St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-08

that i was wanted l would nave
come back of my own accord;
In fact had made all my arrangements
to do so. When left the Albion told
the proprietor of the hotel to save all
letters or kilograms which came for me.
as was in the city; but the telegram OF
inquiry came for me while the pro-
nothing of the matter answered It by
saying that he did not know where |
was. went to the Albion at least once
every three days for my mail. and had |
wished to avoid the law could have gone
further into the Dominion where the
chances were that could not have been
found. left piece of unlncumbered
property worth $4,000 in Minneapolis.
and in addition to that left about $10.
600 in the vault of the city treasurer's
Office, at least $1,000 of which was in
certified checks. The story that l had
had been making my preparations for
three months to get out of Minneapolis
is absolutely untrue. l decided to make
a trip East and prepared to do so for
about two weeks prior to my departure
the same as any other man would have
done. We remained in Montreal for
two weeks owing to my wife's sickness,
and intended going from there to Bos-
ton. from which city l would have re-
turned nome had thought they wanted
me-"
For Mr.. Rays sake it is hoped that
his statement of the case here given is
true, but his friends who are 10th to be-
lieve him guilty would feel more en-
couraged were there fewer discrepan-
cies. Mr.. Rays assertion that for two
weeks prior to his departure he had
been preparing to make a trip East,
does not agree with what the police
have all along said. When Ray dis
appeared with supposedly several
thousand dollars belonging to other peO-
pie, it was given out from police head
quarters that no one knew anything
about his intended departure. 1t was
said that Ray had told Fred George that
he was going to see his wife Off, and go
only little way with her. He bad not
applied for leave of absence. II he
had been preparing for trip he went
about it in peculiar manner. Ii any
one in Minneapolis knew that Ray was
preparing for an Eastern trip, that fact
has been sedulously kept from the
press. That part of Rays state
ment is looked upon with sus-
picion. Earlier in that statement Ray
makes conflicting assertion to the
ments to return when arrested, which
does not agree with his intention of
going on to Boston. Ray says the
clerk at the Albion in Montreal replied
to Supt. Brackets telegram by saying
that he didn't know where Ray had
gone. Bracketu told the reporters that
the telegram stated that no such per-
son as Ray had ever stopped at the
Albion. AS for the $4,000 piece of
property left unincumbered, it was
Rays homestead. 1t Icould have been
assigned to third party and no one
could touch it. There is still another
suspicious circumstance. Ray left Min
neapelis Oh the 22d of July. He wrote
from Montreal for leave of absence to
cover the period of time during which
he had been out of the city. That let
ter was dated July "a. Inspector How
ard was not sent from Minneapolis to
look for him until Friday even
ing, Aug. l, and ded not make
the arrest in Montreal until Mon
days had elapsed since Ray had left
Minneapolis. The five days leave of alb
sence originally asked for had more
than expired. Eleven days had passed
without word having been received
by Rays superior officers from him,and
he was staying away without knowing
whether he had leave or not. 1t was
clearly his duty to communicate with
them. All these circumstances have
about them an air of suspicion, and
should be more fully and lucidly ex-
planned. Mr. Rays many friends hope
that he is able to clear away the SuS-
picion.
Rays statement that all the money
which he is alleged to have taken was
left in the tin box in the treasurer's
office, and the consequent Inference
drawn from his words that the money,
if taken at at all, must have been taken
by some of the occupants OF that office,
is felt keenly by those gentlemen. 1t
seems scarcely possible that one OF
them, desiring to steal, would take
paltry $4,000 when he could as easily
take $4,000 or 100000. Further, AS
slStant Treasurer Modisette has this to
say of Crosby, the cashier, at whom is
leveled Rays insinuatiOn:
''CroSby has been with me here for
four years, and he is the most particu-
lar, careful man l ever saw. He fire.
ouently handles 100000 in day. Last
month he handled over S1,000,000. Now
| couldn't draw 81 from him without
telling what / wanted it for. That illus
trates his carefulness. When Ray first
brought his money in here he kept it in
a pasteboard box. Crosby objected
to that, and l told Ray to get
a tin box with lock on it,
which he did Whenever he came in to
put anything in or to take 1t out OF the
tin box he always locked the box when
done, and handed it to Crosby, who
would Immediately put it in the vault.
The day that he went to it last, instead
of giving it to Crosby he put it on the
desk over behind the bookkeeper.
Crosby saw it moment after, picked it
up by tine top and found it open. He
called the attention of myself and
the bookkeeper to Rays carelessness,
and | told him to make Ray take
the box away or to be more careful.
Then the box was put in the vault.
Now, it seems to me that if Ray in
tended to go away for while, as he
says, it would have been the most nat
ural thing in the world for him, since
we were keeping his box as favor to
him, to tell us that he was going away.
and to ask us to take care of it until he
got back. His action seems mighty
queer to me-"
No one believes that the occupants of
the treasurer's Office ever had anything
to do with the box.