known to Gib Stewart, disguised or not.” "=

‘Too bad.”

“Yes, itis, and yet”—with a pause—“‘and yet, if you
can get hold of either Nick Carter or his assistants Chick |
or Wick, it would not prove to be bad in the end. On the
contrary, either one would find your man if he is on top —
of the ground.” a

“Will you send for one of them for me?” asked the : -

other, eagerly. a
: Yes: I will write to Superintendent Byrnes to-day. oe
“Tami in a hurry to have something done. Why not

telegraph? Remember, I will bear all expenses.” — a
VA wal? re
The telegram was sent, and Nick being otherwise en- —

gaged at the time, sent Chick to undertake the search for —

the escaped convict. ie
Young Hercules had obtained several good clews dur-

‘Ing the week that intervened between his arrival in —
Philadelphia and the coming of Nick, but in every in-

stance had been baffled while attempting to follow
them up. a
He quickly made up his mind that Stewart had some
cunning-brained friend who was actively working in fe
interest. e
The day before Nick arrived he had come to the con-
clusion that Nellie Stewart was that friend.
And now he was on his way with Nick to meet Gib

‘Stewart at Nellie’s own appointment.

Several blocks had been traversed, and the buggy con

| taining the doctor and Nellie Stewart had just turned s

corner when Chick said to Nick:

“T've got an idea.”

“What is it?”
“There is no reason why both of us. should go to the :

house.”

“Perhaps not. Well?”

“She only wanted you to come, Nick.”

“That’s so.”

“Then I reckon I’d better get out and play a little
game of my own while you are taking down the avin
man’s confession.”

“ All right.”

“By the way, Nick, what has he got to confess tha
will be of importance to you, I wonder?” co

“T give it up.” :

\ Queer arrangement, the whole Vee. is, eh ” L

On ea

 
 

 

 

 

 

NICK CARTER LIBRARY..

   

 

 

 

‘Just suppose that you shouldn’t find Stewart?”

ul have thought of that,” returned Nick, quietly.

In such an event, my being on the outside piping
off the whole outfit—doctor, woman and detective, to
say nothing of Stewart, sick or well—might not be a bad
move.”

“It will be an excellent one, Chick.”

“So I thought.”

The cab was stopped before it reached the corner, and
Young Hercules got out.

‘She'll never know that I’m not with you until you get
to the house by the river,” said Chick, at parting.

That was where Nick’s valiant assistant was in error.

The cabman was in her pay and in turning the corner
he made her ‘a certain sign which she, looking back from
the buggy, which was an open one, at once saw and cor-
rectly interpreted.

The doctor observed her smile of satisfaction as she
turned her face toward him the next minute, and nodded
his head understandingly. .

‘‘Only one to tackle, now, eh?” he said, in a tone of
familiarity.

“Only one, Hank.”

“ And that one is Carter, I suppose?”

66 Yes.”

“Well, I think I will be able to do him up,” was the
doctor’s confident reply.

“Tf you need help, you know who will be on hand to
give it.”

“Yes, the dying convict.”

He laughed lightly and winked at her.

Nellie Stewart returned the wink.

Nick Carter neither saw nor suspected what was going
on in the buggy.

But he was destined shortly to have his eyes opened to
the truth. ;

The buggy, after many turns, finally stopped at a large,
two-storied building of many windows on one of the
small streets running from Germantown avenue to the
Delaware.

It was now about dusk. -

Nellie Stewart alighted without help, and her compan.
ion, who was heavily built, stepped out just about the
time Nick did. ‘

Ina few words the great detective informed the es-
caped convict’s wife that Chick (whom he did not name,
but alluded to as his friend) had left the cab a short dis-
tance out, and had gone back to his business,

“T wanted him to come with me,” added Nick, unblush-
ingly—for deception was often necessary in dealing with
the crooked fraternity —‘“ but he couidn’t spare the time.”

Nellie Stewart expressed her regrets and then turned to
enter the small hall at the foot of the stairs leading to the
second story.

The lower floor was not occupied, and most of the win-
dows were broken.

The doctor followed her, and Nick brought up in the
rear.

They ascended the stairs, made two or three turns, and
finally came to a room at the back.

It was at the end of a long corridor.

Opening the door the woman entered a room in which
a light was burning.

It was poorly furnished, and smelled of whisky.

On a bed in a corner was a man whose face only could
be seen, the rest of his body being covered with blankets.

He groaned as Nellie Stewart entered, and querulously
asked her if she had brought the man.

“Nick Carter ?”

rT VYeq.”’

“Of course I have, dear. Did you ever know me to fail
at anything I had set my mind on?”

“No,” he feebly returned, and raising a pair of blood-
shot eyes to her face, “I don’t know as I can call to mind
anv failures at the present time.”

Dr. Hastings approached the bed, hat in hand.

“How are you feeling, Stewart?” he asked in a profes-
sional tone. *

“Miserably, doctor. I sha’n’t live through the night.”
“nt, tat, don’t talk of dying while you are able to talk
and see and hear.” :

“And drink, too, eh?”

_ “Yes, drink. And I perceive that you have been drink-
ing more whisky than was necessary for your health Jur-
ing my absence.”

‘‘T had to drink, doc, to kill the blve devils. But say,”
—raising himself on an elbow with apparent difficulty,
and glancing at Nick Carter, who stood in the middle of
the room with his mind filled with doubts and suspicions
—“is that the detec?”

Nick quickly responded.

‘‘T am the man you sent for.”

“Good. Come here and I’ll tell you something.”

“Your voice is pretty good yet,” rejoined the great-de-
tective, coolly, “and therefore what’s the matter with
your telling me while I keep my present position.”

‘“Tt’s a secret.”

“Then let your wife and the doctor leave the room.”

Stewart sank back on his pillow with a sigh. ;

“You ought to humor the crochets: of a dying man,”
observed the doctor seriously. ‘‘What harm can possibly
result in your doing as he requests?”

“What harm can result in his doing as I request?” re-
torted Nick.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and turned to the
man in bed.

“We will go out,” said Nellie Stewart, after a pause,
during which she and the doctor exchanged glances.

“Go out,” grunted the convict faintly, ‘but don’t leave
the corridor.”

‘““We won’t, Gib,” said his wife, tenderly.

She stooped over and kissed him, and then whispered
these words rapidly into his ear.

“Got the pepper handy ?”

He nodded his head and she turned to go.

“One moment,” interrupted Nick, quietly, but firmly,
“on second thought, we may conduct this business with-
out either of you having to leave the room.”

“How so?” queried the doctor, in surprise.

“T will leave the room myself.”

With these strange words the great detective drew a
revolver and placed himself so that he could face the
doctor and the woman as well as the conviet on the bed.

There was dead silence for a moment. }
* Then Nellie Stewart’s voice was heard.

“Have you taken leave of your senses, sir?’ she de-
manded, in finely simulated indignation.

“No; I have come to my senses, rather.”

“What do you mean, then?”

“ Just this,” replied Nick, coolly. “You have concocted
avery pretty scheme to get me into a trap, but 1t is not
going to work.”

Gib Stewart sat up in bed and stared hard at the
audacious detective.

“You've got a heap of gall,” he exclaimed, in the voice
of a hale, hearty man, “to come here and make such in-
sinuations as that.”

Nick calmly ignored this speech.

Still addressing Nellie Stewart, he said:

“Your husband is no more a dying man than I am, and
you knew it when you told me your peculiar tale on the
street, and asked me to come here.”

“Perhaps you will be saying next.” the woman angrily
rejoined, “that Doctor Hastings is a fraud and a party
to the alleged conspiracy.”

Nick’s reply came instanter, and with a boldness and
confidence that» made the villainous trio regard him in
blank astonishment.

“T do say he is a fraud, or else he would have known
that his patient was not a sick man.” :

“Why don’t you. say at once that he is not Doctor
Hastings?” jeered Nellie Stewart, who had quickly recov-
ered from her surprise.

No sooner had the words left her lips than the great
detective sprang suddenly forward, and seizing tke al-

 

leged doctor by the beard, gave a quick jerk. downwerd.
Off came the hirsute appendage, revealing a smooth-
shaven chin.
Nick’s movement had. been so rapidly executed that
the Lozus doctor had not been able to lift a hand to pre-
vent the removal of his facial disguise.

 

 

 

 

 
 
   

8 ~ NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

No. 94.

 

 

But with a fierce oath he essayed to draw a pistol,

eo
‘Drop your hands,” came Nick’s stern utterance, “or
Tl] shoot you dead in your tracks.”

The villain obeyed the command with a growl of rage.

“Tf you will repeat the question vou asked a moment
ago,’ said the great detective, suavely, as he kept the
three conspirators within the range of his vision, “T will
now endeavor to answer it.’

Nellie Stewart bit her Jips in wrath, but made no reply.

“Very well,” continued Nick, composedly, “I will
answer it, anyhow. You asked me why I did not say at
once that the man beside you is not Doctor Hastings. I
was not ready, then. I am now.”

“Oh, cheese it, won’t you?” snarled Gib Stewart, who
was sitting up with one hand doubled up and the other
covering it; ‘“‘and let’s come toan understanding How
much do you want to quit the case and say nothing?”

“Vl let Big Hank Mugford set the price, and then [ll

consider,” returned Nick as he waved his left hand
toward the man who had _ been personating > Doctor
Hastings.

The latter uttered a savage cry.

He was one of the Quaker City’s most dreaded thugs,
and was wanted on several charges of robbery.

He had not counted on his identity being discovered.

“Let him have it,” he yelled, “it’s all or nothing, now.”

CHAPTER IV.
THE FORGER FALLS INTO A TRAP.

As Big Hank uttered the words, he grasped Nellie
Stewart by the arm and swung her in front of him.

His design was evidently to make the woman a shield
against the detective’s pistol attack.

Simultaneously with Big Hank’s movement, the escaped
convict threw the blankets aside and jumped to the floor,
and the hand that had been doubled up, opened suddenly
and then shot forward.

But Nick Carter was not to be blinded by red pepper
on that day.

Anticipating this or some similar action on the part of
Gib Stewart, the great detective ducked his head in the
nick of time and the pepper missed him and struck the
window at his back.

All three of his enemies were stzll in front of him, and
his quick eye no sooner saw the barrel of a pistol show
itself under’Nellie Stewart’s arm than he sprang to one
' gide, and then with all his force, and with unerring aim,
flung his own weapon at Big Hank’s head.

As the burly ruffian sank to the floor, bleeding and
dazed, Nick proceeded to pay his respects to Gib Stewart.

The latter had drawn a~pistol immediately upon the
failure of the red pepper attack, and as Nick threw him-
self upon Stewart, the pistol cracked and the bullet
whizzed past the detective’s ear.

A furious struggle followed, but Nick was getting the
upper hand of his adversary when Nellie Stewart at-
tacked him from behind.

Flinginzg her arms about his neck she squeezed him so
hard that he was obliged for the moment to cease his
operations on the escaped convict, and turn to his new
assailant.

Gib Stewart, who had had a sufficient exhibition of the
great detective’s sand and ability, rushed for the window
when he found himself loose.

Raising the sash quickly, he gave a leap and landed
on the gravel of the back yard a dozen feet below.

The shock brought him to his hands and knees.

' Before he could rise, something heavy descended upon
his back and he was flattened out and rendered tempo-
rarily unconscious.

The something was the body of Nick Carter.

The noise made by Stewart in raising the window
aroused Nick’s combative ire.

He tore himself loose from'the savage blonde’s grasp,
and snrang for the window just as Stewart went flying
out of it.

Without a second’s hesitation, Nick followed.

 

Nellie Stewart appeared at the window a moment later

with the lamp in her hand.

A look of terror came into her eyes when she saw
neither husband nor detective in the yard.

Hither Nick. Carter had dragged his victim toward the
sidewalk, or had taken him into one of the lower rooms
of the house. :

Hurrying down stairs with Big Hank, who had now
recovered, close at her heels, she found that her last sup-
position was the correct one.

Nick had no desire to make his back a target fer pistol
practice from the window above, and so he had dragged
the insensible form of the convict to one of the lower
rooms, the door of which happened to be open.

He had just handcuffed Stewart when the woman and
Big: Hank rushed in upon him.

Nellie Stewart still held the lamp, and as soon as_ her
eyes fell upon her enemy, she shouted fiercely to her
companion,

“Kill him, Hank—quick.”

The bogus doctor fired upon the words, but the bullet
went through Nick’s hat without grazing his head.

In another instant the detective, who had previously
Hee scaned himself of Gib Stewart’s pistol, fired at the

amp.

There was a crash, 2 scream, the light went out and the
room was in darkness.

In the confusion that Nick’s unexpected act had thrown
the villainous pair, he might have made his escape by
the door.

But he had no idea of leaving the place, Aller having
captured the escaped convict.

His blood was up and he resolved to arrest both the
woman and Big Hank, if possible.

Stepping noiselessly to the back door, by which he had
entered, he closed and looked it.

The click of the bolt as it shot forward was the cue for
a pistol-shot.

But Nick was crouched low on the floor when the bullet
was discharged.

The next instant he crept forward toward his enemies,
the flash of the weapon having determined their positions.

A second shot was fired when he was within a few feet
of Big Hank.

Before the report died away, Nick had lifted the burly

ruffian and flung him with such force against the side of -

the room that the frame shook and the plastering cracked.

His arm was around Nellie: Stewart’s waist and his
hand was over her mouth before she.could make a move-
ment in her own or her companion’s defense.

“T shall be obliged to use harsh measures with you, my
lady,” came Nick’s low, determined voice, “and though
Iam very sorry to doit, you well know that you deserve
to be treated as roughly as I have treated the men whose
brutal manners you ape.”

She could say nothing, of course, with Nick’s hand over

her mouth, but her form trembled with suppressed rage.

Believing that he had a moment or so to spare before

Big Hank could recover from the fal] that had been given |

him, Nick proceeded quickly and skillfully to bind Nellie
Stewart, hand and foot.

She kicked and struggled, and did her best to prevent .

the detective from carrying out his intention, but all in
vain.

The great detective’s grasp was firm and she had to
submit.

When he had succeeded in rendering her powerless for
harm, he produced his bulls-eye lantern, lighted it, and
flashed the rays in Big Hank’s direction.

The burly thug was lying in the corner where he had
been hurled, breathing heavily and with his eyes closed.

With a grim smile Nick approached him, and with
more cords soon placed the bogus doctor in the situation
occupied by the cunning and vixenish wife of Gib
Stewart.

‘This task accomplished, Nick placed the lantern on the.

floor, sat down beside it and took a few moments needed
rest.
He had done a good evening’s work.

An attempt had been made to entrap him, by three of

the shrewdest and most dangerous criminals in Phila-

>

       
  

  
  
 
 

   
  

     

 
 

 

 

 

 

=

-_ hate Nick Carter any more than I do.”

 

tween us we could easily manage them.”

vindictive Nellie said:

peace and prosperity.”

No 94.

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

   

9

 

_delphia, and the capture of the conspirators had resulted.

But to remove the trio to the city prison, the great
detective must have help.
“I wish Chick was here,” said Nick to himself, “for be-

Putting his fingers to his lips, he gave a long, sharp
whistle.

It was a signal that Chick understood and would an-
swer if he were anywhere in the neighborhood.

A moment’s silence, and then a faint whistle was
heard, not from the outside, but from some of the apart-
ments up Stairs.

Nick whistled again.

The answer came immeédiately, this time louder and
nearer at hand.

‘“Tt’s Chick,” thought the great detective, “and he is at
the window up stairs from which I leaped.”

Hurrying to the door he called out softly :

‘“Who’s there ?”

“Me,” said a voice in a whisper, from over his head.

“Who are you?”

oChick.”

“Speak louder.”

“‘Won’t do,” was the answer, still in a whisper, “for
there’s danger in the air.”

Nick hastily ducked his head.

He anticipated that the man up stairs was not his faith-
ful assistant.

“Come down here,” he said as he closed the door, “and
be quick about it.”

= Albright.”

Nick could hear the man’s steps as he left the window,
and then he prepared to give the new-comer a warm re-
ception in case he should prove to be an enemy and nota
friend.

The stairs by which the latter would have to descend
in order to reach the room where Nick and _ his prisoners
were located, terminated in a corridor a few feet from
the door by which Big Hank and Nellie Stewart had
entered.

Down came the new-comer with a soft, stealthy tread
that the great detective did not like.

When he reached the bottom stair Nick stepped out and
flashed the rays of the lantern in the man’s face. It was
not Chick, but an individual whose arrest was worth
more to the detective than a dozen Gib Stewarts or Big
Hanks.

It was Jim Boyle!

 

CHAPTER V.

A STROKE OF BAD LUCK.

While the details of Jim Boyle’s escape were being ar-
ranged by Belle Brand, in New York, a letter had come
to the forger’s mistress from Nellie Stewart in Philadel-
phia, in answer to one written by Belle a few days before.

After detailing the manner of Gib Stewart’s escape and
advising Belle to take points therefrom, the scheming,

“The assistant of Nick Carter is here working on Gib’s
case, and I expect the terrible Nick himself will show up
before long. Now, these detectives are your enemies as
well as mine, and as long as they live and the men we
love are out of jail, so long will they be a menace to our

“She’s right,” commented the reader, “and she can’t

“IT have thought, the matter over, Belle,” the letter
went on, “and have come to the conclusion that we must
down Nick Carter and his assistant, Chick. Every crook
in the Union will rejoice if we succeed in putting these
two devils out of the way.

“When Jim-gets out of quod, as he will if you do your
part half as well as I did mine, send him to Philadelphia
and to me. Nick Carter will either be here by then, or
will follow Jim, which will amount to the same thing.

 

Follow him if you can.

- to get along without you.”

If anything prevents, we will try !

The letter concluded with some instructions regarding
the plot, which were afterward carried out to the letter.

When Nick Carter was lured to Philadelphia in pur-
suance of Belle Brand’s plan to keep him out of New
York on the day fixed for Boyle’s escape, Nellie Stewart
felt that fate was playing into her hands in a most signal
manner.

In the bactle to come between the forces of evil and the
forces of good it would be four against two: herself, Gib
Stewart, Big Hank, and Jim Boyle against Nick Carter
and Chick.

Arriving in Philadelphia on the late afternoon train,
Boyle haa gone immediately to the rendezvous near the
Delaware.

When he heard Nick Carter’s whistle he had been a few *
moments in the up stairs room, which he had reached .by
a stair-way on the side.

He answered it without knowing whether it came from
friend or foe.

But when the whistler demanded his name in a voice
that was neither Big Hank’s nor Stewart’s, he rightly
guessed that he was Nick Carter.

By answering that™he was Chick he thought he had

made a masterly move.

He discovered his error when the lantern’s light flashed
on his face at the foot of the stairs.

For a moment he stood as if stupefied.

Then he said resignedly, as the click, click, of the de-
tective’s pistol was heard :

“ You’ve called the turn on me this pop, I’m afraid.”

“I think so. When you have shed your weapons I may
express a more decided opinion.”

Boyle threw down a knife and pistol on the floor.

As he did so a low, peculiar rapping sound was heard
from the room where Nick had left his three prisoners.

The escaped forger pricked up his ears as the meaning
of the sound became revealed to him. :

Nellie Stewart had beena telegraph operator at one
time, and she knew that he understood the alphabet.

She was now rapping out slowly the following di-
rections :

“Make no fight, but keep the detective where he is as
long as you can. We'll rescue you in good time.”

While the telegraphing was going on Nick Carter was
eying his victim closely, but apparently was not paying
particular attention to the rappings, for he said care-
lessly, when Nellie had finished :

“Rats, I reckon.”

“Yes,” replied Boyle, eagerly.

“Tf IT owned this house I’d set traps for them.”

“So would I.”

Nick had another pair of handcuffs and a few more
pieces of cord, and when he had fastened the bracelets
about Boyle’s wrists, and had tied his ankles, he took
up the subject of the “rats” again.

“T think I’ll try to have some fun with them to-night.”

“Whom ?”

“The rats.”

ee Oh.”

Boyle looked dubiously at the great detective.

“You'll have to help me, though,” continued Nick.

66 How 9?

“T’ll show you.” .

This latter conversation had been carried on in
whispers.

Nick had lowered his voice for a purpose.

He did not want Nellie Stewart or her companions to
hear what was said.

When he remarked, “I’l] show vou,” he clapped a gag
in his prisoner’s mouth and quickly secured it.

“Now,” he whispered, “I'll start in on my campaign
against the rats. Nellie has released herself and is now
at work, probably, in setting Big Hank free. I’ll soon
know if Iam right in my conjecture.”

Then, with a series of raps which produced, to Jim
Boyle’s.astonishment, an intelligent sequence of dots and
dashes, Nick telegraphed the following to Nellie Stewart:

“The detec is tying me up, what are you doing?”

The answer came back quickly :

“Trying to put some life into Big Hank.”

“What ails him?”

 

 
10

N 10K CA RTER LIBRARY,

 

 

“Nick Carter knocked him out—cracked his skull, Pm
afraid.”

‘'W here’s Gib ?”

‘Gib’s in a worse fix.”

“Was he knocked out, too?”

“Yes, and he won’t answer when I whisper to him.”

“But you’re all right, aren’t you?”

‘You bet.” :

“Then make a sneak around the house and come in
at the front door and help me out.”

* All right.”

The telegraphing ceased, and at that moment Nick
spoke in his ordinary voice and with assumed severity.

“You can’t fool me with your rappings, Jim Boyle.
You have been telegraphing to Nellie Stewart. I can’t
read the raps, but I’ll stop your little game just the
same.”

With these words Nick opened the door and saw by the
lantern’s light that the woman had gone.

“She will go around to the front,” he said to himself,
“and entering the corridor where Jim Boyle is, will try
to release him while I am presumably outside looking for
her.”

To further carry out the scheme he prepared for get-
ting the better of the dangerous blonde, Nick closed the
door behind him, but did not spring the latch.

A moment later the front door was heard to open:
softly, and Nellie Stewart entered the hall-way and passed
quickly on to the corridor.

She could see nothing in the darkness, but the silence
encouraged her.

Her enemy had discovered her absence from the room
where she had been lett bound and helpless, and had gone
in search of her.

Good. That was precisely what she wanted.

When within a few feet of the stair-way at the foot of
which Boyle lay gagged and handcuffed, she heard a low,
muffled groan. .

She stopped and craned her heard forward, and listened
for a repetition of the sound.

When it came she was seized with a suspicion. that her
crafty plot had been divined.

“Ts that you, Jim?” she whispered.

An inarticulate, gurgling sound was the answer.

Another woman, equally brave and shrewd, ‘would
have retreated at this apparent confirmation of her fears.

But Nellie Stewart was a stanch friend as well asa
bitter enemy.

In spite of the danger of the proceeding, she resolutely
determined to know exactly what had happened, and, if
possible, to assist Gold Dollar Jim in his extremity.

As she stooped by his side and felt the cold steel of the
handcuffs on his wrists, and the cords about his ankles,
she uttered a cry of dismay.

The worst had indeed happened.

Upon the utterance of the cry Nick Carter opened the
door and pointed a pistol at her bead.

“You have given me considerable trouble this evening,”
he said, sternly, “and it is time that I put an end to your
capers.”

She looked at him with terror-dazed eyes.

‘‘VYou—you don’t intend to kill me, do you?” she
gasped.

Nick maintained an expression of gravity as he replied :

“Why shouldn’t I kill you? You would have killed
me if you had got the chance.”

She said no more, but bowed her head and tightly
closed her lips.

At that moment she half bxpected that Nick Carter
would send a bullet crashing through her evil brain;
for to her guilty mind his success that evening, in spite
of the obstacles that had been arrayed against him, must
mean that he had in some way learned of the plot hatched
against his life.

As she lowered her eyes the great detective caught her
wrists.

Then raised her in his arms for the purpose of carrying
her to the room from which she had. escaped.

But the instant he stepped across the threshold the butt
of a pistol descended on his head, and he was stretched

senseless on the floor.

 

- Ag he fell his assailant drew Nellie Stowe: from
nerveless arms.
“It took me some time to get there,” he said to the

rescued blonde, “but I {fetched up in good stylewheuIl

did. Kh, old girl?”
YOu bet, Hank.”

CHAPTER VI.

CHICK’S SURPRISING ADVENTURE.

As has been stated in a previous chapter, the cabman
who drove Nick Carter to the thieves’ rendezvous was in
the employ of Nellie Stewart.

He was an ex-convict, and in his time had been a dan-
gerous crook. a

-Coming out of prison after a sentence of ten years, ve
had pretended reformation, and gaining the sympathy
of some of the benevolent ‘rich of Philadelphia, had in-
duced them to start him in the cab business.

He had flourished from the start, for he at once had the
information circulated in certain fast circles, and also
among the fraternity of crooks, that he was open to any
kind of night engagements that could be made profitable
to him.

Big Mouth Bill was the only name he was knewn by
outside of the police- force, and it was his boast that he
could talk faster, swear harder, and eat more than any
man of his weight and inches in the Quaker City.

Cunning Nellie Stewart had anticipated the very move
that Chick had made, and had taken her
accordingly.

The cabman had received instructions to drive Nick to
the house, and then keep an eye on Chick,

If the young detective should seek to enter the house
Big Mouth Bill was to prevent it, if he could.

If not, he wat to give the alarm in a certain way.

The cabman saw Nick and the two conspirators enter

the house, and then he started to drive back over the - i.

route he had just traversed.
When a block from the house he saw Chick ube
along the sidewalk.

Big Mouth. Bill reined up his horses and beckoned to —_

the young detective.
Chick started for the cab, but. before he reached it a
runaway horse attached to an empty wagon, dashed

around the corner near by, and was on the brave fellow : i:

before he had time to gain a position of safety.
He was hurled to the hard pavement, to be picked up a.
few minutes later, bleeding and senseless.

Big Mouth Bill remained on the spot until a policeman _ e
came up and ordered that the injured man be takento

Wills’ Hospital, on Cherry street.

Bill’s cab was selected for this purpose, as it was the a
only one standing near, and the tool of Nellie Stewart —
had the evil satisfaction of seeing Chick consigned to ~

the accident ward as one who was suffering from a severe
concussion of the brain. ‘i

That evening, the cabman went to the rendezvousand _
reported what had happened. ‘

Nellie Stewart clapped her hands in malevolent glee.

“Tf he doesn’t die, we will do him up when he comes
out,” she said, gr imly, to her husband.
_ “If he gets well, he won't be able to leave the hospital.
for a month,” said Big Mouth Bill.

“Who says so?” asked Jim Boyle.

‘‘The dcetor in charge.”

This was a lie.

The cabman had not spoken a word with the doctor, | _

but was simply giving his own opinion on the subject. ee

And it did his black heart good to convey such pleasing
news to the trio of villains in whose service he had now
enlisted for the campaign.”

“ How’s the other bloke?” be inquired after a pause.

“Who?” said Nellie; “ Nick Carter?” , |

66 Yes. 9

“He’s all right.” -

“Croaked ?”

 

measures .
  
  
    
 

 

 

  
   
    
  

  

 
  
  
 

 

_ with decision.

- Hank, the two crooks found disguises.

 
  

 

 

 
   

NICK CARTER LIBRARY. 1}

 

 

We haven’t decided in what way to send him

“Stick a kuife into him is the easiest way, and the}
thing is done in a second,” suggested Big Mouth Bill. |

“He sha’n’t have an easy death,” hissed the female’
fiend. “When he quits this earth it will be after he has'|
passed through a period of suffering that will make bis)
hair curl and his heart shrivel, when he hears what it is.”

“Tve got it,” exclaimed the cabman in savage stisfac-
tion. “The very thing for a million dollars.”

‘*What is it,” queried Gib Stewart.

“You remember the raid on the Mafia the chief made
last month?”

“Yes. What then?”

“T was init. Helped the coppers out fora reward.”

Boyle looked at the speaker with an expression of dis-
gust.

“T had a private grudge against the dagoes,” Big Mouth
Bill hurriedly explained, “or I would never have gone
into the game. Well, on the raid we captured the whole
working outfit of the murderin’ society. Every article
was taken to the police station but one, and that one I
collared.”

“What was it?” queried Nellie Stewart, in a tone of
eager interest.

“Tt is a little machine shaped like a cylinder,” replied
the cabman, with his wicked smile, “into which a victim’s
head is secured. Then by the turning of a crank, a lot of
little sharp pointed knives dart out, stick into the afore-
said victim’s head and face, and then dart back again to
repeat the operation until it is a corpse they are operating
on, and not a live human being.”

“You've got that now ?” asked Nellie Stewart, hoarsely.

66 Ves?

“Can you bring it here to-morrow night?”

“Certainly.”

“You mustn’t forget,” said Nellie Stewart, in a hard,
merciless voice, and with a glance that made Jim Boyle
shudder, ‘for now that you’ve spoken of this machine, I
wouldn’t miss trying it on Nick Carter for all the money
in Philadelphia.”

“You can bet on my bringing it,” returned Big Mouth
Bill, resolutely.

“Talking about boodle,” said Boyle, “I’m broke. How
are the rest of you fixed ?”

‘““We are not flush, Jim,” said Gib Stewart, with a sigh,
“or else I'd whack up and we'd have a time.”

“What's the matter with going out and making a raise
to-night?” suggested Big Hank. “It’s now ten o’clock and
we'll have two or three hours in which to operate.”

“Tt won’t do for Gib to go out,” said Nellie Stewart,

“I’m willing to give the Quakers a rattle, if you’ll steer
me to the proper locality,” said Boyle.

“Tll do it,” returned Hank, promptly, “and after we’ve
fixed ourselves up a bit, [ll defy any copper in the city
to spot me.”

“You'll come back here when you get through, won’t
you?” asked Nellie.

“Yes,” they both replied.

The conversation above detailed had occurred in the
room in which Gib Stewart had posed as a sick man the
afternoon before.

In an adjoining appartment, which was occupied by Big

While they were preparing for their lawless undertak-
ing, a man left Wills’ Hospital and walked rapidly
(though he might have ridden) until he came to a modest
lodging house, on German street, near Second.

The man was Chick. :

His injury, after all, had been slight, and he had recov-
ered consciousness half an hour after the departure of
Big Mouth Bill. ’

When he left the hospital after a stay of several hours, |
he felt almost as good as new. |

His room was in the lodging-house on German street, |
and after remaining there half an hour he descended to
the street again.

A citizen of the place would have taken him for a re-
spectable, well-to-do farmer as he walked along the side-
walk.

 

 

/against any four crooks in Philadelphia,

He had disguised himself in order that he might the
better learn what had become of Nick. ;

Not finding the great detective at the lodging-house,
nor a note explaining his absence, caused Chick to fear
that some misfortune had happened to the Little Giant.

“Nick is able to take care of himself anywhere if he is
given half a show,” ran his thoughts, ‘‘and I’ll back him
But Gib: Stew-
art’s gang may have worked some devil’s game, and got
away with him. I was satisfied that that dying confes-
sion racket was a fraud when Nellie Stewart gave it to
us so glibly.”

He was but a few blocks from the house which he had
seen Nick, the woman and the bogus doctor enter, and he
determined to reconnoiter tie place, and get the lay of
the land before calling upon the police to help him.

Perhaps he might be able to work the affair alone, if in-
vestigation should prove that Nick had been trapped.

Chick’s broad shoulders squared themselves resolutely,
as he thought the matter over, and he began to walk rap-
idly.

At the corner of German street he halted a moment, for
two men were having a dispute a few feet away.

As far as appearances went, one was drunk and the
other was sober.

A heavily-built man, with a silk hat, a black dress suit
and a beard which covered the larger part of his face,
was the drunken one.

His companion, taller and more slender, and dressed
somewhat like the other, was endeavoring to’ get him
home,

“Your keg is full, Jim,” he said, coaxingly, “and you
know you can’t navigate.”

“Go to—blazes, Bob White; I can—can walk—jus’s
well’s you. Gimme chance ’n I’ll show you.”

He tried to break loose from the other’s grasp, but
could not succeed.

“The nex’ party you ’n me go—go to,” he growled, be-
tween his hiccoughs, ‘‘we won’ go—that is t’ say, 1 won’t.
See?” i

“That’s all right, Jim. We'll talk party when you
wake up sober. Come on, old man,” the one called White
urged, “and don’t make a fool of yourself on this street
corner.”

a6 Say iy

Well?”

“Who ownsh street corner ?

FON Gye f

“Then what—what yer bel’akin’ ’bout, I’d like—like t’
know.”

The sober man did not answer.

Instead, he tugged at his drunken companion’s arm,
and tried to pull him forward.

But the inebriated one caught at a lamp-post and held
fast.

“T’ve a good mind to leave you here, and let the thugs
get you,” exclaimed his companion, in impatience and
disgust.

At this moment Chick came up.

On seeing him the sober man, who had red, curly hair
and a short beard, turned and said, half apologetically :

“Vou see whata predicament I am in. What would
you do if you were in my place?”

“T°d wait until a cab or some other vehicle came along
and then I’d have him put into it and conveyed home,”
answered Chick, coldly. :

“That would disgrace him forever.”

“How so?”

“Tl tell you,” said the red-haired man, ina burst of

You 2”

confidence. “You see we’ve been to a mask ball ina
shady quarter.”
NV OLS

“He’s married. and his wife thinks he’s at the lodge.”

“T pity his wife.” ‘

“Qo do I,”rejoined the other, earnestly, “and that’s
why I want to get him home quietly. Ifa carriage should
drive up before the house his wife would come out, sure,
to see what has happened, fearing an accident, of course.”

“What do you propose ?”

“Te per—perposes to run me,” put in the drunken man,
“when I’m puff—puffickly able to run myself. See?”

  
 

 

12

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

  

No, 94.

 

He regarded Chick with drunken dignity. _

The latter was‘about to make a parting remark, and
then move.on, when something in the appearance of the
drunken man made him pause and look at him intently.

“What’s matter ’ith you, mis’er man?” interrogated
the subject of this scrutiny, rudely. “Think you’ve seen
me buf—buffore, eh ?”

“No,” returned Chick, quickly; “I was only wonder-
ing how a man of your apparent intelligence and stand-
ing could make such a beast of himself.”

The drunken man spluttered and frowned, and finally
burst out with the statement that he was Doctor Hast-
ings, and could do as he pleased.

“Doctor Hastings! Then this is the man,” cogitated
Chick, ‘‘who accompanied Nick and Nellie Stewart to
the house by the river. And heisno more Doctor Hast-
ings than I am.”

But what he said to the man was this:

“T beg your pardon for speaking so plainly. I am from
the country, and unacquainted with the way they do
things in this great city.”

“IT wish we all lived in the country,” said the drunken
man’s companion, gloomily.

Chick gave the latter several sharp glances on the sly,
but though the voice sounded familiar, he could not at
the time place him.

But that he was in the presence of two of Philadelphia’s
thugs he made no doubt.

The drunken business was a sham, and they were using
it as a bait to capture some simple-minded ‘victim.

And Chick, in the guise of a farmer, seemed to meet all
requirements.

The young detective determined to make sure that his
suspicions were correct before the night was over.

In order to get at the truth quickly, he must play into |

their hands.

So he again asked the sober one:

“ What do you propose?”

‘*To solicit your help,” was the answer.

Chick, who had expected this, asked another guestion:

“Where does the doctor live ?”

“On Queen street, near Third.”

This was about where the thieves’ rendezvous was lo-
cated.

Chick now felt sure that he had struck the right trail.

But he looked thoughtfully at the pavement for a mo-
ment before replying.

“T am somewhat of astickler for respectability,” he
said, at last, slowly, ‘‘and therefore I don’t much like the
idea of assisting you in this undertaking.”

“Shay, old hayseed,” interrupted the alleged doctor,
roughly, “if you’ll—you’ll come ’long with us—VH—TPU
int’duce you t’ my wife—dash my buttons if I won’t.”

He laughed loudly over his joke, and then continued :

‘‘She ’n you'll hitch fine—finer’n silk. My wife’s best
woman—bes’ in some—some ’spects there isin the city.
But she’s—she’s holy ter’ when she—she gets her back
up. Ain’ that so, Bob?”

“You ought to know,” was the cold response.

“T will assist you,” said Chick, suddenly and firmly,
“but not on this man’s account.”

‘“My wife’s, eh?” chuckled the bogus doctor.

66 Yes. 39 i

“Good,” responded the red-haired man, “
we start the better.”

Chick took hold of one arm, he of the red hair the other.

Before they had gone half a block the drunken man
stopped and refused to goa step farther unless he was
given a drink.

There was a saloon close by, and the red-headed man
suggested that they go in and have a night-cap.

“T feel ag if a drink wouldn’t hurt me any,” he said,
“after the violent exercise of the last hour.”

Chick remarked that he never drank spirituous liquor,
but he was willing to go in and see his companions drink.

So into the saloon they went. 7

It was under ground, and bore an evil reputation.

The young detective supposed that an attempt would be
made to get him to drink sodf&, lemonade, an appolinaris,
or some other light drink in order that the old game of
drugging might be worked on him.

and the sooner

; In this supposition he was mistaken.

 

 

 

When the bogus doctor and his friend stood before the
_bar, the latter said to the pseudo farmer : :

“You smoke, don’t you ?”

“Sometimes.” ’

“Then take a cigar.”

Chick accepted a weed and put it in his pocket.

“Excuse me,” he said, politely, “for not lighting it now.
It nls me the heart-burn to smoke on an empty stom-
acne |

The red-headed man looked at Chick queerly.

“Say,” said the bogus doctor, “why not sen’ out fer—
fer oys’ers fer the crowd. J’ll settle. See?”

As these words were said a man entered the saloon and
gazed sharply at the two men before the bar.

Chick knew him in an instant, despite his disguise.

It was Gib Stewart. _

  
  
   
 

CHAPTER VIII.
CHICK MAKES A DECIDED MOVE.

As the reader has doubtless surmised, the two men at
the bar were Big Hank and Jim Boyle, the former playing
the part of the drunken doctor. =

They had looked on Chick from the start as a proper
victim, and they were proceeding to work him in pursu-
ance of a carefully arranged plan, when Gib Stewart ap-
peared.

Big Hank instantly suspected that something was
wrong.

Stewart, but a short time before, had made up his mind
to remain in hiding, for he well knew that the police of
Philadelphia would know him under any disguise he
might assume.

The reason for this was that he had peculiar, shifty,
light blue eyes, an unusually long nose, and ears of ab-
normally large size. 7

That he should venture forth after an explicit under- : -
standing that he should remain in the house until Boyle _ .
and Big Hank returned, meant danger to one or all of the
trio.

Big Hank, in the role of the drunken man, called out
when he saw Stewart:

“Come up, old man, an’ ’stonish yer stomach. I don’
know yer, an’ I don’ wanter know ver, but—but I’m a
doctor, an’ it’s my—my business to give scriptions, an’
it’s the boss ’scription I wanter give you. Wan’ know
what it is?” looking at the escaped convict, slyly.

“Yes,” was the ready response.

“Whisky toddy.”

“That’s me.” '

As Gib Stewart stepped forward, Uhick went toa table
a few feet from the end of the counter and sat down in
one of the chairs.

His position enabled him to see the face of each of the
three thugs distinctly.

He saw Gib Stewart whisper something into Big Hank’s
ear, and he noticed that the communication caused the
bogus doctor to tremble and-turn pale.

The escaped convict drank his liquor and then started
for the door. .
He was Chick’s game, and the young detective had

spent more than a week in trying to find him.

And now that Chick had found him, he did not intend
that he should slip away without a struggle.

But to arrest him there woulda be a foolhardy undertak-
ing, for he would be instantly set upon by Stewart’s two
friends, and perhaps the barkeeper and the other habit-
ues of the place.

He resolved on a peculiar move.

 
  
    
    
  
   
  
  
  
 
    
  
  
  
   
 

 

  

Hurrying forward he addressed Stewart just as the
convict was about to go up the steps.

“T know vou,” he saidin a low voice. “hutIlam a
friend, and I’ve got something particular to tell you.”

   
 
 

 

  
 

 

No. 94.

 

 

‘““A friend ?
piciously, and with his hand on his pistol pocket.

“ Jim Boyle.”

The escaped convict turned away his face in order to
conceal its expression.

At the same time it was all he could do to restrain him-
self from drawing his pistol and using, it on the man be-
fore him, who must be a detective in disguise.

Chick divined by Stewart’s action that he had made a
mistake.

Though he was of Boyle’s height and build, and might
easily pass for the forger in disguise; and though in
speaking to Stewart, he had imitated the natural voice of

 

- Boyle, yet, in some way, Stewart had perceived the fraud.

In a flash the truth came home to the young detective.

The red-headed man at the bar was Boyle.

He had unwittingly betrayed himself.

What course must he now take?

These thoughts passed like lightning through his brain.

As Stewart, with a composed countenance, turned and
faced him again, Chick whispered :

“T know my appearance here in disguise must sur-
prise you, but the fact is I was sent down from New
York by Belle.”

~The two men at the bar had had their drinks, and were
now standing with their backs to the counter regarding
the pseudo farmer and the escaped convict.

They could not hear what. was being said, but Boyle,
who was quick-witted, guessed that something important
was on the programme.

Perhaps it might have relation to the news which the
convict had brought.

The supposed countryman might be a crook and a
friend of the gang.

In that event what a laugh they all would have when
they met later at the rendezvous.

Stewart’s news affected Big Hank.

Some time after the latter had set off from the house
by the river with Boyle, Big Mouth Bill had come in with
the startling information that the chief of police had got
onto Big Hank’s new role, that of Doctor Hastings, and
with some of his officers, intended to make a round of the
riverside saloons that night in search of him.

It was important, then, that Hank should get away
from the underground joint as soon as possible, and
either don a new disugise or go home.

Hank was about to start for the door when a look from
Gib Stewart restrained him.

‘So Belle sent you?” said the escaped convict, in a tone
of pleased interest. “ And how is she?”

“Fine as silk.

“Still in quod, though ?”

“Ves, but she’ll be out to-morrow. Steers can’t make a
case against her.”

“Good. And now what is it you want to see me about?”

“T want to tell you,” returned Chick, ‘that some one in
New York has betrayed you,:and that a telegram was
sent on this evening giving the location of your crib.”

Stewart pretended to be vastly alarmed at this infor-
mation.

Chick perceived that he was a good actor.

It was asingular game the two enemies were playing.

Stewart believed that he was dealing with a detective,
while Chick, reading Stewart’s mind, knew that the

‘convict had no idea that the false Boyle was on his guard.

“ Who betrayed me?” asked Stewart.

“ Belle did not know the hound’s name.”

“ How did she get hér information ?”

* A crook in the Tombs, occupying the cell next to hers,
gave her the business.’

“Then I reckonit’s straight enough,” said Stewart,
gloomily.

oe Ves.’

Big Hank now felt called upon to say something.

Still affecting drunkenness, he called out:

“Shay. you fellers, what’s matter havin’ ’nother ni’-
cap, eh?”

‘Yes, yes,” respondend Stewart, hurriedly.

‘Then he whispered to Chick:

“711 drink and then take myself off. You’ll come along
with me, won’t you?”

NICK CARTER LIBRARY. oo eas

What’s your name?” asked Stewart, sus-

 

 

an,

“ Of course.”
Gibson went up to the bar, the disguised detective tol-
lowing.

“Friend of mine,” said the convict, with a nod at
Chick, ‘‘let him get in, too.”

“But he won't dr ink, blast him,® said Big Hank, in
affected anger.

‘“*Won’t drink !
starts in.”

Chick smniled and called for whisky.

He took care that no chance for drugging it should be
given before it reached his lips.

Having swallowed the liquor, Big Hank suddenly be-
came sober.

“T’ve got an nepontnent he said, to Chick,
eleven o’clock, and it’s now five minutes past.
night, I’ll see you later.

Stewart whispered a few words into Boyle’s ear while
the young detective’s back was turned.

Chick purposely gave the escaped convict an oppor-
tunity to explain matters to his confederate.

He hoped that Boyle would follow Hank.

But the former announced, when Chick turned his face
toward the pair, that he should remain in the saloon until
it closed up.

Up to this time Stewart and Boyle, while Chick looked
on, had acted as strangers to each other.

The young detective put the right construction upon
the red-headed man’s utterance.

He now knew him to be Boyle, for his suspicions re-
garding his identity with the New York forger had been
confirmed by a closer study of the latter’s person and
voice.

Boyle meant to remain in the saloon until Stewart and
Chick were gone, and then he intended to follow them,
and be ready to give the escaped convict his assistance
when the time came for downing the detective.

A very neat game,” thought Chick, “but I’ll spoil it,
if T can.

Bidding good-night, Stewart and Chick hurried out
upon the street.

‘‘T believe I’ll run up to the crib and warn Nellie,” said
the escaped convict, after a moment’s pause in the
shadow of an awning. “She’s been a good friend of
mine, and I don’t want to see her nabbed if I can help it?”

“It will be a dangerous proceeding,” said the false
Boyle, “for the officers may be there now.”

“Tl chance it,” returned Stewart, resolutely.

“All right, then. Drive ahead.”

As they hurried on, Chick, looking over his shoulder,
saw Jim Boyle come out of the saloon and start in their
direction.

The young detective, who had made up his mind toa
certain course of action, said hurriedly to Stewart:

“There’s some one following us. Don’t turn your
head, for the fellow, if he is an officer, may recognize
that nose of yours.”

“ What’s to be done?” whispered the other, who did not
know what to make of this communication.

“Step into the first alley you come to, and hide until
we see who the fellow is.”

“ All right.”

There was an alley a few rods ahead.

Stewart darted into it, Chick at his heels.

Behind a pile of barrels they crawled and waited for
the pursuer to come up.

“Why, it’s Boyle,” exclaimed Stewart,as the man
showed himself at the mouth of the alley.

In his bewilderment at this new phase of Chick’s game,
he unwittingly uttered the name of the New York forger,
and so revealed the sinister part he was playing.
| There was but one thing to do upon this announcement
|and Chick did it.

He landed a terrific right-hander under Stewart’s ear,
which made the convict keel over as suddenly as ifa
house had fallen on him.

Then springing to his feet, and whipping out his re-
volver, he waited for the coming of Jim Boyle.

Why he can discount a fish when tA

SCfor
Good

 

 
NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

 

CHAPTER IX.
VICTORY FOR THE DETECTIVES.

Jim Boyle saw Chick’s pistol, and realizing that he.
would be at a decided disadvantage in a contest with the
man who had downed Gib Stewart so neatly, turned on
his heel and ran like a deer up the street.

Chick would have liked to have followed him, but he,
dared not leave the convict. |

Now that he had caught his man he did not intend to
lose him,

Handecuffing his victim before he had fairly recovered
from the blow, Chick jerked him to his feet and hustled
him out of the alley.

At the next corner a policeman was encountered.

_ The young detective hailed the appearance of a guardian
of the night with pleasure.

He could turn Stewart over to him and then hasten
after Boyle.

The policeman was quickly made acquainted with the
situation, and gladly consented to convey the notorious
thug to the city prison.

He had never met Chick before, but knew him by
reputation, and was proud of the opportunity to assist
him in his work.

Jim Boyle entered the house by the river and found
Nellie Stewart in the room where he had left her.

‘““Where’s Gib?” she asked, anxiously.

“Nabbed.”

The woman turned pale.

‘And you'll be nabbed too, if you don’t get out of here
quick,” he went on.

“There’s the other house.
think ?”

‘(Well have to chance it until to-morrow.”

Back of the bed was a concealed door.

Nellie Stewart touched a button and the door slid back.

Passing through the opening, they arrived at a landing
of another house, and went down the stairs until they
came to a long, dark passage-way.

This led into a room from which another stair-way went
down to a back door, which opened on a small court
with old lumber and barrels in it.

Another jnouse, old and weather-beaten, was entered
upon the other side, and then they went upon another
stair-way, along another passage to a room in the corner.

“We will be safe in this room, I think,” said Nellie
Stewart, ‘“‘but if worst comes to worst we can get out
of the window on to a shed and strike an alley which
leads to down to the river.”

‘‘Nick Carter is about here somewhere, isn’t he?’ asked
Boyle.

“He’s in that closet,” pointing to a corner.

They had come to the room with a lantern, and taking
it in his hand, Boyle walked up to the closet and opened
the door.

The great detective lay there in a narrow space, bound
and helpless.

He would have stifled long before their coming, if it
had not been for the wide cracks in the floor, which ad-
mitted air from the room below.

He had not been gagged, and he spoke Boyle’s name the
moment the light was flashed in his face.

The forger scowled.

“My disguise don’t count much with you, it seems.”

“Not even a little bit, Jim. Yousee I have madea
study of your physical peculiarities. You may hide
some of them, but you can’t hide all of them.”

“Has any one else made a study of me?” asked Boyle,
as he bent a murderous look upon the fearless detective.

“Not that I am aware of.”

Will 15 be safe, do you

 

“How about Chick ?”, ae
“Chick has not had any opportunities of observation.
He has been away from New York lately.”

‘*He’s here in Philadelphia, isn’t he?”

Nick made no answer. nae

“Of course he is,” put in Nellie Stewart, “and he is
now lying in the hospital with a broken skull.” -

Boyle thought of the man who had captured Nellie’s
husband, and shook his head.

Nick observed the motion and took heart.

Chick might be. on deck, after all.

He was wondering what his brave assistant was do-
ing, when Nellie Stewart came to the closet door and
looked down at the prisoner with an expression on her
face that was fairly demoniacal.

“Speaking of Chick,” she said, in a voice harsh and
merciless, ‘‘reminds me that I have waited too long in
disposing of your case. Whatdo you say, Jim,” turning
| to the forger, “to giving this sleuth of the devil his ever-

‘lasting quietus now ?”

“T say yes.”

Nick gazed at the pair of hardcned villains without
the quiver of a muscle,

“You dare not murder me after what has happened
to-night,” calmly.

“What has happened?” demanded Boyle with a start.

“Something that has ‘rattled’ the pair of you.”

“Bah! returned the woman, “you don’t know any-

thing. You are only making a guess.’

“Correct,” said Nick, imperturbably, “and as I was
always good at guessing, I will venture to guess now that
Gib Stewart has been captured, and that Chick has done
the trick.”

“Nonsense !”

cried the woman, in affected disdain,

|though she trembled slightly as she spoke, and the pallor

on her face deepened. “Didn’t 1 tell you that Chick was
in the hospital ?”

Nick smiled.

The smile enraged her, and she raved at him like a
fury.

Having exhausted her vocabulary of wild expressions,
she commanded Boyle, in a hoarse voice, to go down stairs
in the shed and get a rope.

“What for?” asked the forger.

“To hang this devil with,” was her fierce reply “and
we'll make a slow job of it so that he’ll suffer a thousand
deaths as he is strangling.”

Nick closed his eyes and did not look at'her any more
for some time.

Boyle went out and presently returned with a rope of
sufficient length for the fiendish woman’s purpose.

She was preparing a noose, when a noise was heard
outside the room.

It came from some distance away, but it startled Boyle
so that his teeth began to chatter.

Nellie Stewart looked at him in cold contempt.

“You call yourself a man,” she said, with a sneer, “and —
yet when cane comes you show the white feather.
Bah !”

“IT am not Haare * he said, quickly, “and I’ll fight to
the death if need be. I was only startled at hearing a
noise so late at night.” ;

“1's the officers searching the other house,” she said,
coolly. “They won’t come here, likely.”

“Perhaps I’d better go outside and watch?” he sug-
gested.

‘““Go ahead.”

He left the room and she calmly proceeded with her
work on the rope.

Nick heard her low breathing, and once or twice took a
look in her direction.

She would have been both surprised and alarmed had
she seen the expression of his face.

‘Neither agitation nor fear were written upon it.

On the contra'y, the countenance of the great detect.
ive was placid and serene.

Nellie Stewart had fashioned the noose to her ee
and was surveying her work with evil satisfaction when
quick steps were heard in the passage-way outside. .

“That must be Gib,” she said, and a bright flush came
to her cheek. “He always comes in that way.”

But Jim Boyle sprang into the room with a cry of
dismay.

“The cops!” he gasped.

“The window, muipke vr

 
= No.4,

"NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

 

 

 

“Sure?” she demanded, with her hand pressed tightly
against her heart.

‘Who else can it be?”

*Pshaw !” she returned, contemptuously. “You must
be mistaken. At any rate, I’m not going to run and
leave this detective without knowing for sure that the |
new-comers are foes.”

The steps came nearer, and at last halted before the
door, which Boyle had closed behind him.

“Hello, Nell!” came a voice that sounded like Gib
Stewart’s, ‘are you there?”

“Yes,” she answered quickly, her desire to see her hus-
band, and her hope that he had’ escaped and come to her,
_ dulling her perceptions, and making her less cautious than
usual.

The door opened, and Chick rushed in.

Boyle saw the farmer-like personage who had nabbed
Gib Stewart, and with an oath he started from his seat on

the bed, and went for the window like a cat.
_ He had the sash up, and was half-way out when the
young detective caught him.

Pulling him back into the room, Chick strove to land
him on the floor.

Boyle struggled fiercely, at the same time calling out
for Nellie to help him,

“Hit him with the lantern if you haven’t got a pistol.
Do something, quick !” he 2ntreated.

after they had shaken hands.

roy ese

'From the Tombs the great detective went to Inspector

Steers’ private office.

“Here’s a telegram for you, Nick,” said the inspector,
“It came five minutes ago.”

It was from the chief of police at Philadelphia, and

read as follows:

“Big Hank and Big Mouth Bill were caught this morning. The

latter had in his possession an instrument of torture formerly in use
; by the Mafia,

Has confessed and says it was meant for you.”

Nick shuddered as he thought of his narrow escape.
He owns the instrument now, and he never looks on

it with quite such satisfaction as on the day when the
news reached him that Nellie Stewart had committed
suicide,

[THE END. ]

The Nick Carrer Liprary has the largest circulation

of any Library ever published.

“THE LETTER Z; or, Nick CarTER AMONG THE CIN-

CINNATI SHARPERS,” by the author of “ Nick Carter,” will
be published in the next number (95) of the Nick CARTER
LIBRARY.

 

 

The woman, who had stood for some moments as if
dazed at the entrance of the young detective, drew a re-
volver from her pocket, and clubbing it, would have
struck Chick a sickening blow on the head, if something
had not quickly intervened to prevent this murderous
action.

Nick Carter’s hand caught the wrist that held the
_weapon and wrenched it from her grasp.

His coolness and serenity while the woman was dis-
cussing the plan for his death were now explained.

For some time he had been free from his bonds.

 

THE SECRET SERVICE SERIES

Comprises the Best Detective Stories bv the Best Authors.

Issued Monthly. Price, 25 Cents Each. Fully Illustrated.

IN HANDSOME LITHOGRAPH COVERS.

Js This series is enjoying a larger sale than any similar senes

He had succeeded in loosening the cords about his; ever published. The very best Authors are represented on our

wrists when Boyle and Nellie appeared in the room,
Hastily replacing them in such a manner that the vil-

lains would not likely discover what he had done with-

out a close examination, he waited patiently for the time|

 

 

 

| list, and the Books are all Copyrighted, and can be had only in the
SECRET SERVICE SERIES.

They are fully illustrated.

Tuatest Issues.

to come when he might remove the cordsifrom his ankles. | No. 55.—FACE TO FACE, by Hero Strong.

That time came when the evil-hearted wife of Gib| No.

: di f SENG:
Stewart had her attention diverted by the reappearance No, 62. HILE 118, Uy Bumile Gabsrinn,

No.
No.
N
No.

| No.
| No.

of Boyle and his exciting news.
She made a furious and powerful effort to break away |
from the great detective, but the cold muzzle of her own |
pistol laid against her forehead had a soothing effect, |
and she submitted to arrest without further struggle.
Chick, meanwhile, had thrown Jim Boyle to the floor
and handcutfed him. |
The two detectives shook hands, with smiling faces

Chick might not have found the room where the ean
lains and their prisoner were quartered if it had not been
for the fact that Nellie Stewart, in her hurried departure |
from her own room in the other house, had neglected to,

close the secret door.
Finding it open, Chick had hunted around until he had |

_stryck the corridor that led to the room occupied by his’ No.
No.

No.
No.
No.

uarry.
: Berane daybreak Boyle and Nellie Stewart occupied cells
in the city prison.

Gib Stewart had been conveyed safely to the prison an
hour before, and next day he was taken before the Court
of Quarter Sessions and sentenced to a twenty years’ term
on the old bill which his wite had hunted up for the pur-
pose of helping him to escape.

Jim Boyle was returned to New York and will have his'
trial in due time.

He is not as happy as of yore, for Belle Brand has not

 

inal as well as himself, is not allowed to visit him.
“There will be no more champagne rackets with prison- |
ers,” said Warden Fallon, to Nick, when the great detect-.

“though I must say that in this instance

gainer.” ;
“By the capture of Gib Stewart?” i

| No.
No

No.

yet succeeded in obtaining her release, and being a crim-) No.
se

| No. 21.—THE AMERICAN MARQUIS, by Nick Carter.

A ; No. 20.—THE MYSTERY OF A MADSTONE, by K. F: Hill,

ive had turned «ver the escaped prisoner at the Tombs, No. ,

justice was the No.

54.—THE CRIME OF A COUNTESS, by Nick Carter.
53.—FOUND DEAD, by Hero Strong,

51.—THE CRIME OF THE OPERA HOUSE, by Fortune du
Boisgobey.

00.—THE CLIQUE OF GOLD, by Emile Gaboriau.

o. 49.—THE WIDOW LEROUGE, by Emile Gaboriau.

48.—THE CONVICT COLONEL, by Fortune du Boisgobey.

47..-THH STEEL NECKLACH, by Fortune Du Boisgobey.

46.—THE DETECTIVE’S TRIUMPH, by Emile Gaboriau.

No. 45.—THE DETECTIVE’S DILEMMA, by Emile Gaboriau.
: | No.

and hearts filled with gratitude. | ae

No.

No.

No. 40.—RUBE BURROWS’ LEAGUE, by Marline Manly.

oO.

44.—THE RED LOTTERY TICKET, by Fortune Du Boisgobey.
. 43.—THE CHAMPDOCE MYSTERY, by Emile Gaboriau.
42.-CAUGHT IN THE NET, by Emile Gaboriau.
41.—_MABEL SEYMOUR, by Charles Matthew.

39.—THE VESTIBULE LIMITED MYSTERY, by Alexander
Robertson, M. D.

3&.—THE LOS HUECOS MYSTERY, by Eugene T. Sawyer.

. 37.—A WOMAN'S HAND, by John R. Coryell.

36.—THE GREAT TRAVERS CASE, by Dr. Mark Merrick.

35.—_MUERTALMA ; OR, THE POISONED PIN, by Marmaduke

Dey.
34.—DETECTIVE BOB BRIDGER, by R. M. Taylor.
33.—OLD SPECIE, by Alexander Robertson, M.D.
32.-ADVENTURES AND EXPLOITS OF TRE YOUNGER
BROTHERS, by Henry Dale.
. 31.—A CHASE ROUND THE WORLD, by Mariposa Weir.
. 30.—GOLD-DUST DARRELL, by Burke Brentford.
. 29.—THE POKER KING, by Marline Manly.
. 28.—BOB YOUNGER'S FATE, by Edwin S. Deane.
. 27..-THE REVENUE DETECTIVE, by Police Captain James,
. 26.—UNDER HIS THUMB, by Donald J. McKenzie.
25.—THE NAVAL DETECTIVE’S CHASE, by Ned Buntline.
24.—THE PRAIRIE DETECTIVE, by Leander P. Richardson.
23.—A MYSTERIOUS CASE, by K. F. Hill.
22.—_THE SOCIETY DETECTIVE, by Oscar Maitland,

19.—THE SWORDSMAN OF WARSAW, by Tony Pastor.
18.—A WALL STREET HAUL, by Nick Carter.
STREET & SMITH, Publishers

P. O. BOX 2734. 31 ROSE STREET, NEW YORK.

 
NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

 

No,
No. 52—A BOLD BANK ROBBERY ; Or, Nick Carrrr’s Great Haun,

WECE CARTIER LIBRARY

THE BEST FIVE CENT LIBRARY OF DETECTIVE STORIES.

 

IssuUED BEVERY SATURDAY.

PRICE, FIVE CENTS.

 

.10—NICK CARTER’S DOUBLE GAME; Or, Tue GuHosT oF
Ravenswoop Hous. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
_11—NICK CARTER IN BOSTON; Or, A CLEVER Forcrr’s
Scuzmse. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
_12—CHECK No. 777; Or, Huntinec tHe Same Man Twice. By
the Author of “Nick Carter.’’
. 13—3,005 MILES BY FREIGHT; Or, Tae Mysrery or a Piano
Box. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
_14—THE THIRTEEN’S OATH OF VENGEANCE; Or, A Crim-
tat Compact. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter. *
.15—THE FATE OF DOCTOR QUARTZ; Or, THE MuRDER IN
THE DISSECTING Room. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
. 16—PACKAGE ‘17 A;’ Or, THE Secret or aA Famiry Freup. By
the Author of “Nick Carter.”
_A7—NICK CARTER’S GREAT PERIL; Or, A Prisoner For Lire
Wirs tHe Deap. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
.18—THE GREAT DETECTIVE DEFIED; Or, ZELMA, THE
FremMaue Fienp. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
.19—THE LITTLE GIANT’S TASK; Or, Nick Carrer’s Won-
DERFUL Nerve. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
_20—BROUGHT TO BAY AT LAST; Or, Ovtrwirrep, Ovt-
GENERALED AND Outpone. By the ‘Author of “Nick Carter.’
21—NICK CARTER AT WESTERN UNION JUNCTION; Or,
Tue Sr. Pauu Traxn Rossgry. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
. 22—NICK CARTER’S CELEBRATED CASE; Or, Tae Mysreries
or GotHam. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
. 23—THE LITTLE GIANT ON DECK; Or, Tae Great Aspuc-
tron CasE. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
, 24—NICK CARTER AT GLENDALE; Or, Tus Rosprry or THE
"Frisco Nigut Express. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
25—YOUNG HERCULES, NICK CARTER’S ASSISTANT ; Or, A
Man oF Muscie anp Nerve. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
, 26—NICK CARTER IN SAN FRANCISCO; Or, UNEARTHING
Crime in Cuinatown. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
. 27—NICK CARTER IN CHICAGO; Or, ‘THe Crime or THE LAKE
Crry. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
28—THE PASSENGER GOING EAST. By the Author of ‘Nick
Carter.”
. 299—NICK CARTER’S’ MYSTERIOUS CASE; Or, THe Roap-
House ‘I'racepy. By the Author of “Nick Carter:”
. 30.—MAD MADGE, THE QUEEN OF CROOKS: Or, Fieutine
AN ARTFUL For. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

1A DEAD MAN’S GRIP; Or, Tae SKELETON IN THE CLOSET.

By the Author of ‘‘Nick Garter. 2

i 99._NICK CARTER IN KANSAS CITY ; Or, THE Nicut Hawks
Revrvep. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”

; 33-—-THE MYSTERIOUS MAIL BAG ROBBERY ; Or, Nick Care
Ter’s GREAT CatcH. By the Auther of ‘‘Nick ’Carter. 2

34 YOUNG HERCULES IN MEXICO: Or, Piuck anp Moscug
Acatnst Srrateay. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

35—NINETY MILES AN HOUR; Or, Tus PROBLEM OF SEVEN

Deratas. By the Author of Nick Carter.”

. 36_NICK CARTER IN STL. LOUIS; or, THe Nigut Hawxs’ Last
Scorzrecu. By the Author of “Nick Carter, ee

. 37—NICK CARTER IN BALTIMORE ; Tur CoNSPIRACY OF
THE Rep Leacur. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”’

_ 388-__NICK CARTER IN NEW ORLEANS; Or, Tue Rev Leacur’s
Last Errort. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

. 39—THREE TIMES DEAD ; Or, Nick Carrer IN A Ticut Pace.
By the Author of ‘¢ Nick Carter.”

_40—THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBERY ; Or, Nick Carter AMONG
THe Hote, Turzves. By the ‘Author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

fo. 41—THE FOURFOLD MURDER; Or, Nick Carter’s CLEVER

Worx In Frortpa. ‘By the Author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

, 42—THE N. Y. CENTRAL TRAIN ROBBERY; Or, Tue Nervisst
Ournaw Autve. By the Author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

. 43—THE LETTERS ON THE FLOOR; Or, Nick CARTER’S CLEVER

DrcreueR. By the Author of “ Nick Carter.”

_44—NICK CARTER ON HIS METTLE; On, A Cuase AFTER
A Fortung By the Author of ‘‘ Nick Garter,” ete.

_45—NICK CARTER’S GREATEST PERIL; Or, On THE TRratry
Or A Human Frenp. By the Author of ‘Nick ‘Carter, ” ete.

_46—THE GOLD BRICK “SWINDLERS; Or, Nick
Grear Exposure. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”

_47-—NICK CARTER ON THE BOWERY ; Or, Tur Terrors OF
One Nicut. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

_48—NICK CARTER’S HANDICAP; Or, Won In A Canter. By
the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

_49—BOLD MASKED ROBBERS; On, Nick Carrmr’s Liveny
Conruicr. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

, 50—NICK CARTER’S FIGHT FOR LIFE; Oz, THE Minrionarre’s

Nemesis. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
51—_JUDGE LYNCH’S MISTAKE; Os, Nick Carter's SEARCH
yor A MurpERER. By the Author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

CARTER’8

By the Author of *‘ Nick Carter.”

 

No.
No.
No.
No,
No.
No.
No,
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No,
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.

53—NICK CARTER IN WALL STREET ; Or, Trackine a STOLEN
Forrunz. By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”

54—_TRICKED AND
Goops Havu. By the author of ** Nick Carter.”

55—ROBBED BY RIVER PIRATES; Or, Nick Carrer Amone
THE WuHarF Rats. By the author of «N ick Carter.”

56—A DARING DEED; Ox, Nick CarTER SoLvine THE OAKLAND
Mystery. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

57—A MYSTERY OF ‘THE SURF; Or, Nick CARTER AT Conry
Isuanp. By the author of “ Nick Carter.”

58—NICK CARTER IN CHINATOWN ; On, Tue Doyzrs Srrepr
Criinats, By the author of “Nick Carter.”

59—NICK CARTER AT SING SING; Or, In Hor Pursuit or *

AN Escaprep Crimrnau. By the author of “ Nick Carter.”
60—A MYSTERY OF THE RIALTO; Or, Nick Carrer mw
New Yor. By the author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

61—THE GREAT BANK HOLD UP IN DENVER; Or. Niox

Carter's Dirricunt Case. By the auther of ‘ Nick Carter.”

62—SHOT WITH A ROULETTE BALL; Or, Nick Carrer ~~

Amonec Tur GamsBuers. By the author of “Nick Carter.”
63,—THE SIX ACES; Or, Expose a Great Swinpiz. By the
author of “Nick Carter. a
64.—THE GREAT GREEN GOODS SWINDLE; Or, Nick
CarTER’s CtrveR Catcu. By the author of “Nick Carter. a
65—THREE OF A KIND; Or, Nick Carrer’s Wixninc Hann. By :
A the author of “Nick Garter. e

covery. By the author of “ Nick Carter.”
67.—THE DALTON GANG WIPED OUT; or, Nick Carrer’s
Drapuy Riritz. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”
68—-HER SHREWD DOUBLE; or, Nick Carter’s Lapy Assist-
ANT aT Work. By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
69.—THE HYPNOTIST’S VICTIM; ox, Nick Cartsr’s Compri-
4a ae Ce ‘ By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”
TER IN PITTSBURGH ; or, Escapep
By the author of ‘Nick Carter.” —
71—THE SUBURBAN SAFE CRACKERS; or, Nick Carrer’s
Martcuiess Sxmu. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

» 722—MURDERED FOR REVENGE ; or, Nick Carrer’s PECULIAR

No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.

CasE. Ry the author of ‘‘Nick Carter. 4

73—A CLEVER CRIMINAL; or, Nick Carrsr’s Fortunags
Crew. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

74—_THE LAST OF THE GLENDALE GANG; orn, Nick CarTE S)
Great Success. By-the author “Nick Carter. % y

75—THE CINCINNATI BANK SWIN DLE ; on, Nick Carrmr’s
Great Forcrery Cask. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

76—A MURDER IN THE SNOW: or, Nick Carter’s Curtous
Cass. By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”

77.—BAGGAGE CHECK x623; or, Nick Carter AMmonG THE
Hote, SwinpueRs. By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”

78.—THE CONCEALED BOOTY ; or, Nick Carrer’s First Rare
Finp. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

79. —“THE $35,000 SWINDLE: or Nick Carrer AND THE Incoe
ANCE Fravups.” By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter,”
80—THE PRINCE OF CROOKS; or, Nick Cartsr’s Cs

Scueme. By the author of “Nick Carter. a

. 81I—-TRACKED TO MONTRE AL; OR, NICK CARTER’S LONG CHase,

No.
No.
No.
No.
No.

No

No.
No.
No.
No-
No.
No.
No.
No.

By the author of “Nick Carter. »

82—FROM PALACE TO PRISON ; or, Nick Carrer’s Caprurr
OF A SWELL Crook. Bvy the author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

83—THE FREIGHT THIEVES ; or, Nick Cartrr’s Exprrr Ex-
PosuRE. By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

84—THE UNDERGROUND TUNNEL; oz, Nick Canter m
Brocktyn. By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”

85—THE TURKISH BATH MYSTERY ; on, Nick CaxtER APTER
A Suick Parr. By the author of “Nick Carter. a

86—THE BANK DRAFT RAISER ; or, Nick Carrer’s Caprurs or

A Siippery Criminan. By the author of ‘*Nick Carter.”

87—THE WATCHMAKER’S HAMMER; - orn, Nick Carrer’s
Quicx'Dxctston, By the author of ‘“‘Nick Carter,”

88—CHICAGO’S CARNIVAL OF CRIME; or, Nick Carrer to
THE Rescun. By the author of ‘Nick Carter,”

89—LOOTED IN TRANSIT; or, Nick Carter AmonGc THR Ex-
press Tureves. By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

90—9—19—29 ; or, Nick CARTER AND THE Ponicy SHARPS. By the

author of “Nick Carter.”

91—THE COIN CUFF BUTTON; or, Nick Carrer anp rae
Srrancuers. By the author ot ‘‘Nick Carter.”

92—THE HIGHWAYMEN SIDE-TRACKED ; or, An Arrempr
ro Prrsonate Nick Cartrr. By the author of “Nick Carter.”

93--THE NEW YORK POST-OFFICE THUGS: or, Rovexr
Work For Nick Carrer. By the author of ‘‘Nicx Carter. a

94_SKIPPED FROM CUSTODY; or, Nick Carrer’s Dover

Cuase. By the Author of “Nick Carter. y

95—ESCAPED FROM SING SING; or, Nick Carrer CHasing :

THE CCNDEMNED Criminats. By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter. 4

For sale by all newsdealers at five cents per copy, or sent postpaid on receipt of price.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers,

P. O. BOX 2734.

31 ROSE STREET, New York.

—THE SNAKE BROOCH ;.or, Nick Cartsr’s Srartiinc Dis-

TRAPPED; Or, Nick CarTEer’s GREEN |...

?
at