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Show 1 BY JULIUS MULLER. I Br-, .i . i'.i'l it " Ti.-. Aiih-.uch tb 'Kai . iironlcl. i In t he i as i of Mc I p-ii .i.i I US duv n In 1,1- M r place, Whlctl W&l I U i r tin- i rime riu ( hi r I pafi i 1 1 i ' i 1 1 i la l prominent I liter i .w, .mil i. hi in- i irdlnal rules Itli.i i ! i .imc t" him with 1 1 M leu- i h lv ': Bist i .. Lhlnjt luck I ii he Mil i). story he held slightly cr nt I. vv - is will b ' I I la Story of the Lucky Chain t for i H mpi Hpratlon All thi i apci i had b eh af- ir It and i mii The officers of i he pni i 1 1 i mouthi disgustingly ind arrived ai the Bc - nft-1 !!.' other reporters had gom-. jjP11' ii . io m Be i i mi to "J v. I i j-.il I"'' i "" And wltl launched Into .i Ri ' ' 1 dn ' ri mi mbei Bklii 41 PN-o. hed ft 1 ' ire ii I 11,11 got hi. i in ii,,. ,,f. i K i . . i - 'B K' v know Ili.W I ), fl mr I a icou i-1 iii N' ' I w I had bo-imp bo-imp r m py 1 d i n u hi i' . rn r,.p. u - P""' II 9 Re''' r' ' ' ff "Ii intellect ;!B' hi !"nJ- to It that i roi a g i R, ' "' '' " 1 r.'Ull..,, tl. it m Ef,L ." -' "r ' i"'-t .k.- i f'r i k'l.i.i i i do that, Dtl bus i ..ii,!,;- ,iir. , ilv i i .1.. wlili 0 " ' l" Mm I ii w i- th., lirst link I ' ( i- I n m- mbi r W 'fT that I aized the opportunity fEP Off t. go trout fishing, went to one of those queer Utile in Connet Ucut with a Blblii ..l close1- C 11 Kc,,r,-m- Thafa cd f.ir .ii-. it week with onl) YOU VE 30T US THE OLD fair auceaa. One evening one of t$ia ii-luK. ii-luK. rs BUggcated to me that I ought to I arrange with HI ram Burt to take me out because he knew every trout by name. "HI." Mil. (hi- villager "he ain't mlssr.l going llshln' at least once a week ever sine he was h boy. Some of the In t holes Is right by his farm. ' Armed with a lantern 1 started to lllram Burt's farm I reached the place ail rik'ht. and ww,a light n i window; but before I could get to the house 1 ran ugulnst a f. in e I couldn'f find the door unlil I had sfnrehfd u g..".i while, and when i finally reached It. 1 saw a inun look out for a moment and then disappear. The- next Instant the light In the huiit-e went out. I knocked, le.it tlu-re was no answer. I kh kiM the .lour, iut it lii.in i do anj goad. I lnok.'l In lliriniirli : wlnilnw and was j'uri" that I could see a man In the dark J room, .io i made up n. mind that Hiram Burt was either crazy' or afraid of rob-bt rob-bt te. and i atarted back; getting loat again among the outbuildings of the farm, which waa a big om- N'M flay i Ratted up the brook) Intending Intend-ing I" work up to the farm and try lllram .iKaln Then- w.i lots of toiinh und r-hniah r-hniah and I had to go quite a distance along the i-dg. .,f th- farm before I found an opening Tin n I askcl a hired man I lor the owner, and he BloUChed to the 1m. i sc. i.nly Iij r. ,ip..-.if with the nn'ssiiK1 that th'- lilies was sick. i 1 fished all the wa up I he brook then :u,l k-ol n fair lot of troui II WAS late When I worked hack again, anil I thought It most convenient to go though the gap and pass through the farm to gel back to village. It was bright moonlight, and again 1 saw a light In tho house, and again u went out an i passed looking back, l was sure that a man was peering OUt "f an uppef window at me But I waa too hungry to waato much time won-deling won-deling over Mr. lllram Burt's Idiosyncrasies. Idiosyn-crasies. Next morning I g.t a telegram ordering rn- back to New York. 'Bee here." said the managing editor, "I'm going to give you a chance to make another big hit. It's a hard proposition. though, and w-f won't count n againat ou if you don't win. Laat night our w Bptngtpn people tipped us otr that tba Sn ret Service h.ni located those counter-feii-rs of the twenty-dollar note ,,inf. w her.- in Connecticut That's all we can find out for love or money. I've got n noil" no-il" n of gambling on your luck. Suppose you start up to Connecticut and sWh armind 1 Thafa a pretty general sort of nn order." or-der." said i. "perhaps l tna be permitted tq suggeat tiint the state of Connecticut l; QUlta a sizable Sort of plai I ' "i know-, i know." replied to "1 would ri nsloVr this wild goosi for anv- iH.dy hm youraelf Bui attar He work you did on that other atory, l feel that It's worth our while to ti y " 1 was half tempte.l then to ball him the truth about the "work" thai I had dona, u the other atory. Bui i didn't natead of that. 1 derided to rim up to N w II. i-ven i-ven and so.md the Secret Service peoplo then I had no lively hopes. The counterfeit twenty-dollar note had been an oiflcl bog) for some weeks, ever amtie we had tlrst received the "tip" from Washington that auch a counterfeit had been tittered. A dcaen men. myaelf among the number, had prodded at tin- aecrel aervlce people till we were sick Of lie .r' n.itie. BJld 111 I ! .T Word had we be n ahle to t out of them. There waa ahundant reason for It In the flrxl plaee. the nc, ret service n.m hunting rhsperately anl without nvall for the count -rfelters. In the second pi " a, the counterfeit was sr. nearly perfect that the Tr'.nsur. ihi(,rl me ui w i allog(li to., much parturned to are for any more publicity than eouhl he helpe.l The COUn- tarfeltera had even obtained Qovernmenl paper and they had made no tine an 1ml-1 1ml-1 tctlon of tho B'-nulnc li'-Ho tiit tho cjtpcrta I ; could tell the difference only after careful examination with magnifying glaaaea There was no telling how much of the stuh. had been floated. Knough bad been ft und to make ii faliiv certain that the gang was operating on an enormous scale, feeling confident; that the counterfeit deli' de-li' d detection When I boarded the train, the only sent that was left was one behind those occupied occu-pied by time farmeis. two f whom sat with tiietr backs to ma I didn't pay any attention to them. 1 had troubles of my own. Half 1 dosed and half I swore Inwardly at luck and the ways it has of reacting. Just, before the train reached the lunc-tloi, lunc-tloi, (own of South Norwalk. one nf tin .fotmers dropped a long, .folded paper, 't slid tinder tin- seat He stooped Instantly . nd picked " up; byl not before i had !- n that it bore a I'nlted States seal and an Imprint of the secret service. Of course I sat up then; and when my three farmer friends got up al South Nor-walk. Nor-walk. I lolh.W 'l Tlu-y took tickets to the very place that 1 had visited Kedron. and I bought oin. too 1 thoiighl that most likely i was being lad on a wild gdoae chase- but I was on one anyway, and it ' really didn t make much difference whore 1 went. On the way I decided on one little trick to coerce th- men Into letting me "In on It" If they should really, by some wild luck.be after the counterfeiters. I knew that there waa only one livery stable in tin place nt.d that It had only two rigs. As soon as the train reached Kedron and I had seen the three men get i (T and go Into the postoftlce, I hurried to thi ftveryman, and hired both rigs, and had the horses hitched up. Then 1 sat In oin and wait'-d. Sure enough, the three arrived soon af- forward and the liveryman referred them to me when they tried to get one of the iIl'.s TIn-n I explained to them that I had . I id for collecting rigs and that I . i.uldn't part from them, but I'd be glud to drive them wherever they might wish to go. They grinned and said that thev guessed not. We sparred for a little while, until one of the men suhr "What's your object, anyway?" Then I told them Who I was and said: "Now let me In on this and you can have one of these rigs and welcome If you don't want to make a bargain, why, you 11 have to hoof It two miles up the road, for Isn't another rig In thcviUage. as Con know " The elder of the three men laughed merrily. mer-rily. "I don't know what you take us for." said he, "but we're not going to do anything any-thing that would Interest a reporter. We're Cider makers and we're just going around the farms hero to look over the prospects for the apple crop." "Well, I'm interested In cider myself.'' said I. "Jump In and I'll drive you around " "No." said he, "we prefer to go alone. And we want one of those rigs." I got out and then said: "Take your choice. 1 lav my hand down." I hey thanked me and drove ojf. As soon as they had turned the bend In the road I was after them; and I had taken good . are to keep the fastest horse for myself But. alas The moment I rounded the bend. 1 ran almost on top of them. They had pulled their rig up in the hushes and w.re e Id. uly waiting for just such a meeting. All' A line dav, " said . "Aren't oll afraid that somebody will get ahead of ou on that apple deal If you don't hurrv '."' No." said one of ihem "To tell you the truth, we've g"t as much time as you have You'd bettel go back t" the Village and be good. If ou don't, you'll find the apple business unhealthy." I saw their that I couldn't do anything with them, and II wasn't policy to make them angry. YOU can't fool morn than itiii u so much with the secret service. So I laughed (H was a painful sort of laugh, i gueaa) and threw up my hand-, l passed out cigars and tried tO make a dlckei to . . . " . . .. a i-i. . r get lite news wueu nicy iviui ,i--vi. I louldn't do even that They Insisted that I was wi g and thai they weren'l any- I thing hilt Cider makers But I knew hotter hot-ter and I turned away, feeling pretty blue. 1 From the bushea i watched them tin thev were out i f sight. J 'ouldu't Imagine where tln-v were going, for tin mad that thev followed hd through ordinary faim-Ulg faim-Ulg country and the only places n It w. re typical New England farms, as 1 knew from mv troutlng trips 1 dei Ided that tin- only way to get a line on thvlr possible destination was io find some oin- who knew .-verv Inch of the country, and my thoughts naturaU) ran to llli am Hurt If, i 1 turned my horse toward to-ward his plac- At the entrance I met a boy who told nm that lllram was in the barn; so I drove straight to the big red building, .lumped out, and said to the man in the doorway . , "Well, Mr Burt, so I've got you at last. X, e. i before nad any of m little Jokes met with such proud auccBM. Hiram Burt went white as a dying man and stood there, swallowing and gulping be-l,.re be-l,.re he could sp.-ak Then be said: 'Wall, I'm glad if over Ever since i s..vv you tho other night. I knew that you had me." . By some unaccountable mercy "f i rovi- di ftt ' 1 suppose that 1 didn't look as stu-plJ stu-plJ aa I f.lt If mv face had mirrored faintly the fooliah condition of my brain. , v.. Hir.im H n t scared as In- wa. would i.av perceived thai I didn't know what he was talking about. 1 Imagined that he was crazy, and that his wild I 'lk was merely In line with his queer actions when I had tried to see him at night. So, to soothe him. I said: "I don't want to do anything to you. All I want vou to do Is t" t. ll me something. I will' I Will." said he I want to g. t it ..rr my mind." He picked up a piece of Iron casting as he spoke and turned it nervously In hi" hand "This Is the only phce that is left on the place;.' said he; I i hr vv all the rest awa it began to trickle through even my thick skull that there was something . queer here. I said, on a venture: "So mhi saw me around your house nights. ies." said he. "1 been seeing shadows J ami things every night, and It sc. med to nm as it then was somebody hiding In every corner. Bo after i spied you with i tin lantern around the barn I got scared and tOOk th" preSI apart and hitched up mv wagon and drove up 1'h.riy lane. When I got Into the woods I threw parts 0 :t I ' Te and there hS far as 1 could heave them Into the bushes." "Weil, even person arnd was playing bllndl) in such dumb luck as , without having aenae enough to know It, couldn't help but si. a great light when he heard tin word ' press." So I bnn-d at my man quick and sharp with questions, and the .ii wax that In about ten minutes I was making II"- old mare bump herself for old John Gorman's farm, a mile up the load. JUBt SI I gOl within Sight Of It I saw I three men come up from the nttie thicket I behind the house nd cutor. Whin 1 ar rived ai the front door old Mrs Gorman was standing there, with her bonds clasped She was almost as pale as Hi-ram Hi-ram Burt had been 1 Jumped down and held out my hand to her for I had becoma acquainted with her on my troutlng FJ "Oh. dear me!" said -he. "So you were BBBBBJ one of them, too! Then you wlIT tell them that we didn't know anything about It. won't you? Dear, dear me' What a dls-gra.e dls-gra.e n, have it hapj.en In our house'" But I didn't pay much attention tO her. I heard loud talking UpSl iits. and 1 ran There was as pretty a counterfeiting story as anv man could wish all laid out for rw a real dime novel den. even to tho low, arched doorway and the heavy wooden doors with great staples, holts and padlock-. Inside of It stood hy three cider makers and two others one a dap-per. dap-per. black-bearib-d. mlddle-ag'd man. .."'I the oth a fat slouchv. h.a vy-.lowled, red-fa. ed fellow of about 7" The young-er young-er man was scowling and swearing. Ths old man was chuckling, and just as I sssssn canto In he said: "Well, you've most certainly got us pjH moat complete. Sorry I can't do the hon-pjcb hon-pjcb but accidents wJll bappen lu the best Tin- thro elder makers looked at m and laughed. "You're a pretty sii. k one. you are," said one. "Mow did you find It 1 smiled a wise smile and said nothing. They gathered up their two prisoners ind the fittings of the den, and we all dr off together. The three secret acrvh e nvn permitted their admiration of my "sllckness" to overpower tlnir dl-ph i mv oppor- tune arrival and when they roundel their outfit up In the post ff. . lu Kedron tin y JJH told me all that 1 needed to know. And when I told them that I km vv what had b.-coino of the press, tin . respond-d by promising me that they would not 1st the story of the arrest get out that night We are going t take tneee two men pjpjH to New Haven." said they, and we'll run them light Into Jail. They won't bs arraigned till LomorTOW, so you can get down to New York tonight and have JJH clean scoop." That Is the way I stumbled on mv big PBBBBBj beat. It was all done by sheer, blind. overwhelming luck, and the story was pjljH handed out to me by undiscrimlnatlng Fortune on a silver platter, so to speak It wa-. a great cyptui and made a great BBBBBn page slot The old man was old .latin- BBBBBB Murphv. "esteemed the most dangerous counterfeit, r at large after tho capture of tho famous Brock way gang of forgers fjH and counterfeiters. Despite his age. his BBBBBB hand was so cunning that he had been of- BBBBSa fered salaries of hundreds f dollars a week to work fr bank-note concerns Ills partner, and the controlling spirit BBBBBB in the scheme, was Ku-seii Butt He i.-ni been a hat maker and he conceives me BBH simple and clever Idea Of establishing the BBBBBB counterfeiting plant In a farmhouse. He in ranged for the tent of the upper part 'of g.Tbd old John Gorman's place. BBH and told him that he and his partner were working on a great invention in hal-mak-ing machinery. Kedron being In the heart of tin- hat manufacturing section "I -nectlcut, this story accounted In a most innocent way for the secrecy Which sui - fJH rounded the work. It enabled the two counterfeiters to bar the arched entrance BBH to tho little atUc room with a' great oaken door, and to pile locks on all the other d h without uroualng suspicion They . von went SO far as to have forg- BJH Int.'- man" for then pi. -s b the village BBSSSSJJ blacksmith: in fact, In his cunning. Rus- BBSSSSJJ sell Burt made so much a parade of the IJJBH need of Becrecy that the village s. on paid no attention whatever to the two "Invent- HH BBB After the two men had printed aOOUt $3'Hnw worth of bank notes, they wanted BBH to hide th- lr plates and other fiber paper In case there should be a hitch in passing flH the stuff So Russell, knowing his broth- er Hiram of Old, resolved to trade on his BBH weakness of character and let him Into IJflH tho , "ifV They burled the beautiful twenty-dollar BBH plate tinder a cherry tree In th" Bint Bsssssa farm. Two t. n-dollai plat' I, vvhlih WSrS to be used hit. r, were burh d under the Hour of a box -'-'II In the barn 1 tide. BH the ehh k n-coop w. re placed 13. In bbbH Kiom Hie moment that Hiram Burt was admitted Into the secret, he was in the bbssssb grip of a terror that grew greater d IJflH after day. . . . iTaTflBBB Ills belief that men had been lurking BBSSSSB around bis pi....- mav have arl-en from BBH his fear-stricken brain; but there was a real foundation for It. for the secret ser-vt. ser-vt. e t.,.,1 not only watched him. but had locdted the -tuff After that, it wai only LffJH a matter of collecting certain oth. r evt- dence before the Una) blow was struck: ,nd b) sheer luck I walked right Into-ths gam.- at the very day. hour and minute BBM when it was all ripe. niran. afterwards turned States vl- den.e. and hl brother and old f'",P1 were sent to Ja1I. It Is probable thai no Other capture, except, perhaps, that .-r BBIBSS the Rrockway pang, took such a load on the mind- "f the secret service ailT the BBBH u'S department That eoun.e'- foil was so good that at the trial, w hen BIBSSH Government experts hanpened to mix BBgssssj up (he two counterfeits and the two gen- bsssssh ,.. bills Which had been '" V- t il ne v t BbH XhlbllH, the case had t.. go --v. I tliln ex BBIBBH day so that the) could compare the mini BgH b. rs and find oul whit h waa ijlch. H As fm tin : well, win t. I walked Int.. th H LfTic- with that beautiful tory. complete r,, down to rough riMtehca ,en:dls and h ..r... .. is V i nja .mag e that my star burned Rightly. I r tJBBBgm f, Mined fr w taUng any flme bj tema bbbibh of how I obtained fSBBBBBB H (Copyright, U06, by J. .W. Miller.). |