Show true stories 10 31 1031 uncle ll 11 eat of the federal great r 0 4 detective agency the 4 detective ro bureau of 0 information 11 ff S dept 6 of justice at 1 Q by WILLIAM DU PUY I 1 ra Y A case from the copyright ajr W G chapman it Is astonishing said gard the bookkeeper how few people know anything about their own businesses take bank accounts tor for instance many people have money in bank which lies iles there inactive there is not oae one man in five having such an ac count who can tell the amount of it this statement was launched during the evening meal at mrs hud sons very respectable boarding house in the prosperous little town of new beaufort which slumbers in one of the valleys valley a of central new york 1 1 must take issue with you there ventured the elderly rector at 0 the episcopal church who being a widower boarded with mrs hudson 1 I for instance have managed to save a little money tor for old age and I 1 can tell the amount of it to a penny and I 1 know just how much I 1 have on deposit insisted miss dolan the school teacher and I 1 am quite sure of mine asserted a 4 bu buxom aiom widow who had bad collected life insurance asa As a test of my contention said gard 1 I am willing to pledge a box of candy to each of the ladies and cigars to the gentlemen who will set down the exact amounts of their inactive accounts in the first national bank and then prove their figures correct by application to the cashier this proposal appealed to those who had been drawn into the incipient controversy tro versy next day they asked for the figures figurea fig and easham each had won his reward gard seemed chagrined that hla his theory should have thus gone to the tha winds but lie he cheer cheerfully tully stood treat for he had established a fact viry very important to him the inactive accounts of the first national bank of new beaufort were intact this was one oi of the first steps in an investigation of a financial institution which while seemingly in the best of condition was suspected of having been looted for hundreds of thousands of dollars special agents of 0 the department apartment part ment of justice knew that an official of the tha bank had been trad trading ing heavily in wall street and that he had lost garda gard a member of this new detective force of the federal government had been sent to investigate representing himself as aa a bookkeeper he had secured a position with the leading grocer and had come to board with mrs hudson he stayed three weeks at the end of that time he reported the shortage fixed the blame upon the man responsible for it showed the ahe methods used cited the accounts from which the money had been stolen told what accounts were still intact yet he had never been inside the bank had seen none of its books had consulted with nobody familiar with them had re calved no confessions the manner in which he accomplished these seeming ay impossible ends illustrates most excellently the methods used by this new detective agency of the government it was a strange conspiracy of circumstances cum stances that brought to new beaufort detectives from three different services vices on the night two months later that conrad compton the enterprising citizen and banker was waa giving I 1 his bis big party there was mccord a plainclothes plain clothes man from from new york mccord would not cot have been in new beaufort but for or the ramifications of the now york police department in keeping track of these middle class criminals who live through the trade of burglary a calling that is sometimes refined into art and the police department would not have come into possession of a certain tip it if speck thompson lad had not done his bit up the river and returned to his bis pid haunts so broken that he ha chose to bacomo a stool pigeon because was no la lorger up to second story work i speck had fo found wid edt Put Th itch cli der had bad arran arranzer arrans zed cd to chael craf a safe and that the scene of the crack cracking ng was vas new beaufort ile he had tipped the matter off to the police and hence mc ile cords presence in a community community that was vas tar far from metropolitan lie he represented the first of the detective services the second such service was represented by newton a bank examiner in the service of the treasury department his district was vas central new york for three years he had been taking an occasional look into the books of the various national banks of hie big checking up assets and liabilities inquiring into the value of the paper japer held by the banks two weeks before conrad compton campt on gave his bis party newton had been beebi in new beaufort and had bad gone thoroughly into the affairs of the bank its books book were models of efficiency and there was IN as no flaw to be found in any of its securities or loans newton had the institution hla his 0 IL and had passed on n to other towns but there waa was a feeling of unrest t i that haunted the young examiner it seemed that his subconscious mind was aware of an oversight that had been made mada by hla his working faculties he was not able to sleep well of nights I 1 and in his sleep the various accounts of the now new beaufort bank insisted on visualizing themselves finally the recurring accounts eliminated themselves with the exception of one which persisted the loans and discounts account kept thrusting itself into his hid consciousness ness by jovel jove he be exclaimed suddenly to himself the ent entries ries in that account the amounts of money that have been run through it are out of all proportion to the other business of the institution something Is wrong with loans and discounts so newton hurried back to now new beaufort and was that night a guest at the party given by conrad compton with whom he had built up a friendship through years of association in the line of his work he was to take a further look at the loans and discounts 0 on n tho the morrow morion tho the department of justice is the prosecutor in cases of violations of the national banking law its work is entirely apart from that of the bank examiners of the treasury department the new york office of this service as ametter of daily routine received the information that david lorance assistant cashier of the first national bank of new beaufort was wa s regularly placing and selling orders with a certain broker la in wall street por for this reason agent bard card got tho the assignment to come to new beaufort and was thus the representative of the third detective service his windows at the grocery store looked out upon the side aide door of the bank opposite he was bland and inconspicuous but he was an expert accountant had ta taken k en a degree in the law and worked three nights a week in the gymnasium in new york when he was in town the compton home stood on a hill just back of the town it was known as stone crest and was the most ambitious establishment thereabouts being always pointed out with pride to visitors the banker was a widower but given to entertainment and to charity the members of the board of aldermen often met at stone crest to discuss those matters that had to do with the well being of the towns tow nt teas adre were given there whenever its charitable women were inaugurating some new venture the party tonight was a semipublic affair tor for it was in commemoration me of a centennial anniversary of that occasion w when hen the first I 1 settlers had bad fought off attacking indiana from their blockade ade through a day and night conrad compton was waa a tall graceful nervous nian man with a high forehead and a mass of wavy hair his features were of a perfect regularity and the whole face was so small as to give it somewhat the appearance of that of a woman an impression that was heightened by its absolute pallor newton tho the bank examiner watched hla his host narrowly as here he received hla guests as he directed their entertainment by a party of professionals who had been brought up from new york for the occasion as the ices were served jerked he thought the banker was a bit paler ler than usual and his natural nervousness nervousness seemed somewhat accentuated once during the evening he had drifted into the library which happened d to be empty of guests and had found the host peering out of a window that commanded a view of tho the town 1 I trust you will pardon my preoccupation said the banker turning again to his guests 1 I seem to have a way of feeling loneso when I 1 have most company mccord the plainclothes plain clothes man had vacillated between his hotel the railway station and those streets that gave views of the alleys leading past the back ends of establishments that might contain sates worth raffling occasionally casio nally his bis eye tell fell upon the lights in the house housa of the banker on the hill bill and wandered to tho the chief financial establishment of the town yet all was so serene in this eddy of the world that the hour of solitude that followed eleven seemed such an age that it to bed As tho the time drew on toward twelve there was no sign of life in the village the lights in the drug stores the restaurants the delicatessens delica tessens where ice cream Is served to the iho small town lovers had one by one winked themselves out the owl car of the trolley line that ahat ran through the village bad deposited its last late revelers at eleven thirty the swinging arc are lights at the street intersections occasionally sio nally sputtered fitfully and glared again A dynamo whirled whirred distantly at the electric light plant gard the agent of the do da justice was one ot of he few men ilithe in the town who was awake except those who had been guests of the banker and who had an hour which was almost unprecedented in now new beaufort they would have gone home at eleven but the banker instated insisted that they remain tor for further entertainment on the part ot of his new york musicians ono One song called forth another and the quality of the music proved so much more pleasing than that of their customary local talent that they forgot the passing of time the special agent sat on a hill neat near the compton home and smoked a pipe it was twelve before the party anally broke up those of olo townspeople who had come in their automobiles to were being tucked info the toa tonne aua and those who nad walked up the gray macadam drive were just setting out on foot when the clatter as of a bunch of giant fire crackers called their attention to the village below from the bank building was seen suddenly to burst a cloud of smoke woe a moment later a skylight was broken and a tongue of flame leaped forth fire firel fire I 1 cams came the shout from a dozen voices gard had bad seen more than had the guests of the banker As aa he smoked his pipe and watched tho the village below the lights in the windows of stone crest and the silent pottage cottage of lorance the assistant cashier he had seen an automobile with no lamp sh showing fwIng creep through the quiet back street purr stealthily into the alley back of the bank and stop behind a small building that shut oft off his view half an hour passed and the darkened machine reappeared from behind the intervening building turned into the thoroughfare leading to the southeast and disappeared in the distance at an ever increasing rate of speed when the exploding cartridges in the cashiers drawer at the bank gave the first warning of mhd fire the clamor of the alarm followed and pandemonium broke out in the village of the dispersing group on the hill everyone ann ran for a nearer view of the fire the musicians the servants the master of the house himself all hurried into the village to mako make part of the 6 excitement x cit ement that prevailed stone crest the lights of its entertainment still glowing was left deserted gard card the special agent again acted differently from his fellows by falling failing to do the thing which others did he crossed over from the hill on which 1 k I 1 FOUND THE HOST PEERING OUT OF A WINDOW THAT COMMAND ED A VIEW OF THE TOWN lie be had bad smoked and hastily entered the bankers house arriving he ha seemed to know exactly what he wanted he hurried through the rooms of the house snapping on still more lights until he found that apartment which se be emed to be the alie personal retreat of the owner here he evidently had business standing in the middle of the floor he looked about thrown carelessly into a window seat he saw two heavy heave books of the appearance of lodgers ledgers these he secured and placed on a table in the middle of the room without even examining them next he ha began further exploration when lie he found the bankers bedroom he seemed satisfied on the back of a chair was a coat evidently that which compton Co had worn until he be dressed tor for the evening gard thrust his hand late into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a batch of letters through which he ran rapidly ile he selected two or three thrust them into his pocket returned for the ledgers tucked these under his bis arm and left the house bouse on the way to his lodgings he be filed a telegram to the department at washington which read as follows compton cashier in first national bank case guilty lorance probably not imp implicated licked bank burned tonight by accomplices of compton case complete GARD the manner lo in which these conclusions were reached reache dare ara but t of tho rieth of the sleuths of odthe the de apartment part ment of justice justl ce alard had come to new beaufort aufort with but a suspicion that lorance the assistant cashier was playing the market marketon on the funds of the bank lorance Loranc ewas was known to be placing orders with a wall street broker at the boarding house gard learned that lorance lived modest modestly in a cottage with his wife and babies had not been seen to make mahe any display of money was of sturdy farm er stock on the other hand the investigator immediately picked up the facts that the cashier compton maintained an expensive establishment entertained lavishly was often absent from town was waa nervous high strung in bad health all these facts led him to watch the cashier rather than his assistant they led him also to some gome experimental testing of at the condition of the banks accounts he knew that a dishonest employee of a bank in appropriating money had bad to charge it to some account to make the books balance the large inactive accounts offer a most tempting opportunity of this sort but these were found to be intact by his ruse of inducing tho the depositors to call tor for their balances it was waa to get a better line on the buz business iness of the community and particularly ticul arly upon the accounts of compton that the special agent see secured ired a position as bookkeeper in joys grocery store here he found in the first place that tle the buying for the compton home was most profligate and evidently wasteful aste ful he found further that the bills were always paid without quest question lun and by check knowing of an old trick that has brought many a cashier to ruin gard sought sough ta a way to test these personal checks to determine whether or not they actually found their way to the personal account of the cashi cashar cr the cashier of a bank is usually the individual who opens the mail and many of these have been known to cash personal checks and destroy them when they came in for collection charging the amount to some account where it might temporarily be hidden to determine whether or not these person personal al checks were being juggled by the cashier gard as the grocers bookkeeper found a pretext to send to the bank for a record of some personal checks of comptois comptons Com which he had handled a few days earlier the call was made while compton was out to lunch and the checks could not be found through another anotn er |