The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-06-25

under his pillow at night In addition,
Mrs. Gray had won the hearts of his
children, If not his own, and it was
only by the strongest argument that
she had been induced to accept salary
of ten dollars per week while occupy
ing her position. 1t was as plain as
daylight to me that Mitchell meant to
marry her in due course of time, but it
wasn't at all plain as to what sort of q
scheme she was working.
took the case, told Mitchell had .
theory, and then began to study Mrs.
Gray. found her to be sweet and
innocent-looking little woman, seem
ingly devoted to the children. and had
not been detective and a married
man might have, fallen in love with
her. It was in summer and she was
out great deal, and was on hand to
follow her Itseemed to be time thrown
away, however She was shy, prudent
and apparently all right, and I had put
in q month on the case and made no
discovery when the outside safe. was
robbed again. A deposit and some
bonds had come in at the last moment
and had been placed there for the
night. The whole thing amounted
to about nine hundred dollars, and
bonds and greenbacks were missing
next morning. The safe had not only
been opened with key, but the bank
had been entered by unlocking the
rear door. No one could have entered
by the front without sounding 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 l was perfectly satisfied
that Mrs. Gray was the guilty party
believed she had the nerve to enter
his room in the night secure the keys
and then slip through the backyard,
enter the bank and open the safe.
When learned that the dog was q
great favoritc of hers this belief was a
certainty. l couldn't, for reasons al
ready given, say word to Mitchell
about this. He wanted to suspect his
two employees, but when we had cam
vassed the matter he was made to see
that it was altogether unlikely that
either of them was guilty Indeed, he
was alone in the bank when the bonds
and money came in and he alone knew
where the deposit was placed.
What did / do? / turned to Mrs.
Gray again, and in about q week some
thing happened TO prove that was on
the right trail One of the street car
lines of the town ran down to the rail-
road depot. 1t was Mrs. Gray's habit
of an afternoon to ride on this line with
the little girl as far down as certain
park, and to sit near the fountain and
read while the girl romped about with
other children. j had closely watched
her while in thisspa but no one had
ever come near her, and her demeapor
had been perfection. On the third
AFTERNOON after the robbery she occu-
pied her usual seat for an hour without
anything happening. / sat on bench
in rear of her and about thirty feet
away, and by and by l noticed that she
was writing note with pencil. She
did it so deity that one sitting in front
of her could not have told what she
was at Beside her was large shade
tree, and as near as l could make out
she disposedsof, the note, when folded
up, somewhere about the tree. When
she left followed her for short dis
lance, and looking back saw young
and well-dressed man occupying the
place vacated by her. An hour later,
when could examine the tree, found
a hollow in the trunk just about on a
line with her shoulder as she sat on the
bench. One not looking for It would
have sat there fifty times and discov-
cred nothing.
My theory was that she had an ac-
complice-the young man whom had
seen. The hollow in the tree was their
post office. Next day was at 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 q hundred
feet away, and by watching closely
saw that she took note from the tree.
Before leaving she wrote and posted
one in reply, and after she had gone ]
saw him get it. was now certain that
was on the right trail, and went to
Mitchell to secure some particulars !
wished to know. / told him had a
clew, but would not reveal which way
it led. learned from him that the
combination of the vault door had -four
been changed about a month after Mrs
Gray's arrival, and he hesitatingly ad-
mitted that the word was "Aime,"
which was her Christian name. He
would not, however, admit that this