Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-03-13


the front Of the store with hep
back 10 the money, and kept up con
versation with girl seated just out
side the railing She had been seated
thus about ten minutes when saw .
string slowly descend from the door
above her head IL came down slo1g-
side the wall, and the Bale black ball
al the end os il rested for moment on
the top bill Of the pile Of BAN notes
Then IL was drawn up. and away went
bill with il. and was drawn through
hole above The cashier neither saw
nor heard The few employs Of the
store we're busy, anu the festoons Of
dress goods. handkerchiefs, ETC.. from
pillar 20 pillar, INSTRUCTED their vision
| went softly upstairs and found a
stock BOY eating his dinner just over
the Office. | stood him up and found
$40 bill in his yess pocket. with a
| fresh spot of pitch on IL. and his fish
line was concealed under a box near
by. There was a hole IA the foor
where some heavy box had smashed a
board he owned right up. and the
mystery was a mystery no longer. lie
had never taken but one bill at time.
and that always when the cashier WAS
eating.
Men have always been obliged 10
trust other men, and they always will
be, and when An employer has once sat
isfied himself that a certain employee
Is all right IL is the hardest kind of
work 10 convince him that there is any
thing wrong. This loyalty is all right
in one sense, but il has shielded many
criminals. We're every employee To be
/ continually under espionage or suspi-
| cion il would be a sad state of affairs
The senior partner of an old dry-goods
house once called me 70 his Office 10 re-
| port leakage which the house had
vainly endeavored To stop. The short
| age was not In the cash, but in the
stock. Men had been set TO watch for
shoplifters. but none Of that0class had
been spotted. All employees had been
watched, but no one had been caught
taking goods away. Most of the sales
men had been with the house for
! years, and the floor, walker longest of
all Suspicion pointed TO no one, and
| yet II was certain that leak existed
Aided by my usual luck was only three
or four days in discovering it.
The store had fine, high-class trade,
and many articles were sent on approx
al In lounging abou: l saw articles
brought back and handed to the floor
walker TO be returned to the Office as
returned" 1t occurred to me that
there might be two sides to this system,
and IL wasn't two hours before lady
, came in and said to him:
II came to pay SEQ for the cloak sent
mp on Tuesday on approval"
He took her name and money and
went back To the Office and reported
the cloak as returned, and pocketed the
money. got three cases on him be-
fore making my report, and when ! did
report to the senior partner he few out
and declared that it looked like q put
up job 10 earn my money. 1t was easy
enough to satisfy him. however. as I
had kept the addresses of the different
buyers. call at each address brought
forth tie declaration that the goods had
been paid for. but we waited for a
fourth case and then caught the man in
box. He was wound up so tightly
that he made full confession and
begged for mercy. He had taken over
$1,000 in this way. and had been playing
the game for years. and was the last
man in the store who would have been
suspected
John Gilman, insurance agent In a
city of $4,000 inhabitants, had a mystery
which he called me in TO solve. He HAD
an Office on the ground floor of build
ing at the corner of Main and Walnut
streets, but fronting ON Main and run
ming back on Walnut. On Walnut, ad-
joining him was . tobacco store. His
safe stood in a recess at the back of the
store, and this recess was just two feet
wider than the safe. 1t was wainscoted
mp TO the height of the safe. New,
Gilman had been missing money right
along for two or three months, and the
mystery was that It had been in each
instance taken out Of his safe. He
alone knew the combination, and in
every case it had been opened in the
regular way. / found it hard to credit
his statements. No one had broken
into the Office: no one, az far as he
could see, had touched the safe. and yet
he was sure the money had been taken.
For instance. he had placed $500 In il
at night, and next morning $50 was
missing. Out of 500 SIS had been
taken Out of package of $500 drawn
from the bank and carefully rccountcd
SIS had been taken. TIC make sure that
the fault was not his he had kept a
memorandum He had, for instance,
written down $3.50 counted over three
times There are 10 $50 bills aud 10
s. bills" That money had been put
into the safe at night, and next morn
ing IL was short $50. Gilman had no
occasion TO rob himself nor was he a
somnarnbulist, and IL puzzled me not a
little how To GO To work. One afternoon
I asked him to lock and unlock the safe
In my presence. II was n combination
of four letters. and as he worked IL he
called out TO himself: Jane. Jane. -
This was the name of his wife.
With that as a starter began to in
vestigzte the tobacco store. found
that the clerk. who was a young man Of
twenty. slept there nights. got a
chance To look AZ the wall opposite Oil
mans safe, and ! found il wainscoted
up as on the other side. and right here
was the book-kecper's desk. Every
thing appeared regular. but that night
! remained in the Office after the agent
went home The Office was dark. and
took seat within three feet of the safe
At about eleven o'clock heard a slight
noise in the recess. and next moment a
pat Of the wsinscotin- was lifted ont,