Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-09-16

the bank and open the safe. When l
learned that the dog was great favor
lite of hers this belief was certainty. /
couldn't, for reasons already given, say
o word to Mitchell about this. He want
ed TO suspect his two employees, but
THEN he had canvassed 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 a week something
happened to prove that | was on the
right trail. One of the street car lines
Of the town ran down to the railroad
depot. It was Mrs. Grays 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. l had 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 rob-
berry she occupied her usual seat for an
hour without anything happening. /
sat on q bench in the rear of her and
about thirty feet away, and by and by
noticed that she was writing 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
large shade tree, and as near as l could
make out she disposed of the note, when
folded up, somewhere about the tree.
When she left followed her for short
distance, and looking back | saw a
young and well dressed man occupying
the place vacated by her. An hour
later, when l could examine the tree,
found hollow in the trunk just about
on line with her shoulders as she 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 ac-
complice-the young man whom l had
seen. The hollow in the tree was their
postoffice. 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 a 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 l saw him get 1t.
was now certain that was on the right
trail, and l went to Mitchell to secure
some particulars l wished to know. l
told him had clew, but would not re-
veal which way it led. / learned from
him that the combination of the vault
door had four numbers, and he alone
knew it. 1t had been changed about
month after Mrs. Gray's arrival, and he
hesitatingly admitted that the word was
"Aime," which was her Christian name
He would not, however, admit that this
fact was known to her.
For two weeks after receiving this in.
formation l hardly got sight of Mrs.
Gray. For some reason she remained
very closely at home. found out from
Mitchell in a roundabout way that the
money needed to pay the men at the
coal mine and also at large factory
was deposited with him ON the 18th of
every month. 1t was simply passed In
to him to be locked in the vault over
night, as it came up from Pittsburg by
messenger. l reasoned that Mrs. Gray
would work this information out of him
In some way, or that her accomplish
would discover it, and that if she had
the combination of the vault she would
make her strike on the night of the 14th
On Aug. l2 she exchanged notes at the
bank, also ON the 18th. On this latter
date l Swallowed the young man for
three hours and became satisfied that he
was from Pittsburg and a "slick un. "
Among the things he did was to go to
the depot and inquire about various
night trains, and particularly one which
passed over the road half an hour after
midnight.
| promised Mitchell that climax
would soon be reached, and then staked
my all on what might happen on the
night of the 18th. At 8 o'clock on that
evening l threw piece of "dosed' meat
to his dog from neighboring yard and
at 10 softly climbed the fence to find
the canine in his kennel and sick enough
to remain there. lay down within ten
feet of him, hidden behind bush, and
thing happened. Everybody in the
neighborhood was in bed and asleep by
that time, and was not greatly sur
prised when female figure, which
knew to be that of Mrs. Gray, suddenly
appeared and passed me five feet away
going toward the bank.
} She stopped at the kennel to speak to
the dog, and then opened the rear door
and entered. | did not move from my
hiding place until she reappeared about
twenty minutes later. She carefully
locked the bank, and as she passed me
on the way to the house l followed
quickly behind. The keys she laid on
} the bank steps, softly opened the side
, gate, and let her reach the street be-
fore brought matters to climax. She
: was only out of the gate when she was
joined by man, but when / rushed to
seize them he got the alarm and was off
before ] could grab him. got her,
however and she had a bundle under