Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-03-06
in on the $50 St. Louis express. =


stairs in my room at this moment, ana
Peters and Thompson are with himP'
But tell you saw him. More than
that, he came up the street ahead OF me
and turned into the stairway"
took him up stairs, and when he saw
Goldwaithe sitting there he was dead beat.
Here were three instances of queer decep-
ton. While | regarded them as decep-
lions or illusions there was something I'M
canny in the Incidents, and my interest IN
the movements of Goldwaithe was consid-
erably increased. On one pretense or an
other I got into his rooms or sent TRENDS
up there every day or'two, but everything
appeared straight. One evening he sat
down in the hotel office to write letter,
and while he was thus engaged walked
up the street four squares to speak to a
merchant. On returning met GoldWalthe
face to face, and saluted.
s'Ah, you cut it short"
eyes"
"Well, mail it and hurry back"
walked straight to the hotel, and there
sat the man / had spoken to on the street
three minutes before! He was still writ
ing. l asked friend who sat reading if
Goldwaithe had been out, and he repliedin
the negative. I felt my hair standing on
end as sat down, and during all that long
night did not get wink of sleep. My
partner, the ticket agent, and myself had
all seen what we had not seen. Was he of
flesh and blood, or was he wrath who
could appear in two places at once?
1t was on Friday evening | thought
met our up stairs man on the street. Sat
urday morning I took Il stepladder and
closely examined the top Of the vault, and
also sent g man up stairs to look at the
floor Of the back room and see if it was in
tact. Everything was reported all right,
and Saturday evening our man said to me-
81 haven't slept well lately, and | believe
will try change of beds. l will turn
into the room next to you for couple OF
| nights, and see if the change won't bring
sleep"
Irejoiced at this, as need not fear that
he was at work on the vault. l satisfied
myself that he was in bed before turned
in, and that night 1 slept better than fol
months before He occupied tie same
room on Saturday night, and on Sunday
forenoon he surprised me by saying he
| would accompany me to church. He ap-
peared to listen very closely to the sermon,
and on the way home pointed out its strong
and weak points.
1t was my custom to enter the bank at
noon to see if all was well, but on this
day, after we had finished dinner and was
about to start, friend came in and was
detained about half an hour. Everything
seemed to be all right in the bank, but
from force of habit, I opened the vault
and one look showed me that the climax
| had come There was hole through the
roof of the vault, our safe was open, and
| lying on the litter of papers was a man.
| did not know whether he was dead or alive
when I summoned help, but we soon found
| that he was dead and lying in his OWL
blood The safe had been opened with
wedges, and the $500 it contained had
been taken. 1t was half an hour before
! thought of Goldwaithe, and then he could
not be found We burst into his rooms
and about the first thing we found was g
| sachel containing our money.
| The machine which I took to be drill
was drill. A piece of the floor had beer
| cut out, the drill had then done it's work
/ on the iron plates, and later on a chisel had
| been used to pick out the cement and re
| move the bricks. The robber could have
| begun work at 5 o'clock on Saturday even
| ing, and he probably did so. Who was he:
| It was Goldthwaite! Fifty of Us could
| have sworn it was he, and yet it wasn't.
| had left him alive at the hotel, and he had
| skipped. Then who was it? His twin
| brother, as we afterward ascertained to 6
| certainty. How did he meet his death? He
| had got into the vault and the safe and Sc
| cured the money. He passed up and down
by means of rope. In going back the
second time for further plumber he had en-
countered piece of glass in the cement
| and it had severed an artery in his leg.
Goldthwaite knew that mistrusted him
| He had, therefore, worked to throw me off
my guard, and when the plan was ripe fol-
| execution he lay sleeping within ten feet Of
me, while his own brother was doing the
work. We caught him three months latel
| in New Orleans and, While we could not
satisfy the jury that he was one of the rob
| bers, he was taken to Cincinnati on another
charge and got a sentence of twelve years
| New York Sun.