The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-02

/ seneer or another railway. over which IL
was conveyed 10 Chattanooga, in so brief
a space OF time and in so public a manner
that tsmpering with 10 was "A physical i'm
] possibility. determined 10 follow the route
| Of the robbed package in company with
each messenger who had handled H.
Nothing TO excite suspicion occurred un-
I I'll Chattanooga was reached Here
/ learned that the money package had laid
/ over one hour and twenty minutes IN the
/ hands Of the Office cashier: that in this
I time the cashier had left his Office for
/ dinner: and that this man had, since the
/ robbery, been married in rather an ex-
Z travagant manner. and had Immediately
| thereafter requested transfer to an in
/ feriOr position in a distant Georgia town.
on the plea Of desiring to reside among
his brides people.
Immediately leaving the course the
/ package had certainly taken, I subjected
the affairs Of this employe to a most rigid
! investigation. He was a reasonable fell
/ low. and met every inquiry in so manful
1 way, while accounting readily for the
/ most trivial expense under his changed
conditions. that / was able to proceed TO
| Atlanta with his acquittal fully estab-
/ hshed in my own mind; though l had re-
| served this case for further special ex-
animation and had made fullest possible
reports on what had so far seemed the
! only opportunity where the theft could
/ have occurred.
say the only opportunity. for 1 had
already demonstrated by experiments
that the method OF the robbery required
perfect quietude wherever 1t was done.
So far ] had proven. at least to my own
satisfaction. that IL could not have oc-
CURED in a messengers car; unless at a
time when the train had come to a stand
still at other places than at stations
where messengers are overwhelmed with
exertions; and had taken pains to learn
from railway engineers that, in each in
stance, no such stops had been made by
any of the trains bearing this particular
package.
From the detective standpoint. I found
an interesting condition of things at At
lanta. The office here was one of the most
important Of the ccmpany's in the entire
south, and ! was surprised to find that
the cashier I'm charge was an old college
chum of mine, member of the same
Greek college fraternity to which l be-
longed.
Rather a curious business for a liter
airy man to be in, Ralph?" was his friend
ly taunt, as / began my investigation of
his office
For the first time I was heartily
ashamed of my work; but / mentally re-
solved to be if possible relentIessly search
ing in my inquiries at this point
contrary to the accepted notion of
things, IL is strange principle of human
nature to be more exacting with ones
friends, to hold them to stricter ac-
countabtlity in matters of morals and
ethics. and indeed to quicker and more
extensively place them in the shadow of
distrust and suspicion, than total strang-
ers, toward whom we at first most hos
pitably and generously incline.
This was instantly my attitude to Hen
ry Brlce. felt that he held a contempt
for my vocation. l resented it secretly.
and at once began weaving all manner of
inimical doubts about him. His splendid
position; his hne personal bearing; the
elegance of his manner and attire; the
high character of his associates; the very
qualities and characteristics which stamp
ed him as a gentleman by birth and in
cltnatton and a business man of the fin
est principle and habit; irritated me and
made me more determined. not perhaps
to actually connect him with the robbery.
but to allow no act or fact in his office
bearing on the mystery to escape my at
tention.
This is a humiliating confession to
make, but make IL to illustrate how pos
sible may be the ruin of character through
| indefinable antagonism, especially where
the detective may not be over scrupulous
in his use of temporary power, and to
particularly emphasize the public neces-
sty of most closely scrutinizing all de-
tective evidence in criminal trials.
The official records at Atlanta showed
that the rifled package had arrived by
the ilBnl run over the west Atlanta rail-
way, Saturday night. 1t had been
checked into the express office and de-
posted in the office vault, with other val
liable express matter, about midnight
less than thirty minutes after the arrival
of the train.
At that time, all trains departing from
| Atlanta on Sunday left at the hour of
noon or later; and it was the invariable
/ custom of the express messengers whose
! runs terminated in that city to repair to
| the Office shortly before noon, each Sun
! day, TO check ont all heir express matter
/ into their separate pie boxes" as their
/ several iron safes were called.
This particular package had. therefore,
as shown by the Office records and the
! messengers books, laid in the vault of the
Atlanta Office for fully twelve hours
Might it not have been withdrawn, any
time within that period and "weeded?"
| Or, might it not have been deXtrously
thrown aside. in the confusion of night
work. and rihed at any time during sun
day morning or Sunday forenoon, at the
cashiers leisure?
At first it looked bad for the Atlanta
| office; and it also looked bad for my
| friend. But a time lock, set in the pres
| ence of a half dozen employees, and the
| opening of the safe in the presence of
! several of the same persons, dispelled
/ my first theory; while the second one
was shattered by the positive assertion
| of the messenger who had brought the
| package from Chattanooga that he had
| seen 1t deposited in the vault, and the
| equally positive assertion by the out-go-
ing messenger that he had seen the pack
age brought from the vault by the cash
Ter to the table, from which it was check
ed into his own messenger safe
"Brice," I frankly SAID TO my old friend,
as 1 was about departing for the east in
an entirely discouraged frame of mind,
Everything is as clear as rock-water
here. No one in the Atlanta Office has
need for further anxiety"
He grasped my hand and a look of splen-
did triumph came into his face.
Il hope" he almost chokingly said
you will never know the misery of being
suspected of crime, with no way of dis
Polling the shadow, no means of even
knowing your accuser, no opportunity
of counting investigation, without seem
ing, from RIGHTEOUSNESS, to deserve
it, and them" here he shook his head ac-
cusatively, suffer the added indignity of
having an old friend come along almost
determined to identify you with another's