Show Fiction CASE Of fORGERY ByC By Richard H. H Wilkinson C Corner orner J n HERES HERE'S A CURIOUS TWIST THERES to this case Inspector George Jackson president of the Medville National Bank was saying Anthony Pa PaM who deposited with us on Monday decided decided decided de de- de- de to use his right name at thelast the thelast thelast last moment His right name What do you mean Anthony Page Is a fiction writer His real name is Edward Thurston Recently a distant uncle died and left him a small fortune 6 Minute to be exact Page 3 con consulted suI t e d me I about investments I advised him not notto notto notto to Invest in anything while the market was in its present unstable condition He agreed and decided to deposit the money in our bank until things looked better He came in early Monday morning morn ing lag and made the deposit decided to use his real name nome of ot Edward Thurston at the last moment On Wednesday a check for signed by Edward Thurston was presented and cashed by one of our tellers I have questioned Thurston He says he left leU for Chicago directly after depositing the money and swears he told no noone noone noone one about his decision to use his real name He lie had signed no checks against his account Inspector Kent Clifford ord reflectively reflectively lighted a cigar You say that Thurston made his deposit early on Monday morning As far as I can find out the president offered there were only two men in the bank while Thurston was here He handed the officer a slip of paper Here are their names and addresses Both are arc well weIl known to all of at us men of high repute 1 y yr r t i id ay d n Simons Simon's eyes grew wide for a moment he stared as though struck then Impulsively impulsively impulsively turned and bolted Inspector Clifford studied the names Now tell me what your clerks were up to Nothing unusual Getting things ready to start the day Making sure deposit blanks pens blotters Ink etc were on the lobby counters Arranging their cash Inspector Clifford snapped his fingers fincers it Come on were we're going to call on these two men tit tit- HE FIRST CALL was on a man THE named Simons in the suburban town of Mrs Simons answered their knock Harry is away Is there anything anything anything any any- thing I can do Following Fallowing previous instructions instructions instructions from Clifford Jackson said We made a mistake in his monthly statement last week Do you ou happen to know whether he has It handy It may be on his desk Will you come inside They followed her into the h house use There was ji a sma small den off oU th the living living living liv liv- ing room containing a desk Mrs Simons began opening drawers and peering into them For a moment moment mo mo- moment ment Inspector Clifford stood idly by Then suddenly he stepped forward forward for for- ward and snatched something from one of the drawers Before the startled eyes ees of Mrs Simons and the astonished gaze of President Jackson he strode over overto overto overto to a window studied the thing Simons our man he said This proves it Now Now- He broke off as the front door opened and closed As Clifford finished speaking Simons a tall spare man appeared in the doorway stopped and looked about in bewilderment Im Inspector Clifford Cliford of police headquarters the officer said stepping forward Simons I arres arrest you for forging Edward Thurstons Thurston's name to a check for Simons' Simons eyes grew wide The color drained from his cheeks For Fora a moment he stared as though struck then impulsively turned and bolted Anticipating the move Inspector Inspector Inspector In In- Clifford leaped for for- ward Ills His fingers caught hold of the tall mans man's collar and yanked him backward Quite simple when explained Clifford Cliford was raying later Simons probably needed money He was in inthe inthe inthe the bank when Page was making his deposit and picked up the blotter blotter blotter blot blot- ter Page had used when signing his name It was a new blott blotter r and the imprint therefore was de definitely deli i. i easy to copy for forgery purposes y J he tore the talisman from the carcass car car- cass Next day the boy was buried with the medallion of St. St Francis Francis- again around his neck and after the funeral Emilie went back to her her- own Village From then on the great hunter hunt hunt- er became the great butcher bl Day after afler day he killed ki as if i bent on exterminating every animal in th the forest and at night he drank and cursed his u wife ue e for her ideas about souls and animals One evening the following summer summer summer sum sum- mer he saw a giant stag at the tha- far end of the garden He reached for his gun and followed it down downto to the lake At the waters water's edge- edge the animal paused and Pierre Pierre- lifted lined the gun to his shoulder but instead of a giant stag he saw a frightened fawn Its eyes reminded reminded reminded re re- re- re minded him of two other sets of oC eyes but he fired and the animal gave a little jump and fell dead Attracted by something on its neck he- he walked over over- overto to see what it was was The villagers were not surprised a few days later when they learned that Pierre had died of oC ofa oCa a stroke But there was much talk about the object found in the dead deadman's deadmans deadmans deadman's deadmans deadman's mans man's hand hand hand-a a silver medallion of St. St Francis of Assisi suspended on a thin gold chain |