Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-03-06


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 25, 900 inhabitants, had u 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 q tobacco store. His
safe stood in recess at the back of the
store, and this recess was just two feet
wider than the safe. 1t was wainscoted
up to the height of the safe. Now,
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 il had been opened in the
regular way. | found it hard to credit
his statements. No one had broken
into the office: no one, as 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 it
missing. Out of S100 SIS had been
taken. Out of package of $500 drawn
from the bank and carefully recounted
S35 had been taken. To 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 and 10
S5 bills" That money had been put
into the safe at night, and next morn
ing it was short $50. Gilman had no
occasion to rob himself, nor was he a
somnambulist, and it puzzled me not a
little how tc go to work. One afternoon
l asked him TO lock and unlock the safe
in my presence 1t was combination
of four letters, and as he worked it he
called out to himself: "J-a-n-e, Jane. :"
This was the name of his wife.
With that as a starter began to in
vestigate the tobacco store. found
that the clerk, who was young man of
twenty, slept there nights. got a
chance to look at the wall opposite Gill
mans safe, and found it wainscoted
up as on the other side, and right here
was the bool-keeper's desk. Every
remained in the Office after the agent
went home. The Office was dark, and
took seat within three feet of the safe.
At about elevon o'clock heard slight
noise in the recess, and next moment a
part of the wainscoting was lifted out,
some one crawled through from the to
bacco store, and presently the intruder
sat down before the safe, opened the
slide of dark lantern just bit, and
opened the door as quickly as Gilman
could have done it. He took out roll
of bills containing $3.50, counted them
over, and then returned all but $50
When he had closed the door ! heard
him say: "J-a-n-e, Jane" | then nabbed
him, and he proved to be the clerk in
the tobacco store. He had played q
pretty sharp game. There was loose
knot in one of the boards, and one even
ing in moving box he had Jared this
out. lie had applied mucilage to the
knot, and was restoring it to place
when he heard Gilman locking the safe,
and also heard him pronounce the com
bination. This gave him an idea Pro
curing a fine saw he cut q panel out of
the wainscot large enough to enable
him to crawl through, and after that he
made two or three raids per week His
scheme to take only small portion of
any sum he found was good one, but
luck and accident helped me to get the
best of him
Another mysterious case was that OF
a retail druggist. He was single man
II. -, l. . 81 nd hn oil ho1
the handling of the cash. He had been
robbed repeatedly, and always at night,
and he had puzzled over the matter un-
til he was heartsick The money was
always taken from his safe, the same
as in the Gilman case, but here it was
surrounded by solid brick walls
looked the ground over thoroughly and
failed to strike a dew Then asked
him to state his financial condition He
was in debt eight hundred dollars, but
doing an excellent business, meeting
his payments as they came due.
Not only that but for the robbery he
would soon have had money to marry
and set up housekeeping Then /
asked him to let me sit up in the store
all night, and before midnight / had
solved the mystery lie got up In his
sleep, took fifteen dollars out of the
safe, and deposited it in a Jar on the
top shelf. The jar, upon investiga
ton, turned up every dollar he had
lost. He had, in his mind, figured on
saving so much a week to get married
on. 1t was exactly this sum he had
stolen every time and laid away, and
yet no argument could have convinced
him that be was a bulist--N.
Y S11