Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-04-17

Il
taking of the money. He employed a
teller and bookkeper, Leither Of whom
had a key to safe or fault unless it was a
duplicate made wittouthiS knowledge
Neither had the wordSof the combination
of the vault, and it seemed impossible
that they could have taken the money
even if so,inclined. Both were perfectly
honest so far.as any "One knew, and Nit
chell was alhtangleaup overthe mystery.
He hadn't talked to me five minutes
when would have taken my solemn
oath that Mrs.~Gray was the guilty party,
but. of course l didn't drop hint OF
my suspicious 10 him. When it came
nv turn to asksquestionsI found out that
he was very SOUND sleeper; that he
occupied front,OedrOom with his son ;
that Mrs. Gray an@thegirl occupied one
in rear of'his, with ansentrance to both
from a hall; that the keys of the bank
safe and vault were always kept under
his pillow at night In addition, Mrs.
GRAY had won the heartssof his children,
if not his own, and it twas only by the
strongestargument that'she had been in
duced to accept salary,of $40 per week
while occupying her position 1t was
as plain aS daylight to meithat Mitchell
meant to,marry her IN due course Of
time, but it wasn't tat talEplain as to what
sort of scheme she was working.
took the case, told Mitchell l had a
theory, and then began to study Mrs.
Grav. l found.her to be sweet and in
nocent-loOking little woman, seemingly
devoted to,the.childrn. 1t was in sum-
mer and sheNwas out a,great deal, and l
was on hand,to follow her. 1t seemed
to be timethrown away, however. She
was shy, prudent and apparently all
right, and I had'put in a month on the
case and madeline discovery when the
outside safe wasrobbed again. A de-
post and some, bonds had come in at
the last moment and had been placed
there for the might. The whole thing
amounted tonbout 5000, and bonds and
greenbacks were missing next morning.
The safe hadluot only been opened with
key, but thevbank had been entered by
unlocking therear door. No one could
have enteredibY the front without sound
ing an alarm. No stranger could have
entered by the back on account Of the
dog, who was wide awake and all
right.
When Mitchell sent for me to give me
the news was perfectly satisfied that
Mrs. Gray was the guilty party. l be-
lieved she had the nerve to enter his
room in the night, secure the keys and
then slip through the back yard, enter
the bank and open the safe. When l
learned that the dog was a great favor
ite of. hers this belief was a certainty. l
couldn't, for reasons already given, say q
word to Mitchell about this. He wanted
to suspect his two employees, but when
VIC had canvassed the matter he was
made to see that it was altogether un-
likely that either Of them was guilty.
Indeed, he was alone in the bank when
the bonds aud money came IN and he
alone knew where the deposit was
placed.
What did Iido1 turned to Mrs. Gray
again, and in about a week something
happened tojprove that l was on the
right trial. One of the street car lines
of the town ran down to the railroad
depot. IT was Mrs. Gray's habit of an
afternoon TO ride on this line with the
little girl as far down as a certain park,
and to sit near the fountain and read
while the girl romped about with other
children. Ihad closely watched her while
in this park, but no one had ever come
near her, and her demeanor had been
perfection. On the third afternoon after
the robbery she occupied her usual seat
for an hour without anything happening.
l sat on tench in the rear of her and
about thirty feet away, and by and by
noticed that she was writing a note
with pencil. She did it so deftly that
one sitting in front of her could not
have told what she was at. Beside her
was a large shade tree, and as near as I
could make out she disposed of the note,
when folded up, somewhere about the
tree. When she left followed her for
a short distance, and looking back saw
a young and well-dressed man occupy
ing the place vacated by her. An hour
later, when | could examine the tree,
found hollow in the trunk just about
on line with her shoulder as sho sat
on the bench. One not looking for it
would have sat there fifty times and dis.
covered nothing.
My theory was that she had an accom-
plice-the young man whom had seen.
The hollow in the tree was thoir postof.
fee. Next day | was of the park half an
hour before her usual time, and behold
the young man was occupying that
bench. As she appeared he got up and
took seat hundred feet away, and by
watching closely saw that she took a
note from the tree. Before leaving she
wrote and "posted" one in reply, and af-
D a hnd