Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-06

at the carpet, and now we traced the
tracks to Mr.. Archer's quaint old oaken
sscretai7e, which stood against the wall
opposite the windows at which we had
worked, and at the first glance we
knew that it had been tempered with.
| told Emily to run for her father while
l kept watch at the window, and while
she was gone / discovered that a fine
pocket-knife and a gold pen and pencil
case, which l had left upon the table
when l went to lunch, were gone.
MI. Archer came up, and as he found
the doors of he upper part of the sec
retosre ajar he asked us if we had I'M
locked them. Certainly not; we had no
keys.
"Then," said he, .:false keys have
been used"
And o the next moment a sharp CRY
of alarm burst from his lips. He had
seen a at glance when he had thrown
the doors open that a certain drawer
had been forced open by breaking away
the woodwork into which the bolt of
the lock had been shot. With trem-
bling hands he pulled open the drawer
and q deep groan told us that his worst
fears were realized.
"Ihad a large pocket-book in. that
thousand dollars in bank-notes besides
certificates of stock and railway bonds
to the amount of twenty-five thousand
more. Some Of that stock might be
sold. In the name of wonder, how did
it happenp Was that window left un-
fastened?"
He pointed to the window over the
%trellis, and Emily told him how she
had opened it for the purpose of pluck
ing a few of the blossoms and had shut
it, but had neglected to fasten it.
The thing was very simple. An ex-
perienced sneak-thief had watched from
some convenient point of observation
outside, until he had gained q knowledge
of where the banker put his money,
and then he had patiently awaited his
opportunity. Emily's father told her
she need not fret or blame herself.
The thief would have easily opened the
window had the fastening been on.
Other drawers had been opened. but
nothing more had been taken. How
ever, that was enough-ten thousand
dollars in money and fve-and-twenty
IL oOOSh6 uAO UO1NSs
We fastened down into the little rear
garden and quickly found where the
thief had climbed over the wall from q
narrow alleyway outside. On the out
side he had been helped by q long strip
of narrow pine plank set against the
wall, while on the inside q stout grape
vine had afforded him a convenient
ladder. We found his tracks in the
damp soil of the fower-beds which he
had crossed, the track of an ordinary
sized boot, with no particular character
istic to distinguish it from q thousand
other boots worn every day, and by all
classes of citizens.
Our next movement was to the po-
lice. The Captain of the precinct called
one of his most reliable detective Off
GERS, and the pair of them came to the
house, and made a critical study of the
premises, and of all the circumstances
attending the robbery. MI. Archer was
able to give a good description of the
securities, stocks and bonds; but with
regard to the money, he could only give
the anne of two of the banks of issue
and the denominations of the notes. He
had neither their letters nor their num-
bers.
That, as I have said, was on Satur-
day. Silas Walker was the detective to
whom the Captain had given the work
ing of the case; and he-Walker-called
to his assistance q brother officer named
Billiard. At the start the officers
thought they knew ''their man." but
during the four-and-twenty hours next
succeeding they were forced to the con-
clusion that he was not the man at all.
On Monday, Walker and Billiard
called at the bank and summoned me to
3 private conference. They asked q
hundred questions, not one of which, as
l could see and understand, had any
bearing upon the work they had to do.
Yet, l suppose they understood their
business and knew what they wanted.
They pumped me dry and went away.
That was on Monday.
On Tuesday morning Mr.. Archer had
occasion to send me to Newburgh on
important business. I was to take tho
Hudson River Railroad to Fishkill Land
ing, thence TO to Newburgh by
ferry. l went to the station, bought my
ticket, and then went to the newsstand
to get a paper, where I found an old
friend of the police force-Tom Stratton.
He told me that he had in hand a case
OF burglary which he was working up,
and he was then on his to Sing Sing
to take the deposition of a prisoner there
confined. He asked me about Mr.,
Archer's case, and I told him what l
knew. Walker and Billiard had started,
an hour before, on their way across New
Jersey to Philadelphia. and I asked