The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-07-04
THE TELL-TALE DIAMOND.
A LEAF FROM A DETECTIVES LIFE.

On the night of January 10, 1S-, the
Clifton Bank was entered by burglars,
who made good their escape with $50, 900
In their possession.
AS soon as the robbery became known
/ repaired to the bank and sought the
President, to whom presented my Gre
dentials and made known my intention
of commencing work Mt once. The old
gentleman readily acquiesced, and to-
gether we passed into the main Office,
where several spruce-looking young men
were scratching away as unconcemedly
as if they had not been engaged in an
animated discussion of the robbery only
a minute before. 1 glanced at them
sharply, but saw nothing suspicious III
their looks, and concluded it would be
mere waste of time to question them.
L examined the lock of the door open
ing upon the street and found it had
not been tempered with, although the
first arrival had found the door ajar.
l next turned my attention to n door
opening upon the rear, and found it Sc
curely locked, in which condition it had
been, so the President assured me, since
the night before.
"Who has charge of the kee of this
door, / inquired.
"Mr. N, the cashier, has one and
our Janitor the other"
"Can either of these gentlemen be
summoned ?"
eyes, both, if need be. Here, War
den, run around to Mr.. Ms and tell
him that l wish to see him on business
of importance.
The clerk addressed was about to
obey, when a sudden thought struck me,
and called him back.
"You need not trouble Mr.. N,
but if the janitor can be found ask him
to step down for minute"
In less than two minutes the clerk re-
turned with the janitor-a broad-shoul-
dered Irishman-whose answers to my
questions were given III such a straight
forward manner that | exonerated him
from all blame
You lock up after the clerks have
gone home, do you not?" L inquired,
looking the man in the eyes.
"Yis, sometimes L does and some
times | doesn't"
when do you not?"
When Mr.. N works late of
nights, which has been the case much
of late"
odd you lock up last night ?"
Yis, sir, and fwat's more, tried livery
dure afterward.
'At what time did you lock that
door," and pointed toward the front
entrance.
"Well, as near as can recollect,
half-past seven. ;"
care you sure you shot the bolt into
It's socket? "
Gay 1 could swear that 1 locked that
door and left it locked"
Chow about the windows-did you
fasten them as well ?"
Yis, livery wan of thim.
Very good, sir you may go now, if
you like, and | turned to the Presi-
dent.
CHOW, then, Mr. j, with your
permission l will investigate matters be-
low stairs.
The old gentleman conducted me to
the vault below. The heavy iron door
of the vault in which the banks funds
We're stored stood wide open, and the
vault presented scene of confusion not
unfamiliar to my eyes. Books and pa
pers lay upon the floor in every direc-
ton, where they had been thrown after
gratifying the curiosity of the burglars.
stopped to pick up crumpled doc
ument that lay at my feet, and as l did
so the sparkle of gem, heretofore con-
cealed by the paper, caught my eye.
With quick motion of the hand ]
picked the stone from the floor, and
held it concealed in the palm of my
hand while 1 perused the document,
mere for the purpose of concealing the
exultation / felt at having gained so i'm.
portant clue than for any other rea-
son.
Having glanced at several other pa.
pers similar to the one / had Mt first
picked up, / began q thorough search
of the vault, which proved fruitless but
the diamond in my possession was suffi'
cient foundation on which to weave q
network of circumstantial evidence.
Having no further business at the
bank, / took my departure and went di'
rect to celebrated jewelers. establish
ment in Somers street.
The proprietor of the store knew me,
and intuitively guessing my business,
conducted me 70 his private office.
"well, Tracy, what's up?" he in.
quired, when we we're seated.
Nothing unusual, " i replied. " You
have probably heard of the Clifton Bank
robbery, presume.
"The Clifton Bank All, yes, L did
hear some one remarking about 1t.
There is no account of it in the morning
papers"
No, believe not. The affair was
not discovered in time for the reporter
10 get hold of it. Well, sir, the bank
has been robbed to the tune of thirty