Ruckus in Rutland

Chapter Six – Ruckus in Rutland

      “Now that is strange” said Sharpe, “Don’t look too long, but I think there is someone checking on us, about 3 seats from the rear of the car on the river side”

      She looked at him quickly and then stood up and adjusted her skirt while looking toward the rear of the car. “Dark hair, small goatee, dark suit?”, she said

      “I think so”

      She sat back down looking at him and said “How are we going to lose him?”

      He thought for a minute and then took the train schedule from his coat pocket and opened it on the table between them. Searching their route, his finger stopped on the name Rutland. “There is a stop at Rutland and there is a Delaware and Hudson terminal there. We need to get rid of him and change trains”

      Her head jerked up, and then she realized he wasn’t talking about actually throwing the goatee man off the train. “I wish we knew what that station was like” Sharp said.

      She smiled  “I’ve been there. My family travels to New York every fall to go to the theatre. It is our one extravagance. My father and mother love the theatre and the vaudeville acts.”

      “Can you think of a way to get him off our trail?”

      The New York Central pulled into the Rutland Station. Sharpe saw the goatee man get up as if to stretch his legs, but keeping and eye on them all the time. They sat as nonchalantly as they could manage, in their seats and waited while passengers got off and more got on. As the boarding passengers started to settle into their seats and as everyone waited for the train to slowly ease out of the station, Sharp nodded at the girl and they ran to the door. The goatee man who had sat down, came after them.

      Sharp and the girl ran across the street behind the terminal and into the door of the Delaware and Hudson Station. Inside, he looked back at the terminal they had left and checked to see if anyone came out the door following them. He saw the goatee man crossing the street and pulled the girl into a restroom. They heard his foot steps on the wooden floor outside recede into the distance. They waited for a few moments and then exited their hiding place to the amusement of folks in the waiting room. The girl blushed and led the way out onto the street of the small town. The train had left the station and they decided to look in the shops until the next one arrived.

      The goatee man stepped out from between two buildings directly in front of them. Without hesitating, Sharp brought palm of his hand up undert the goatee smashing into the man’s chin. He careened off the board walk into the street. Sharp took her arm and they ran toward the station. Glancing back he saw the man shake off the hand of someone who’d stopped to help him up and move drunkenly after them. They had to find somewhere to hide till the train showed up.

Leaving Tracks

Chapter Five – Leaving Tracks

“Jessie Sharp”, she replied when the police constable asked her who she was, “I heard the hounds and I had to come down and see what was happening.” She paced back and forth in front of the constable who, quickly opened the rope barrier and let her through.

“Mrs Sharp, I’m Constable Morley of the Kingston Police”

Jessie Sharp was a handsome woman. Fine dark hair parted down the middle and caught up in a bun at the rear, olive complexion, and dark brown eyes. She wore a light summer frock and sensible walking shoes. She twisted the handle of a small hand bag back and forth as she said “This is not like William, at all”

“Why do you say that?” he asked

“He always let me know where he was going and what he was going to do, especially since he came back from France with the kidney and liver problems”

“Kidney and liver problems?”

She looked at the constable and said “Yes, when he was wounded, he got gangrene and it affected his kidneys and liver. Haven’t your investigators talked with the Militia office in Ottawa about his war record and his disability?”

“Maybe they have Mrs. Sharp. I don’t know everything that’s going on. You really believe, if I may be so blunt, that he’s in the pond don’t you?”


“Well in as much as he has put up such a fight to get well since he got home I don’t think he would do something horrible. He saw so much dying and maiming in France, that his life is very dear to him. He wouldn’t have tried to take it for any reason. It just meant too much. He was so glad to get home and to have been spared. With the diagnosis he got from the medical board being so …” she looked away from the Constable for a moment and then, steeling herself continued, “being so final. He wanted to make every moment important. His only regret was that he couldn’t serve a more active role. The army has been his whole life.”

“You told us last night that you thought he had drowned”

“Yes I do” she said quietly.

Constable Morley thought that over and then asked “Did anything unusual happen with him in the last several days?

“Not that I can think of”

“Well if anything occurs to you, will you contact me?”

“I surely will” she said as they were interrupted by four men coming back from the town area with the two blood hounds. They were straining at their leashes, making that singular howl that blood hounds make. The handlers were bracing themselves as they followed.

“Did you find anything Bill?” asked Constable Morley

“Yes, actually we’re following a scent right now”. The dogs continued past Jesse and Morley and then circled near the edge of the river.

“Looks like that’s were it started” said Bill

“You picked up a trail? Where ‘bouts?

“Outside the train station under the water tower. Dogs picked up the scent from the uniform he’d left and we followed it back here. I guess he got on the train”

“Well, that must be his trail then, because this is where the uniform was found”

Morley said “Any sign of a struggle?”

“No”

Jesse looked at Morley and said “Thank God”



British Whig 8 Aug 1918


Downing Theory Has been Abandoned


And that of foul play in case of Major Sharp is discounted


Kingston Aug 7—The search for the body of Major W. J. Sharp, Casualty officer, whose uniform was found Saturday on the bank of the Cataraqui River near Kingston Junction, has been abandoned and the opinion is growing that he was not drowned. The river has been thoroughly searched. The fact that an English bloodhound which followed the scent to the point were GTR trains stopped to take on water has convinced many that Major Sharp is still alive. An unconfirmed rumor was in circulation today that he had been seen in Montreal



The New York Central coach moved slowly through the City of Montreal and then onto Victoria Bridge as they crossed the St Lawrence. Sharp watched the shadows of the structural steel girders play across the interior of the car. He remembered the great celebration when the bridge was rebuilt with steel girders and the old covered bridge replaced.

Rumours of my death

Chapter 4

Rumours of my Death

As he walked he scanned the crowd and then, seeing a set of stairs leading to a mezzanine, he climbed half way up, before stopping.. His eyes travelled methodically over the crowd. Never looking at any one couple in particular, but raking back and forth till something stuck in the tines. A girl about 5 feet and a half, auburn hair, fair complexion, travelling with a military looking man. A couple who seemed not to want to be seen.

As they walked along toward the ticket counter, Sharpe looked into the glass of the windows he passed to see if any reflected face repeated itself. He didn’t see anything. They passed a news stand and words on the front page of the Montreal Star said “Kingston searches for missing Officer”. He put a nickel in the palm of the newsboy and taking the paper read:

“Military authorities and Kingston police believe that Major WJS Sharp, late of the 21st Battalion and Casualty officer of MD 3, has drowned. His clothing was found beside the Cataraqui River along with a towel. Recovery efforts will commence tomorrow first light. Major Sharp had returned wounded from France in June 1917, and been assigned non-combative duties in the Casualty office”

Passing the newspaper to the girl, he stood while she read and then she said

”Looks like we’ve bought ourselves some time as far as Kingston is concerned.”

Sharp purchased tea and rolls from a passing cart and they took a seat to wait for the train to New York. Munching on his roll he said “I suppose you can’t tell me something about yourself”,

She thought, sipped her tea and then said “I’m not sure how much to tell you. I have a family too, you know and I wouldn’t want them to become involved in this.”

“How did you become involved?” Sharp asked

“I work for a department in Ottawa. My boss thought I would make a perfect courier. Who would think a girl clerk would carry such out such a mission? But they did find out and they were on my trail almost as soon as I left Ottawa. I knew I was being watched when I reached Kingston.”

“Why did you go to Kingston instead of Montreal?”

“Oh, that was a little ruse my boss thought up. He thought since my mother lives there I could be visiting her and if anyone was following, I could lose them in Kingston before continuing on. As you know, that didn’t work.”

Sharp asked “Did you get to see your mother?”

“No” she replied, “When I got off the train I realized the short fat man was following me. I went to the hotel to register and then thought I could go and see her if I could lose him. He was sitting in the lobby when I went out and I realized he wasn’t going to let go. I saw your office sign at The Armouries and simply walked in the door.”

“I still can’t figure out how they got onto you so soon”, said Sharp

“That’s been bothering me too”, she said, “I wonder if there is someone in my department?”
“Let me think about that, not that it matters too much now”

“It does matter, if this happens again. And “Sharp winced and then said in a strangled voice, “Excuse me”

She watched as he walked in some pain toward the nearest rest room. When he returned some 10 minutes later, she asked “Are you alright?”

“I guess the eggs weren’t cooked enough” he said.