The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1878-03-21

receipt Tor lf, was never seea ag@n
eittsr by The firm or By hs wife and
family The ligh,emau, who bad been
present 81 the payment Of the money, aud
had conveyed Thompson ashore, deposed
that he had not bseu able to get the
goods on board on the day when they
were sent down, and Thompson passed
The night 81 ssilors coffee house 10 the
neigbborhood Of the docks, in order 10
be IN time to assist Il the transhipment in
the morning When be arrived on board
be looked very strange, aud the lighter.
man noticed that bis watch aud chain
were missing Altogether, Thompson's
appearance was that Of man who was
suffering from the effects Of nights de-
basCh. On taking him ashore the light.
ermsn bad conducted Thompson, ST bis
urgent request, to public house, aud
bad there left him. From this point I'm.
penetrable mystery hung over the matter.
Had Thompson deeamptd with the
money, or bad he been tbe-yictim OF some
foul payl The first hypothesis was
soouted by Thompson's friends and fell
low workmeu. lie had shown himself
tor more than twenty years man Of pro.
Oity; he was a sober and prudent man,
whose only delight was in his home and
bis children. fle was always preaching
habits OF saving and economy to the men
under him, aud when he disappeared ii
was found that he had q considerable
sum in the savings bank, which be bad
never touched. II was Incredible, there
fore, that be could have embezzled bis
employers money. The second hypoth-
ess seemed the more reasonable one.
Bat if he had been murdered, how had
bis body been disposed of? The river
had been closely watched from the tower
to the sea, bat no corpse answering his
description had been found.
Young Copp had carried this story TO
bis father, and the sergeant had, with
much difficulty, succeeded in discovering
Thompson's unfortunate wife and family
who were now reduced to poverty. From
them he learned the confirmation of the
sad story, aud felt sure that now at last
he had found the missing clue.
The good sergeant then waited on
Messrs. Smith q Jones, in whose employ.
ment Thompson had been, and ascertain
ed two facts which had confirmed him in
his supposilion. The ESQ had been paid
by the foreign firm which had brought
the goods in exactly the same proportion
of notes and gold as the sum left with the
commissionaire, aud the date upon which
they were paid corresponded with that Of
the mysterious deposit. The unfortunate
hiatus in the chain of evidence was that
nobody knew the number of the bank
notes which had formed part it.
What do you think, sir? concluded
Copp.
! replied that | thought the solution
quite ptUUabto, bat that We Oheaid P-e
ceed very cautiously in the testing of
every proof
After turning over the matter carefully
in my mind, came to the conclusion
that the only means OF Identifying the
sum paid to Thompson with that left
with Sergeant Copp would be compsri-
son of the number of the notes in each
instance. But then came a formidable
difficulty. The foreign firm had been
dissolved, and its members had left Eng
land. They had also already informed
Messrs. Smith 4 Jones that they bad
omitted to take the numbers of the bank
notes which had just been remitted to
them from the continent.
The plan at last hit upon was as fol-
lows: When the $3.50 were paid into the
deposit account, the notes which formed
a portion of the sum were sent by us to
/ the Bank of England in the regular
course of business, and there were can
ceed ! ascertaned at the Bank Of Eng
land the name and address of the notes
as they had been first issued, and then
traced them through the several hands
through which they had passed.
Following up the clue, discovered
that some of them had been sent TO a
bank In Paris. | wrote TO this bank, i'm
quiring to whom they bad been paid, /,
and, to my great qualification, was in
formed that they ha been sent to the
very firm In London few days before
they had handed them over to Thompson.
Here, then, was the missing link, and ]
had no longer any doubt 10 my mind that
the money paid TO US was the same as
that which had been lost by Messrs.
smith Il Jones.
Honest Sergeant Copp was oyerjoyed
and wished TO go at once to Mrs. Thomp-
son and give her the good news. This,
however, would not permit, as
thought 1t would be better to endesyor,
in the first instance, to ascertain the fate
Of the poor foreman.
| called upon Messrs. Smith & Jones
and Informed them that ! had obtained
certain Information which led me to be-
lieye that q sum Of ESQ paid into the
bank was identical with that lost by them
but that the only person who could salts.
factorily prove the fact was Thompson,
and that be must therefore be found
They promised 70 do their best to aid my
inquiries aud employed detective for
the purpose. In the course Of few
weeks they were able to inform me that
Thompson bad been discovered In Paris
working under an assumed name, and
that, on being informed Of the discovery
be 81 once came over to bis family, who
were oyeri0red 6f his refuru