The Stir outside the Cafe Royal

He was a brilliant criminal and he used many different names. The man who robbed the bank in Detroit and shot the bank manager was known as Captain Mathurin. The man who committed fraud in Melbourne was known as Rossiter. The police believed that Mathurin and Rossiter were the same man.

The police could not catch Mathurin. He was very careful to protect his real identity. Most of the people who worked with him did not even know what he looked like.

Only two people in the world could identify him. One of them was the bank manager he had killed in Detroit. Mathurin shot him in front of his girlfriend. It was the other person who ended Mathurin's criminal career.

It all happened in a very dull way if you look at it from one point of view. But the story is very different if you look at it from another point of view. I first heard the story from a young detective that I met in a pub near Westminster. Then a young woman called Miss Van Snoop gave me more information.

A young lady was driving down Regent Street one day in a horse-drawn cab. It was about one-thirty in the afternoon and it was warm and sunny. The cab was travelling slowly, because the young lady said she was frightened of horses. Regent Street was full of women doing their shopping and men standing around talking. The young lady looked at the street with interest.

There was a little stir as the young lady's cab approached the Cafe Royal. One cab was stopping outside the restaurant and there were two others behind it. The traffic in the street stopped for a moment. The girl looked at the people who were standing on the steps of the building. She sat back quickly in her seat.

'Drop me here,' she told the driver. Her accent was American.

The driver stopped the cab and the girl got out.

She gave the driver a coin. The driver looked at it with interest. He smiled.

'Americans are very generous,' he said to himself.

The girl walked towards the Cafe Royal. She glanced at the men who were standing on the steps. Several of the men looked at her with interest. They were surprised to see a woman on her own. She entered the restaurant and walked into the dining room.

'American, you can be sure of that,' one of the men commented. 'They go anywhere they want. They're not afraid of anything!'

There was a tall man walking in front of the girl towards the dining room. He was very well dressed. He stopped for a moment when he entered the dining room. He was looking for a table. The girl slopped behind him. The waiter waved the man to a table. The girl sat down at a table behind him.

'Excuse me, madam,' the waiter said to her. 'This table is for four people. Would you mind -?'

'I guess I'll stay where I am,' the girl said softly. She gave the waiter a determined look and put some money into his hand.

The restaurant was full of people. Many people looked al the girl who was eating alone, but she did not seem to be embarrassed or shy. She did not look at anyone. When she was not looking at her plate, she kept her eyes fixed on the back of the man at the next table. He ordered champagne with his lunch. The girl drank water. Suddenly she called a waiter.

'Please bring me a sheet of paper and my bill,' she said quietly.

The waiter came back with a sheet of paper. The girl thought for a few minutes. Then she began to write something. She folded the paper and put it in her purse. Then she paid her bill.

A few minutes later the man at the next table paid his bill as well. The girl put on her gloves and watched the man's back. The man got up to leave the dining room. He walked past the girl's table. She turned her face away and looked at a mirror on the wall. Then she, too, got up. She followed the man out of the dining room.

The man stopped on the steps for a moment. The porter was talking to a policeman. He noticed the man and asked him if he wanted a cab.

'Yes, please,' the man replied.

Then the porter noticed the girl. She was standing behind the man. As he turned towards her, he saw that her hand was in the man's pocket. She was stealing something. She pulled her hand back quickly.

'What -!' the man cried out. He turned round to face the girl.

'Is something missing, sir?' the porter asked him.

'My cigarette case,' the man said. 'It's gone.'

'What's this?' said the policeman. He stepped forward.

The porter pointed at the girl.

'That woman has stolen this gentleman's cigarette case,' he said. 'I saw her doing it.'

The man looked at the girl.

'Just give it back.' he said quietly. 'I don't want to make a fuss about it.'

'I haven't got it,' the girl answered. 'I'm not a thief. I never touched your pocket.'

'I saw her do it,' the porter said again.

'Right!' said the policeman suddenly. 'You'll have to come with me, young lady. You too, sir,' he said to the well-dressed man. 'We'll take a cab to the police station.'

'I didn't steal anything,' the girl said again.

She got into the cab very calmly when it arrived. The policeman watched her carefully. He did not want her to throw anything out of the window. The well-dressed man sat quietly in the cab, looking out of the window.

When they arrived at the police station the girl denied the crime again.

'We'll have to search her,' the inspector decided. She was taken to a room for an interview with the female searcher.

The girl entered the room of the female searcher. As soon as the door was closed she put her hand in her pocket. She took out the cigarette case and placed it on the table.

'There you are,' the girl said. 'Now,' she went on, 'I want you to look in this pocket. Find my purse and take it out.'

The woman took out the girl's purse.

'Open it.' the girl ordered. 'There's a note inside,' she said. 'Read it. please.'

The woman look out the note the girl had written in the restaurant. It said:

'I am going to steal something from this man. It is the only way to get him into a police station without violence. He is Connel Mathurin, alias Rossiter, alias Connell. The police in Detroit, New York, Melbourne, Colombo and London want him. He is a very dangerous man. I am a New York detective - Nora Van Snoop.'

'Take that note to your boss,' Miss Van Snoop told the woman. 'Do it now!'

The woman left the room and spoke to someone in the corridor. A few minutes later the inspector came into the room.

'Don't worry,' Miss Van Snoop told him. 'I've got my documents here with me. I can prove who I am.'

'Are you sure that this is the man who shot the Detroit bank manager?' the inspector asked her.

'Heavens!' Miss Van Snoop cried. 'Didn't I see him shoot Will Stevens with my own eyes! Didn't I join the police to find him!'

The inspector left the room. The girl listened attentively. Then she heard a shout from the next room. The inspector came back.

'I think you're right,' he told her. 'It is Mathurin. But why didn't you ask the police to help you?'

'I wanted to arrest him myself.' Miss Van Snoop explained. 'And now I have,' she said quietly. 'Oh, Will! Will!'

Miss Van Snoop sat down and began to cry. Thirty minutes later she left the police station and went into a post office. She telegrammed her resignation from the New York police force.