True Stories of Crime From the District Attorney's Office Part 3

PEDRO S. DE MORENO.

"May the devil bestow upon him five hundred million toothaches!" exclaims Lapierre, for the first time showing any sign of animation.

The other letters were read in their order, interspersed with Madame Reddon's explanations of their effect upon the heirs in France. His description of the elevators of steel and of the house that covered an entire block had caused a veritable sensation. Alas! those wonders are still wonders to them, and they still, I fancy, more than half believe in them. The letters are lying before me now, astonishing emanations, totally ridiculous to a prosaic American, but calculated to convince and stimulate the imagination of a pet.i.t bourgeois.

The General in glowing terms paints his efforts to run down the Lespina.s.se conspirators. Although suffering horribly from his fractured tibia (when he fell into the "hole"), and from other dire ills, he has "not taken the slightest rest." He has been everywhere-"New Orleans, Florida, to the city of Coney Island"-to corner the villains, who "flee in all directions." The daughter, Marie Louise, through whom the General expects to secure a compromise, has left for New Orleans. "Wonderful coincidence," he writes, "they were all living quietly and I believe had no intention whatever to travel, and two days after my arrival in New York they all disappeared. The most suspicious of it all is that the banker, his wife and children had left for Coney Island for the summer and to spend their holidays, and certainly they disappeared without saying good-by to their intimate friends.... I have the whole history of Tessier's life and how he made his fortune. There is a family for the use of whom we must give at least a million, for the fortune of Tessier was not his alone. He had a companion who shared his troubles and his work. According to the will they were to inherit one from the other; the companion died, and Tessier inherited everything. I do not see the necessity of your trip to New York; that might make noise and perhaps delay my negotiations." Then follows the list of properties embraced in the inheritance:

PROPERTY AND PERSONAL ESTATE OF THE HEIRS

1 The land of Central Park ceded to the city of New York, of the value of $5,000,000.00

2 He had at the National Bank--United States Bank--deposited in gold--twenty to thirty million dollars. He never withdrew anything; on the contrary, he always deposited his income there 25,000,000.00

3 The big house on Broadway, Nos. 100 to 118, of twenty-five stories, to-day the largest bank in New York 5,000,000.00

4 The house on Fifth Avenue, No. 765, facing Central Park, to-day one of the first hotels of New York--Hotel Savoy 8,000,000.00

5 House on Fifth Avenue, No. 767, facing Central Park, to-day the biggest and most handsomest of American hotels, where the greatest people and millionaires stop--Hotel Netherland 20,000,000.00

6 Two coal mines at Folkustung in Texas 9,000,000.00

7 A petroleum mine in Pennsylvania (Mexican frontier) 6,000,000.00

8 Shares of silver mine at Tuxpan, Mexico 10,000,000.00

9 The house at Tuxpan and its grounds, Mexico 15,000.00

10 The pleasure home and grounds in Florida (New Orleans) in the city of Coney Island 500,000.00

11 The house which covers all the Esquare Plaza (no number because it is all alone). It is an immense palace, with a park and gardens, and waters forming cascades and labyrinths, facing Central Park 12,000,000.00

12 The block of houses on Fifth and Sixth Avenues, facing on this same Central Park, which, as all these grounds belong to him, he had put up. They are a hundred houses, that is called here a block 30,000,000.00

13 He is the owner of two railroads and owns shares of others in Pennsylvania and Canada 40,000,000.00

14 A line of steam and sail boats--Atlantic.

The Pennsylvania and the Tessier and other names 100,000,000.00

15 A dock and a quay of eight hundred meters on the Brooklyn River for his ships 130,000,000.00

16 Several values and debts owed him and which at his death had not been collected $40,000.00 ---------------- $390,555,000.00

Which is in francs 1,952,775,000 Plus 5 per cent 976,388 -------------- Total in francs 1,953,751,388 "Do you blame us?" asks Madame Valoie, as I listen as politely as possible to this Arabian Nights' dream of riches.

The letters continue: The General is surrounded by enemies, of which the worst are French, and he is forced continually to change his residence in order to escape their machinations. But all this takes money. How can he go to Tuxpan or to the city of Coney Island? "You cannot know nor imagine the expense which I have had to discover that which I have discovered. I cannot live here like a miser, for the part I represent demands much of me. Every moment I change my residence, and that costs money." He adds a little touch of detail. "I must always be dressed properly, and laundry is very dear here-a shirt costs twenty-five cents to wash, and there are other necessary expenses.... You have forgotten to tell me if you have received the alb.u.m of views of New York in which I have indicated the properties of the deceased, I squeeze your hand."

"Yes, and our purses too," adds Madame Valoie. "Would M'sieu' care to see the alb.u.m of the Tessier properties? Yes? M'sieu' Lapierre, kindly show the gentleman."

Lapierre unb.u.t.tons his homespun coat and produces a cheap paper-covered blank book in which are pasted small photographs and woodcuts of various well-known New York buildings. It is hard not to smile.

"M'sieu' will see," continues Madame Valoie, "that the dream had something substantial about it. When we saw these pictures in Bordeaux we were on the point of giving up in despair, but the pictures convinced us that it was all true. Moreover, just at that time the General intimated that unless he had more money he might yield to the efforts of the Lespina.s.se family to buy him off."

Madame Valoie points vindictively to a certain paragraph in one of the letters: "Of course they are convinced that I am not for sale, not for anything.... To my regret, my very great regret, I shall be forced to capitulate if you do not come to my aid and that quickly, for I repeat to you that my funds are all gone."

"And here is his bill," continues Madame Valoie, producing a folded doc.u.ment composed of countless sheets of very thin paper, bound together at the edges by strips of heavier material. This, when unfolded, stretches entirely across the room and is seen to be composed of hundreds of typewritten items, of which the following may serve as ill.u.s.trations:

EXPENSES IN NEW YORK

July 12, Train to New Orleans .......... $25.50 " 16, Train to Florida ........... $ 2.50 " " Dinner on train ........... $ 2.00 " 17, Hotel in Florida ........... $ 2.00 " 18, Trip to Coney Island ........... $ .50 " 19, Return to Florida ........... $ .50 " 21, Return from Florida to New Orleans $ 2.50 " " Laundry ........... $ 1.15 Dec. 3, Return to New York ........... $ 6.50 " 24, Train to Vera Cruz ........... $57.50 Jan. 4, Trip to Tuxpan ........... $ 2.50 " 5, Return to Vera Cruz ........... $ 2.50 " 6, Sudden night trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, via Buffalo and Niagara Falls ........... $50.50 " 18, Laundry for three months ......... $ 5.00 Etc., etc.

EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES

To Agent Pushyt John, a meerschaum and amber cigar-holder and pipe ........... $ 7.00 Tobacco jar of sh.e.l.l and silver ........... $ 4.00 To Indian Peter South-Go, a watch, a suit, and a pair of shoes ........... $16.50 To my general agent of confidential reports for his daughter, a gold ring and a feather fan ........... $ 7.00 A necktie for himself and scarf pin in gold and with stone for the necktie ... $ 8.60 To the letter-carrier to bring me my correspondence and not give it to any one else when I should change address . $ 4.00 Invitation to the Consul and his two agents in Washington hotel ........... $12.00 Several invitations to cafes and saloons to the Police Agents ........... $ 2.00 Invitations to old employees of Jean Tessier, to tear from them the declarations ........... $ 1.50 Barber expenses ........... $11.50 Tobacco and matches, July to December, three packages each week, ten cents each ........... $ 7.80 Changing hotels to lead astray the agents of the impostors ........... $ 9.50 Etc., etc.

"To obtain a collossal fortune as yours will be, it is necessary to spend money unstintingly and to have lots of patience. Court proceedings will be useless, as trickery and lies are necessary to get the best of the scoundrels. It is necessary also to be a scoundrel."

"That he might well say," interpolates Lapierre. "He succeed, c'est sure."

I rapidly glanced over the remaining letters. The General seems always to be upon the verge of compelling a compromise. "I have already prepared my net and the meshes are tightly drawn so that the fish will not be able to escape.... For an office like this one needs money-money to go quickly from one place to another, prosecute the usurpers, not allow them an instant's rest. If they go to some city run after them at once, tire them with my presence and constantly hara.s.s them, and by this means compel them to hasten a compromise-"

The General is meeting with superhuman obstacles. In addition to his enemies he suffers all sorts of terrible bodily afflictions. Whenever the remittances from the Lapierres do not arrive the difficulties and diseases increase.

At last, however, after an interval of two years, things took a turn for the better. A "confidential representative" of the conspirators-one "Mr. Benedict-Smith"-arrived to make a bona fide offer of one hundred and fifty million dollars in settlement of the case. The General writes at great length as to exactly in what proportion the money should be divided among the heirs. The thing is so near a culmination that he is greatly exercised over his shabby appearance.

I am without a son and too badly dressed to go before the banker in the very likely case of his arrival here. Send me my baggage at once with the first steamer, and mark each piece "fragile." This is all. My regards to Madame Lapierre and your son. I am cordially yours, squeezing your hand.

PEDRO S. DE MORENO.

But the Lapierres and Tessiers, while not for an instant distrusting the honesty of the General, had become extremely weary of sending him money. Each heir felt that he had contributed enough toward the General's "expenses and invitations." Even the one hundred and fifty millions within easy reach did not prompt immediate response.

About the same time an extraordinary messenger arrived at the Lapierre farm, purporting to come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and instructing Lapierre to repair immediately to Paris. The messenger explained that the presence of Lapierre was desired at the Ministry in connection with some investigation then in progress into the affairs of one Jean Tessier. Then the messenger departed as mysteriously as he had arrived.

Good M. Lapierre was highly excited. Here was indubitable evidence of the truth of the General's a.s.sertions. But, just as the latter had intended, perhaps, the worthy farmer jumped to the conclusion that probably the messenger from Paris had been sent by the conspirators.

"At the last moment," wrote Lapierre to Moreno, "I received from Paris a letter commanding me to go to the Ministry, and at the same time a telegram recommending that I leave at once. I shall write you from Paris all that I learn to your interest. If this letter should not reach you sealed in red wax, with small indentations made with a sewing thimble and my initials, which I always sign, it is that our correspondence is seized and read."

Events followed in rapid succession. Lapierre, the Tessiers, including the little blacksmith, became almost hysterical with excitement. A gentleman, by name "Mr. Francis Delas," called upon Lapierre and offered him twenty-five million dollars spot cash for his wife's share in the Tessier inheritance. This person also claimed that he had a power of attorney from all the other heirs, with the exception of Pett.i.t and Rozier, and a.s.serted that he was on the point of embarking for New York in their interest. He urged Lapierre to subst.i.tute him for Moreno. But Lapierre, now convinced that everything was as the General had claimed it to be, indignantly rejected any such proposition aimed at his old friend, and sent Mr. Francis Delas packing about his business.

"This is what my answer has been to him: 'Sir, we have already an agent with whom we can only have cause to be satisfied, so that your services are not acceptable or needed.' He left me most dissatisfied and scolding."

The sending of this confederate on the part of the wily General had precisely the effect hoped for. Lapierre and his friends were now convinced that the inheritance Tessier was a reality, and that powerful personages were not only exerting their influence to prevent the rightful heirs from obtaining their property, but had also in some way secured the cooperation of government officials. It was agreed, on all hands, that the worthy landowner, accompanied by Madame Reddon, had better proceed at once to the scene of operations and unite with the General in their common purpose. Once on the ground Lapierre could a.s.sume direction of his own campaign.

Lapierre and Madame Reddon accordingly sailed for America and arrived in New York on the fourth of December, 1904, where they were met on the dock by the General, who, freshly barbered, and with a rose in his b.u.t.tonhole, invited them, as soon as they had recovered from the fatigue of landing, to make a personal inspection of their properties.

These heirs to hundreds of millions of dollars were conducted by the "Marquis de la d'Essa and Count de Tinoco" to the Battery, where he gallantly seated them in an electric surface car, and proceeded to show them the inheritance. He pointed out successively Number 100 Broadway, the "Flatiron" Building, the Fifth Avenue Hotel and the Holland House, the Waldorf-Astoria, the Vanderbilt mansion at Fifty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue, the Hotel Savoy and the Hotel Netherland, incidentally taking a cross-town trip to the ferry station at East Twenty-third Street, and to Bellevue Hospital. A public omnibus conveyed them around Central Park-also their own. And, in spite of the cold weather, the General insisted on showing them the "Tessier mansion and estate at Fort George"-visible from the Washington Bridge-"a beautiful property in the centre of a wood." Returning, he took them to the Museum of Natural History and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contained "Tessier's collections."