The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-01-25
"well. sir. I think I've got clew to

Well, blf, Il tllflh Il Nc BOb OioW ~
the man who left it with me-"
"It appeared that the Sergeant's SON
was apprenticed to an upholsterer in the
city. Among the workmen in the estab-
lishment who had recently joined was a
French polisher One day, in the course
of conversation, he told his fellow-work-
men the following facts concerning a
foreman of the firm of Smith Il Jones,
where he had formerly worked. This
foreman, whose name was Thompson,
had been with the firm great many
years; he was intrusted by his en-
ployers from time to time with the
collection OF large amounts OF
money, and had always been found
honest and upright. Upon one occa-
sion. about two years before, shipping
order had come to the firm for guam
tity OF furniture from new foreign
house of which they had some suspi-
cions. The goods were ordered to be
shipped on certain day, and 1t was
agreed that they were to be paid for IN
money before being placed on board.
| As the order came to ESQ, the foreman
went down himself in charge OF the
goods, with strict injunctions from his
employers either to bring them back or
the money. The goods were placed on
board the ship from the lighter IN the
docks-so much was ascertained-but
the foreman, who had received the
money and had given a receipt for it,
was never seen again, either by the firm
or by his wife and family. The lighter
man, who had been present at the pay
ment of the money, and had conveyed
Thompson ashore, deposed that he had
not been able to get the goods on board
the day when they We're sent down, and
Thompson passed the night in a sailors
coffee-house in the neighborhood OF the
docks, in order to be in time for their
transhipment in the morning. When
he arrived on board he acted very
strangely, and the lighterman noticed that
his watch and chain were missing. Al
together Thompson's appearance was
that of man who was still suffering
from the effects of nights debauch.
On taking him ashore, the lighterman
had conducted Thompson, at his urgent
request, to public house, and had
there left him. From this point impen-
etrable mystery hung over the whole
matter. Had Thompson decamped
with the money, or had he been the
victim of some foul play The first
hypothesis was secuted by Thompson's
friends and fellow-workmen. He had
shown himself for more than twenty
years man of probity; he was sober
and prudent man. whose only delight
was in his home and his children. He
was always preaching habits of saving
and economy to the men under him,
and, when he disappeared, it was found
that he had considerable sum in the
savings bank, which he had never
touched. It was incredible, therefore,
that he could have embezzled his en-
ployer's money. The second hypothe-
sis seemed the more reasonable one.
But if he had been murdered, how had
his body been disposed of? The river
had been closely watched from the
Tower to the sea, but no corpse an
swering to the description had ever been
found.
Young Copp had carried this story to
his father, and the Sergeant had with
much difficulty succeeded in discovering
Thompson's unfortunate wife and fam
lily, who were now reduced to great pow
erty. From them he learned the con-
frmation of the sad story, and felt sure
that at last he had found the missing
clew.
The good Sergeant then waited on
Messrs. Smiths & Jones, in whose en-
ployment Thompson had been, and as
certaiped two facts which confirmed him
in his supposition. The ESQ had been
paid by the foreign firm which had
bought the goods in exactly the same
proportion of notes and gold as the sum
left with the commissionaire, and the
date upon which they were paid CORE
sponded with that of the mysterious de-
post. The unfortunate hiatus in the
chain of evidence was that nobody knew
the numbers of the bank notes which had
formed port of it.
"What Go you think, sir?" continued
Copp.
replied that thought the solution
probable, but that we should proceed
very cautiously in the testing of every
proof.
After tuning 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 Sergt. Copp would be COM
parison of the numbers of the notes in
each instance. But then came formida-
BILE difficulty. The foreign firm had
been dissolved and it's members had left
England. They had already informed
Messrs. Smith & Jones that they had
omitted to take the numbers of the bank
notes, which..had been RENTED to them
from the continent.
The plan at last hit upon was as fol-
lows:
When the ESQ were paid into the de-
post account, the notes which formed
portion of the sum were sent by us to
the Bank of England in the regular
course of business, and were there cam
celed. i ascertained mt the Bank of En-
gland the name and address of the firm
to whom the notes had been first issued,
and then traced them through the sew
eral hands through which they had
passed. Following up the clew, / dis
covered that some of them had been
sent to bank at Paris. i wrote to this
bank, inquiring to whom they had been
paid, and to my great qualification was