The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1878-02-07

| SSieCtiOH CT large amounts Cf
money, and had, always been fo,ihd
honest aad Upright. Upon one occa-
sion, about two years before, shipping
order had come to the firm for quar-
tity of furniture from q new foreign
house Of which they. had some sunpi-
cions. The nosds #aEa oEJiefed to be
shipped On certain day, and it was
agreed that they were to be paid for in
naoney before being placed on board.
As the order came to g75G, the foreman
went down himself IL, cha+re of Che
goods, With striGt inihnctiors from his
employers either to bring them back or
the money, The goods We're piaeed OF,
board The ship fssoan the lighter in the
! docks-so much was asceriained-but
the foreman, who had received the
money and had given receipt for it,
was never seen again, either by the firm
or by his wife and family. The. lighter
man, who had lsse,a t,re5ent at the pay
tneas 81 the money, and had conveyed
Thompson ashore, deposed that he had
not been able to get the goods on board
the day when they were sent down, and
| Thompson passed the n}eht IN Z Gailors'
| coaee-bot..se IN inc 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 ighterman noticed that
his watch and chain we're missing. Al
| together Thompson's appearance was
| that of man who was still suffering
from the effects Of nights debauch.
| On taking him asbsre, 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 g
| friends and fellow-workrnen. He had
shown himself for tnofe than twenty
years man of probity; he was a sober
and prudent man. who Sc only delight
was in his home and his children. He
vas 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. Smith & Jones, in whose en-
ployment Thompson had been, and as
certained two facts which confirmed him
in his supposition. The e75O 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 COMMISSIONER, and the
date upon which they were paid CORE
spCnded with that of the mysterious de-
posit. The unfortunate hiatus in the
chain of evidence was that nobody knew
the numbers of the bank notes which had
formed part of it.
"What do you think, sir?'' continued
Copp.
l replied that I thought the solution
probable, but that we should proceed
very cautiously In the testing of every
proof.
After turning over the matter carefully
in my mind, I came to the conclusion
that the only means of identifying the
sum paid to Thompson with that left
with Sergt. Copp would be a COM
parison of the numbers of the notes in
each instance. But then came a formida-
BILE difficulty The foreign firm had
been dissolved and its 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 remitted to them
from the continent.
The plan at last hit upon was as fol-
lows:
When the e75O were paid into the de-
posit 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 were there can
celed. ] ascertained at 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 ciew, 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
informed that they had been sent to the
very firm in Loudon few days before
they had handed them over to Thomp-
son.
Here, then, was the missing link, and
/ had no longer any doubt in my mind
that the money paid to us was the same
as that which had been lost by Messrs.
Smith & Jones.
Honest Sergt. Copp was overioyed.
and wished to go at once to Mrs. Thomp-
son and give her the good news. This,
however, I would not permit, as
thought it woIlid be better to endeavor,
in the first instance, to ascertain the
fate of the poor foreman. 1, therefore,
called upon Messrs- Smith & Jones, and
| informed them that I had obtained Ger
tain information, which led me to be-
ieve that sum of G750 paid into the
| bank was identical with that lost by
them, but that the only person who
| could satisfactorily prove the fact was
| Thompson, and that he must therefore be
| found. They promised to do their best
to aid my inquiries, and employed de-
tective for the purpose. In the course
of few weeks they were able to inform
me that Thompson had been dicovered
in Paris, working under an assumed
name, and that, on being informed of
the discovery, he had at once come over
to his family, who were overioyed at his
return.
On the following day Thompson called
/ at the bank, and was recognized by
Sergt. Copp as the very individual who