| Show I 1 1 The Bond Stealers A Story Told Under the Green Lamps LampsI I BY W M B FERGUSON I I IL 1 7 I Q JEll III IIIi 1 1 U J L r i I was I looking 00 king Into the business end 0 of f a f 0 Colts Did you ever hear of oC the NeW York robbery No Well Tell your father will remember It happened Cour years ears ago one Sunday morning In October 1881 Cash and securities amounting to more than 2 were stolen from Crom the bank vaults au I ls About J in cash was real realized realized the remainder being In securities among which were thirty United States gold bonds bearing Interest at 4 per It was the most sensational crime of oC Its kind In police annals Nothing was heard hearel of the tho bonds and by a special act of congress they were and new ones Issued By the superhuman efforts of oC the Inspector of the New York police pollee tour r rooks crooks and a policeman members of oC the cleverest gang of bank robbers In Inthe Inthe the states were sent to prison for tor the But all of his great Ingenuity was nev never r able to penetrate the real mystery and ami learn who conceived the darIng Idea and received the great for fortune fortune tune comprised In the thirty missing bonds It was surmised that two of the most brilliant crooks that ever raised a draft or forged a note were head and tall ot at the procession But nothing could rould be proved The five convicted burglars would not utter an Incriminating Incriminating word for tor persuasion or force Corce Again though every police department In the Union was wa on the alert no trace could be found of the suspects One ot of them was a man the other a 11 wo woman woman man The former was known to the police pollee as the Professor the latter as the Queen of Sheba though she was wa sometimes called inelegantly Annie Ot Of the Professor ProCessor It had been openly maid that he was a son born on the left hand ot of one of the crowned heads of Europe a Heidelberg and Ox Oxford Oxford ford with the right to put any part of the alphabet after his name It If te he so desired The woman was a product of the New York ghetto beau beautiful beautiful to a fault Cault with the superhuman sharpness of the street combined with natural genius and a brilliant person personality nitty Together they were as cold blooded and Machiavellian a proposition proposition tion as ever came down the Great White Way Yay A dirty hand In a dirty glow glove At the time of at the C bank rob hery I had been one year ear In the United States tates secret service I had learned the Initial ropes perfectly and of course ourse like an any other detective took an Inordinate Interest In the case that had started the whole country shout shoutIng lug Ing But as I sa say though the govern governments governments ments best men were scattered all over the world not a trace was discovered of oC either the Professor ProCessor or the Queen of Sheba nor one of the thirty United States gold bonds They seemed to have hare completely evaporated It was not until fifteen years later that Uncle Sam at last got on the track of the missing securities and the clue to the mystery And I Captain John Smith then In charge ot of the New York dis district of the United States secret ser service vice had the honor to be collector for Cor Corthe forthe the long defrauded government It was on a drizzling Monday Monda morn mornIng lag Ing In late September 1896 that a mes messenger enger from the A bank hurried into m my office on Nassau street touched his cap and said Captain Smith acting assistant Mr Ir Morey of the ur ury sent me round to ask you ou If you OU will kindly see him at once He says Its very en Important Calls from the are mi Im Important and accompanied by the mes enger I lost no time In reaching Wall Wallstreet an street I was ushered Into the acting assist assistant ant treasurers office Mr Ir Morey was wasa a small man with a face that seemed all profile and a concise vo vocabulary cabula Captain Smith he began without 0 any preamble b by a remarkable chance I have now In my possession one of oC those thirty government bonds bond that were vera stolen In the C bank robbery fifteen years ears ago There It Is A bond for tor the name of the original owner oner the C bank has been skill skillfully tully fully erased with acids and the name J J Lansing Fownes substituted Halt Half an hour ago continued Mr Ir Morey tersely this bond was present presented ed d for tor verification by this messenger from the A bank I went over oyer the list of bonds States series of oC 1880 From the num nuin kers ers 2231 to 2260 were the ones stolen from rom the C bank This bond Is as you ou see numbered 2254 What have you ou done I demanded quickly AU All I could I phoned the A bank to detain the presenter of this b bond nd The president Mr Andrews said that MI Browning offered It as collateral with a note attached for a aloan loan of The president agreed and while believing the security gilt edged had the precaution to send It here for tor verification Yes yes but the Browning I 11 asked Imperatively Mr lore Mercy shrugged his shoulders Mr Ill Browning had gone before I sent for tor you ou The president said he prom promised Led to Before he had finished I had excused myself and rung up the A bank on the telephone This Is Captain Smith ot of the I explained quickly over the wire to President Andrews That bond you OU sent to the treasury for tor verification Is no good It If Mr 11 Browning the pro pre seater nt r comes back tell teU him It Is O 0 K It and that you will advance the loan I Kindly hold him It IC you rou can Ill be up In fifteen minutes Then thanking Mr Morey for his prompt service I swung out of the theA theA A bank When I entered Mr Andrews private office offic he was In conversation with a slightly built gentleman of oC medium height blond curly hall hair and a Van VanDyke VanDyke Dyke beard He wore spectacles a Fe Fedora Fedora dora hat and a long loose paddock overcoat It Is my business to be ob observant servant senant of trifles and details Mr Smith of oC the these se secret ret said President nt with dramatic Quietness Nt a shadow passed over the slim face tace He nodded to me with polite Indifference Circumlocution tion Is one cne o of my attributes Mr Browning I said curti curtly I must ask you ou to explain how that bond you OU presented for security came to be beIn bein In your pos possession Am I to Infer Anything you you like Mr 11 Browning That bond Is stolen property You will have to clear clor yourself of a charge of conspiracy It if not actual robbery Mr Ir Browning eyed eed me with cold die dis disfavor favor and then passed a slim well gloved hand over CIer his face I noticed that though a blonde the eyes behind the glasses were quIck and dark I am entirely Innocent of an any wrongdoing he said with dignity He spoke In jerky little sentences I 1 am ama a man of at means and standing In the west Last week In company with my wife I came caine to New York My wife Is In ill III health We e stopped at the H House While there I made the ac acquaintance of Mr lr and Mrs J J Lans LansIng Lansing Ing Fownes He Is a capitalist with vast holdings In southern lumber tracts Mr Fownes and I got quite friendly Finally It developed that tha t he had an odd hundred thousand he would like to Invest In some It I Interested him In the Balvanera Mining company of Mexico ot of which I 1 hold control He agreed to purchase a block of stock for Then he I asked me it If I had an any objection to United States gold bonds be bearing Inter Interest interest est at 4 per cent Said It would save him the trouble of selling them and the brokers broken commissions I agreed He paid me the first bond yesterday I was temporarily short of oC ready cash Today I opened negotiations wIth the theA theA A bank for a loan the bond and m my note as security I assure you gen gentlemen tiemen I thought everything was per legitimate Very good Mr I said However for tor the present you must consider yourself under arrest Mean Meantime Meantime time you ou will kindly accompany ny me to your hotel and personally Identify Mr Fownes Fones With pleasure said the slim gen gentleman gentleman with unruffled courtesy courtes At the desk of the H House halt haltan haltan an hour later the day clerk after atter In Inquiry inquiry Informed me that Mr Fownes was out When did he go I asked Dont know sir He leave his hiskey hiskey key Is Mrs Fownes In I asked No sir all Left her key here an hour ago Said It If any one called to say she would be back at 5 An Any flies mes sage gage sir siro No o I said curtly and turned to Mr lr Browning I am compelled to bring you to headquarters Mr Browning I explained Your ball bail will be agreed upon and then you can be paroled In fn custo custody y of your counsel I will see Mr Fownes as aR soon as I can Mr Ir Browning shrugged his shoulders with polite disgust This 1 Is all ver very Inconvenient antI and an entirely unnecessary outrage But I suppose you must do your duty Per Permit mit me to explain matters to my wife She Is not tn m very good health and I hardly wish her to think me a crIm crImInal Inal Inah My suite Is on the second floor No You can come up with me or stand guard at the elevator It you think I cont contemplate trying to evade the law and he smiled with polite ear sar sarcasm The lobby will do quite as well I Isaid Isaid said dry dryly You can have bare ten mm ute utes ith a bow he stepped Into the nearest elevator while I took a seat secure In the knowledge that I commanded the situation of oC all the ex exIts exits Its I five minutes I waited ten I waited fifteen minutes No tIre Mr Browning Then lh n I strode to the Kindly phone to Mr BrownIngs suite and say that Captain Smith Is still waiting wal ting Xo No Mr Ir Browning registered here sir Mr gentleman who was with me Suite second floor I explained angrily Ye Very sorry sir There must be some t Is occupied by Mr r Fownes and his wife Like a thunderbolt long delayed light broke In on me With a hasty hash ox ex explanation to the clerk and a flash of oC m my shield I seized a ben bell boy and literally carried him In a rush to the elevator and up to suite And then my worst fears fear were realized The rooms were empty empt How when and where my polite Mr Ir Browning had gone I pretend to say sayAt sayAt At the desk I elicited the information that Mr and Mrs Fownes had regis registered registered five days daY ago They had two dress suit Bull cases with them and ex explained ex explained that their baggage while on the way from Chicago had gone astray It was expected every moment They had registered from that city and paid two weeks In advance The clerk cler now remembered that when Mrs Fownes had left heft her key at the desk one hour ago she had a dress suit pace case with her Mr lr Browning was known In Inthe inthe the hotel as a gentl gentleman man who some sometimes sometimes times visited the Fownes Mr Fownes was light of medium height with a white beard stoop shoulders and a slight limp His wife was about the same and build very deaf and wore spectacles The hotel was as spar searched hed from Crom r rOof of to cellar for the vanished hed Mr Browning but with no avail After Arter reviewing the affair calmly and dispassionately I came to the ob obvious conclusion that Mr Ir Fownes and his wife could be no other than the famous Professor and his con consort consort sort Their fortunes evidently at a low ebb they had run the risk ot of Ing one of the stolen bonds In all probability probability ability many banks who had not taken the precaution of the A had before beCore this loaned money on the forgeries and later had discreetly charged the trans transaction transaction action to profit and loss being afraid to publish their Indiscretion One Ons thing the government had now at t last a eon con concrete crete charge agaInst the pair I b bogan gan ganto to reason InductIvely The Professor no doubt played the double role of at Fownes and Browning He had substituted the former name on the bond In the role of oC the latter Iatter lie he had endeavored to negotiate It He had eyl evi evidently dently thought the bank would not send to the When hen he found they had done so he had bad gone out and telegraphed Fownes alias the Quen of Sheba to clear out of oC the hotel In ca caze e the was clever cleyer enough to recognize the stolen bond When hen confronted by me he had ini pl pI posed as the innocent Mr Ir Brown Browning Browning ing In a large hotel the employee can cannot cannot not keep track of the outgoings and Incomings of oC the guests Therefore while I waited he had bOldly gone gorie to tile his In the name of Fown Fownes s In his guise of oC Mr fr Brown BrownIng Browning Ing a frequent caller this had been an aneas easy matter Then he had changed his disguise completely and grip In hand had no doubt walked calmly past me meas as aa I sat In the lobby and so eo out the front entrance Hl He could not have ac accomplished accomplished his escape In any other manner I now bent aU all my energies on calling up every person who had stepped from the elevator during m my twenty minutes ot of waiting The fact that I must look for a dress suit case materially helped me I remember that two people had passed me with such an article a ayoung young oung manof barely twenty and a lay lady of perhaps or thirty I re recalled recalled called their appearance perfectly perfect I could not afford to let the slightest clue however seemingly preposterous slip through my fingers That young man and lady had to be tracked down It was no longer desirable keeping the matter secret I was dealing with criminals ot of the first water and reputation reputation tation I require the help ot of everything and everybody especially the press So It was that the afternoon editions of the papers were alive with the history of oC the case Also th the entire police department and my men were out Thus with the entire machinery of oC the country In operation I anxiously awaited results They were not long In coming Clues arrived by the carload Every on one was faith faithfully Cull followed until myth Finally on tIme the following morning we struck oil The young man with the dress suit case had been located at the town GIven Iven In the hotel register He proved conclusively to be an Inoffensive traveling salesman That left the Wo Woman woman man Absurd as It seemed I was forced to the conclusion that Mr 11 Browning alias aUns the Professor had Impersonated a young lady of oC 25 One morning some two weeks after atter m my Interview with Mr Ir Morey of the a gentleman with whiskers and a bristling white mustache was ushered Into my office lIe Ie looked to be a sufferer from kIdney trouble for his complexion was wasa a p peculiar yellow There was a certain hesitancy and nervousness apparent In his manner M My name Is B Wilson he began and I am the pres president ident of oC the First National bank of Stamford Conn He hummed and hawed nervously rubbing his chin and finally out came the story I had begun to suspect His bank had advanced a aloan aloan loan on one of the spurIous government bonds It happened about six months ago h he explained uneasily and when I discovered the fraud Ie of If course courle I had the integrity of oC the bank bankin in mind and so said nothing You un understand understand I understand I said d dryly ly And what awakened your conscience at this late hour Mr Wilson looked IrretrIevably In Insulted suIted I saw the A affair In the pa papers papers pers he replied with Impervious dig dignity Being here on business I thought It was my dut duty as a to acknowledge my mr Innocent dealings with the scoundrels Also Captain Smith by a lucky chance I think I can put you In the way Yay of arresting the head men ot of the gang this Professor ProCessor as they call all him What I said In slow amazement Exactly Captain Smith he said quietly Yesterday a gentleman |
