| Show f u u I I or THE SECRET SERVICE I jj T V L N f t l I consider tie t 1 most I Is first s th lr to t notice s i ime a rg gB DIckson DIckOn a retired secret ser service f odi er had bad J the words wards of vice We Ve e sa sat sac beside the open rf t r his library and watched the thes d rw w j drift out outI smoke from our pipes 31 te to s th ummer summer night I t r her he mom moments of thought l Cher Iter tr s some me jed ed r It has eli m my own experience fixed flied conviction with me that thai tes es ever eer committed where the theina theT thetna T n ina t its iia to o leave behind some clew cle clelA tbt if It is ja only found and its ft worth lA will Invariably IY lead to the thee Si e tiAn tinn tir n of ot the culprit I 1 remember a ase apse ctt th that it never nt ver would have been cleared cleared 15 se probably If It had not been forr for a ahI Rh hI t I found in fn the crack between r parks of the floor Therefore in Inas m pA ewer er tot t your question I will say that as the Insignificant things that r escape notice the most Jt to search for whenever a crime yi tu tas been committed I have a case in fn mind a rubbery robbery It happened when I 1 was con eon concerted with that department before 1 t tran transferred to the broader field of ran ras as secret service I 1 will never forget forgette the e te e village where it occurred ed It l was wast t atom town of some or souls fouls In the ther Creel r l mountains It had only one ho hot t and Ux In the three weeks that I was wast t there I 1 almost destroyed my m i t endeavoring g to support t tI life on oni ts i abominable faret fare I believe belleve that 1 l fd t t a II keener satisfaction In fn the royal ro eal gal I secured at Boston on my m re return turn tam to tt Washington than I did in cap Ting the author of the robbery robber The postoffice safe had been tapped f r iT a large quantity of stamps about KM iJO SS IO in to money mone and a brand new money mO crier book hook This last Item gave Im Important to the case because a book ef of r money order orner blanks In the hands of or ora a leve crook can an cause the govern goern government cent ment more trouble than a session of congress The tufe rufe was a crude Iron affair was fastened by means of a brass key ke The key ke was too large and too heavy heR to be lugged about and ard after the safe was locked It was wa Md Lid away In a corner of the cash drawer A peculiar circumstance of the robbery 1 M as that the safe had been found locked i ind nid nd a d the key in its place of conceal concealment concealment ment The culprits had possessed an in int Intimate t mate knowledge of the habits of t tin tha postmaster j and his assistant Miss Lundy a young lady of fine appearance And charming personality Mason the postmaster had a theory theor that two tramps had committed the theft He lie said that two suspicious had bad come orne into the the afternoon before the robber robbery and had half bought the five stamps He con cond dered d red this a suspicious circumstance as us he said that persons of DC their type al always always ways bought stamped envelopes no nomore more than they needed at the time and that they always mailed their letters b bore fore leaving the office addressing them with the dilapidated pen main maintained maintained maintained by the postmaster at all country offices oakes for victims who have no alternative tive thin than to use uso it ft At the back of or t IC building a window glass had been b n broken out and Mason especially dl di din r n ted my attention to it as he said it must mast have been by b this means that the robbers gained entrance to the building Al AI of oC the doors had been securely s The windows were tre without shutters rs and fl they were fastened by b means of a ast asti st sti k set diagonally across the he upp tipper r rash soh and resting renting on an tho the lower loner oat CIU a ad fence deice d ke commonly employed in country 1 ins a as where weights have hae trot not come ome comet II t use Mason displayed fm entirely tI reI too much nervousness J In his conversation conver i and it was M evident that he was anxious to im tm impress press Ors me with his theory of the ease case 1 began gan to form fonn a vague ague suspicion of him himat hima a at hc the thE very wry outset A circumstance that st Ft lengthened it was the fact that the theT T had bad ben been broken by b some one oneide oneIde ide side the building The fragments of t S 6 ra ass ss I still lay laj scattered upon Jie he i hm tl it st in m front of ot the window Mason aJ as fared Eared ac t that th t they had not been dis I c b J Th The most careless observer u ud l not nit fail fall to see that the window Indo JUKI iad ad been broken from within All AU the had fallen outside and there i tas raa as not a particle of glass on the floor e eJ eI J I t let I f Mason Iason suspect my m doubt et cf him hm but on the contrary took look par parula ula ular pains to Impress him with the 1 r I r that hat I had perfect confidence in 10 inti ins s ti tL nr nd that I 1 would tit t folo fol ving the elev that he hei d i 1 furnished Nevertheless Nce hel r I made a aute arte 1 ute rte examination of the premises I 3 i tr t 1 ly thing I j found fOUld was a small ste WM tt P pin n with a green glass head It as in m a rack rak nf of f the floor noor immediately to In f rr nt vat t f r the rifled safe Without ut at ata a 4 Ling attention I 1 secured the pin and f JK it beneath neath the lapel l pel of my coat it ir might prove proc of value alue It 1 It 1 v was is the key to the situation Ir iy examination showed show d that the rob I b 11 nM had the e through e int iv ioor r and that th t the Oie 01 broken win wina a aas as merely n a blind or else eli it ft had hadt KeD b t l br by b accident I 1 take rh h s y i k in m this last theory but pit pits i t te Je e s down lown as a deliberate effort o t th water vater There were two t e 8 front and a back one Thear The t far ar T Te was kept locked and amI the key t hung ung nn on a nail nan In the office Only ken n a i 1 Miss nS Lundy had keys ke s to the thet t tI i il l I O t r about abl ut learning where Ma Maa Ia r a ad d Miss i s g Lundy had been on tint r gi t or f a t robbery robber and also to slit sift slite h e iia after er of the tte two tramps tromps It Itc c rt Tl t t much work to establish to r e Ii satisfaction that tha th t Mason Magon had bad hadres 1 be f rat 1 elect dE ve l res about the ther I r a v a II several I Let e er ors s f 1 beets bee a porco of the I I t 1 TZ next door at the very er time said the he t men had visited the tho thoa ther m a IP Ps w were ere rare In the village u ii T r tor Irv that two strange str n men could jut Kr Isit such a town as that with irV t Ming attention than could two a K tin to te E Plants haTt This made things thins loci lod lo loit t Jb b i l fr r Mason Iason it a rot Ent ot so easy to trace Mason Iason i r H th tong lady lad on that evening tut SOme e considerable work ork T r learned a the ither her of thorn them had been at home e early any earl F part par a that particular p r e n Ing No Xo on one knew where they had been i nor what they the had done during this pe per r rod od Mason had left his Ills home and andUss Miss Lundy her boarding house early after supper on that night on the pre pretext pretext pretext text of taking a walk wall Mason had re returned returned returned turned some gome time Ume after midnight The hour ot Lunds return was uncertain un nn uncertain certain Already A r sorely puzzled over oer the evi evidence f dence which was accumulating one olle morning upon arising I X L was more than ever vcr mystified by finding a slip of ot paper under the door of my room In Ina Ina Ina a nS unnatural hand four fair words were written upon it Mason robbed the safe When I visited the I t no noticed noticed noticed that Mason rason waa waG pale and haggard ha gad and he was as nervous as a caged ea ed leopard When hen I went to the hotel at noon I found a tiny note on the thee table in my m room It was a bit bt rf d paper Just the kind that refined young 11 V fD b it GUILTY I I I I ladles ladies employ in fn their polite correspondence correspondence correspondence dence I jumped to the conclusion that It must be a further message of If the same character as the thC mornings note It was but there was wag teas a a decided ed conflict eon con m in the news it contained In a 3 cramped disguised writing evidently a womans were cre five words Miss Lundy undy is the robber robb r Frankly 1 I know what to think Suspicion and these mysterious notes pointed to the postmaster and his handsome assistant a tan The letters w were ro re rewritten written by I persons per P on and it ft was waa easy to imagine that Mason and the young oung lady had robbed the sate safe s e and that each of them had h d been seen by a different person as they left lett the build building ins ing that these persons were a woman and a man and that they had taken the tile pains Dains to advise rne me of what they had bad seen by means means ns of the brief un ln unsigned signed note And yet I in rn n bring my m mind to accept the the theory theory ory I liked Mason on the short ac u acquaintance acquaintance and in spite of the u pl colus circumstances which w pointed to him He was a n fine fellow and a man manof manof manof of chivalrous instincts as was shown by tho the courteous demeanor he Invariably bly exhibited toward his pretty a sis t tant ant Miss lIl s Lundy Lund too seem like a criminal She was far too wholesome and natural and frank and sweet 4 The me more more than ever and I fall faU asleep until late that night having tos ed away awa tanny n restless hours upon the instrument of torture which did service for a bed inthe in inthe InI the stuffy room of the hotel Involuntarily Involuntarily next morning 1 I glanced at the I crack beneath the door as soon as my I Ie eyes e opened It was vas there a third note I Ion on the same paper and in the tho same hand and of the same purport as that 1 of the morning before b forc The only change chanse was in the wording of it Why dont you arrest Mason He lie robbed the postoffice Ask him if he hed d break the window glass Ho wont deny den it itI itI tor I worried w fed through the th e mornin m s 5 somehow m never ner trusting stion sho up ht the postoffice At s J was forced to go back to the hotel a aIt avas as asit It was vas the only place of public enter entertainment enter nt in the village I headed straight for tor my room expecting to find lind finda linda I a fourth note on the table I was vas not disappointed for there It was as big bigas bigas bigas as life lICe the exact the day before Miss II s Lundy is the robber robb r Here was a pretty kettle of or fish sh Persistent informers were implicating two separate persons either of or whom i from the unsatisfactory evidence then secured might have been the thief f I 1 eat a morsel of or the tho meal that was as placed before me strewn strewn about my m plate like the cards In some curi ds game of solitaire s I questioned the proprietor and the tha servants about the thc hotel but none of them knew anything about the notes note nor had they the seen any an person enter my m room This was waa what wha I feared and It was not strange either for the hotel was the most public pubU place in fn the vil 11 e lage and any an one on of a hundred people i could have room deposited the thc notes and attracted ed the 3 slightest ti More Afore than ever puzzled dl I trolled over to tho lie postoffice utter after aft lunch Mason Ma Mason son was there and alone Miss Lundy had not returned d from her dinner The Tb postmasters face rac was piteous to behold He shrank frn from r me as I greeted him and put Jj f hl his hands li over over his face Ills His hands shook like a mans with the pal palsy palsy palsy sy Before I could find thud a seat he arose and wept went into his private office beck beckoning beckoning me to follow I 1 seated myself and watched with patience wh while le he strode back b ck and forth across the limited space of tho of office fice flee Suddenly he stopped squarely be he before before fore me mc and bracing himself with a painful effort blurted out a jumble e f fords words confessing that he had robbed the safe I 1 was struck all of a heap but never neer for an instant did I 1 believe him There was something about tl tile tIe e every very vel language of his Incoherent confession confes rones confession sion slon and his manner in making it that told me that Mason was not the thc thief See Sed he heres herc rc Meson Mason on I answered when h paused d acif he had completed c what Ke ne Intended I l saying ull have hae to give me something more than your our come lon Ion before I will be believe believe believe lieve what hat you ware bave e just t w I T I in nt t really think you OU tits dt t the jet yc s 1 Iam I Iam Iam am satisfied that you broke the win window window dow ow to draw from the tb real criminal and although I know that yiu U deceived me about the two tramp tramp What more do o you want Ma on n breathed I 1 did It I J tell telf you OU and I Ishall Ishan Ishall shall shan be convicted of ft it I cant restore the Ule stamps tamps and the money order book b ok because I 1 have hac destroyed them but here Is the money every CVEt penny of it itHe ItHe He Ho threw a roll roil of or bills in my lap lapaDd and aDd continued My Sty I confession is sufficient to con convict convict vict upon I will repeat t it ir fr court and andI I want you to arrest arr st me m me and get me away from here just as oon on as you youcan youcan OU OUan f 7 can an r TI TIt Just st at t ih I pot agent entered the office with a telegram for forI fora a I me It was a cipher message from the Id department Taking T out t my tny code tool book boo booI I I translated It In a moment and arid the tho contents of it In the tIle light of Masons confession was nothing less than un unnerving unnerving unnerving nerving Money Mone orders being b passed Waco and 2nd other Texas towns What does ri It mean he h cried Before I coUi could answer him Miss Lundy came into the office With a womans womanS intuition she hc saw that some something something something thing was wrong A look of or terror which J smote me the tp to the heart rt swept over oyer over her face She spra sprang sprang ng forward and stepped between Mason Iason and me who stood staring at each other like wooden images That la it she pleaded I 1 have confessed con to tor robbing the postoffice Mason lason replied In fn a voice olce that was utterly devoid of oc hope Oh Captain Dickson she sobbed dont you ou believe hit him Ho have hao havea a thing to 10 do with It 1 did It myself The Thc money mone is In my 01 trunk 1 I have burned the Ute stamps and the money order book She do It Captain DIckson ranted Mason rason like hike a man demented She knows nothing about It ft I alone am guilty and she Is merely mere trying to save sac me me from prison m she Is my my aN aZ a bride Then both broke Into a torrent i protesting and pleading at me hammerand hammer hammerand and tongs each seeming bent solely on establishing the innocent e of the other and individually shouldering nil all the responsibility re responsibility responsibility for the crime come In their frenzied talk Mr and Miss liss had been quite discarded and It had been John dear and Dearest Lucy Luc and similar terms of endearment Suddenly Sudden a great light broke upon my my troubled mind Each jach thought the other guilty guilt and md each though Innocent wished to assume the blame so o that the other might go free freeHold freeHold Hold Holdon on an there I cautioned you 1 arc aro ar a pair of sentimental young Inno innocents 1 cents and while I am willing to give gin j I v I vs d i I jy 1 1 I I II II I i I it I I V I I you OU my blessing ble although it I If Is a bit |
