Lock and Key Library, Magic Real Detectives | Page 5

and was
assigned to room Number 547 on the fifth floor. Somewhere in the
hotel Dodge was secreted. The question was how to find him. For an
hour Jesse sat in the hotel foyer and meditatively watched the visitors
come and go, but saw no sign of his quarry. Then he arose, put on his
hat, and hunted out a stationery store where for two cents he bought a
bright-red envelope. He then visited a ticket-scalper's office, secured
the owner's business card, and wrote a note on its back to Dodge,

offering him cheap transportation to any point that he might desire.
Armed with this he returned to the hotel, walked to the desk, glanced
casually over a number of telegrams exposed in a rack and, when the
clerk turned his back, placed the note, addressed to Charles F. Dodge,
unobserved, upon the counter. The office was a busy one, guests were
constantly depositing their keys and receiving their mail, and, even as
Jesse stood there watching developments, the clerk turned round, found
the note, and promptly placed it in box Number 420. The very simple
scheme had worked, and quite unconsciously the clerk had indicated
the number of the room occupied by Dodge.
Jesse lost no time in ascending to the fourth floor, viewed room
Number 420, returned to the desk, told the clerk that he was dissatisfied
with the room assigned him, and requested that he be given either room
Number 421, 423, or 425, one of which he stated that he had occupied
on a previous visit. After some discussion the clerk allotted him room
Number 423, which was almost directly opposite that occupied by
Dodge, and the detective at once took up his task of watching for the
fugitive to appear.
Within the hour the door opened and Dodge and a companion, who
subsequently proved to be E. M. Bracken, alias "Bradley," an agent
employed by Howe and Hummel, left the room, went to the elevator,
and descended to the dining-room upon the second floor. Jesse watched
until they were safely ensconced at breakfast and then returned to the
fourth floor where he tipped the chambermaid, told her that he had left
his key at the office, and induced her to unlock the door of room
Number 420, which she did under the supposition that Jesse was the
person who had left the chamber in Dodge's company. The contents of
the room convinced Jesse that he had found Dodge, for he discovered
there two grips bearing Dodge's name as well as several letters on the
table addressed to him. The detective returned to the hall and had a
little talk with the maid.
"The old gentleman with you has been quite sick," she said. "How is he
to-day?"
"He is some better," answered Jesse.

"Yes, he does look better to-day," she added, "but he sho'ly was
powerful sick yesterday. Why, he hasn't been out of his room befo' fo'
five or six days."
This statement was corroborated by Dodge's physical appearance, for
he looked haggard and worn.
Jesse was now confident that he had found Dodge, in spite of the
reports of the New Orleans police to the contrary, and he was also
reasonably sure that the fugitive was too sick to leave the hotel
immediately. He therefore telegraphed his superiors that he had
discovered Dodge and that the latter was ill at the St. Charles Hotel.
At three o'clock in the afternoon Jesse received a wire from New York
as follows:
"New Orleans police department claims party not there. Left for
Mexico three weeks ago. Ascertain correct destination and wire at
once."
Jesse at once replied:
"No question as to identity and presence here at this time."
He now took up the task of keeping his quarry under absolute
surveillance day and night, which duty from that moment he continued
for a period of nearly ten months.
During the remainder of the afternoon and throughout the night Dodge
and Bracken remained in room Number 420, and during the evening
were visited by several strangers, including a plain- clothes officer from
the New Orleans Police Headquarters. Little Hummel, dining in Long
Acre Square in the glare of Broadway, was pressing some invisible
button that transmitted the power of his influence even to the police
government of a city two thousand miles away.
The following day, January 26th, at about 8.40 in the morning, Dodge
and Bracken descended to the lobby. Bracken departed from the hotel,

leaving Dodge to pay the bill at the cashier's window and Jesse heard
him order a cab for the 11.30 A. M. Sunset Limited on the Southern
Pacific Railroad and direct that his baggage be removed from his room.
Jesse did the same.
In the meantime Bracken returned and promptly at 11 A. M.