The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-10-26
HIS SINGULAR CASE.
A Detectives Strange Experience
 with a Sleer-W Walker.


 Such was the telegram received by the chief of the bureau of which am member, and l was deputed to work upon the case; not because was the "best man" connected with the bureau, but by reason of the fact that I was the only available man.
 Four hours subsequent to the recep- ton of the message l was conferring with Mir. Hardy-a man nearly sixty years of age, the proprietor of small store con nected with his residence-to whom had made myself known, whose story was as follows:
 When, at the close of the rebellion, after four years service in behalf of my country, l returned to my home in this town, my health was so impaired that I could not follow my former yo- cation-that of carpenter. So con verted one of the rooms in my house into a store and began to sell confec- tiOnery, cigars and other small articles. With the growth of the towr my busi- ness has increased until it affords me an income sufficient to support my wife and myself-I have no children--in a COmIOTluDlt anu nave bttu able to pay all the debts which l, owing to my impecuniousness, was obliged to contract during the earlier part of my career as merchant" and he smiled as the last word fell from his lips.
 Early last evening"" he continued, "I was called Il pon by gentleman-a stranger to me-who said that years ago he borrowed nine hundred dollars of my father and had come to pay that amount and accrued interest to me my fathers sole heir. He did pay me nearly sixteen hundred dollars.
 As it was too late to deposit the money in the bank I placed it in my safe. l had scarcely done so when, glancing at one of the windows in the store, l saw the head and shoulders of a man, who looked like tramp and who was watching me closely.
 'aThe lower sash of the window was slightly raised and the idea suggested itself to me that this man might have which had been carried on in the room, learned about the money and was watching to see what did with it. stepped to the window, raised the sash still higher, put my head out of the window. looked up and down the street, but nowhere was the stranger to be seen.
 "When I closed the store for the night was inclined to take the money with me into the house proper. On second consideration deemed it wise loA .+ hn safe is furnished with a combination lock, and could leave the doors be- tween the store and my sleeping room open and thus be enabled to hear anyone who effected an entrance to the store and was tampering with the safe.
 This morning, to my intense amaze ment, l found that the money was missing from the safe, though nothing indicated that the store had been forci- ble entered or any tanlpering with the safe-whose combination is known Cnly to me.
 II decided to employ detective with out delay and wired your bureau for assistance.
 May not the burglar have gained &C., cess to the store from some other part of the building?" l inquired.
 He could not without passing through my sleeping-room, as you will find by examining the premises. and I do not think he could have done this without waking me-" was the reply.
 ''I am not so sure that you would have been wakened by his passing through your sleeping apartment, as professional manages to get about building without making much noise. Have you looked through the house?"
 'I have not"
 Let us do so," arising from my seat in the store as l spoke.
 We started on our investigation of the premises and in the kithen found an unfastened window above sink. below which, out of doors, were the tracks of mans bare feet in the dirt that had been moistened by slight rain about half past ten the previous evening.
 A careful examination revealed sim liar tracks ou the floor in the kitchen and on the carpet in his sleeping-room, convincing MT. Hardy that was cor rect Tn my supposition that the burglar had not directly entered the store.
 lhough he passed through my sieepingroom without waking me I cannot comprehend how he could have reached the interior of my safe with out injuring the receptacle" MT. Hardy remarked.
 From long experience one's fingers become so sensitive as to enable him to open safe when the combination IS unknown to him." rejoined; after a pause adding; Can you give mo any escrlptlon of the man who watched you through the window?"
 cannot, further than to say that ne was evil-loolsing, had heavy mus. tache and beard, was probably about BLK feet in height" was the reply.