People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-12-06
A GOOD BIG HAUL.
Henry Stunkel Loses $4,000 in
Cool Cash.

IL
Cool Cash.
Fer some time past two men have
been stopping occasionally at the
Abingdon hotel over night. The,
registered as W. C. Harris, Forl
Worth, and J. W. Bvrnes, Enid. AS
it now appears on each trip Harris
has been visiting Henry Stunkel, an
extensive and wealthy farmer who
lives IN London township near Peck.
Harris represented that he was pros.
Pc ting for land: that his sister-in.
law who lived in Wichita wished to
invest $4,000 in Sumner county lands
Tor her SINS. He called upon Mr..
Stunkel to secure his judgment UPON
certain lands in that community.
Thursday night the two men STOP
ped at the Arlington again. Fri
day morning they wenU to Ellis &
RuSh's livery stable and hired two
buggies.
The remainder of the story is told
to Us by Mr.. Stunkel himself. Along
In the forenoon Harris, who had al
WAYS given his name to Stunkel as
Williams, Came TO his house again
and asked him to 90 with him tO look
at the Downs farm. After they had
driven little way they Came across a
man trudging alOLg the road, roughly
dressed as a farmer, carrying a large
ValiSe. He stopped them and asked
them where some person lived. Mr..
Stunkel informed him that no person
by that name lived In that section of
country. The fOOtman, who appear
ed to be some what silly, expressed
his regrets and said the lady he IN
CURED for was his sister, that Their
father had died and left her 100000
aud he was taking $44, 900 of il to her
and had been informed that she
lived in that immediate vicinity.
In the conversation that followed.
the foOtman who was B,TneS, said he
had lost $500 IN Wichita the night be-
fore by trick, but he had learned
the trick aud was going tn get even.
He opened his vaiSe and took out of
IL three cards, at Gne same time re-
Vedllng an immense amount of
money in bills. Mr.. Stunkel caution
ed nlm that 1t waS extremely danger
GUS u Carry so much money any
where and especially travelling in a
str nge COUNTRY
The three cards were the oil time
two birds and one boy, the b,y wins,
the bird, lose. Harris bet Byrnes
$1,000 that he could pick out the by
and won. ByrneS turned round to
his vallSe, pickle a $1,000 bill out of
his pile OF money and passed it TO
Harris, but while his back was turn
Ell Harris crimped one corner of the
Card with he boy on it. Byrnes then
proposed to bet Harris and Stunkel
eacn $1,000. After some parleying,
they took him up, turned up the
crlmped card and won
Byrnes then objected to paving the
bet and said if they would each show
up $1,000 he would pay them, but not
before. Stunkel told him that he
did not have that much Cash with
him. but could get 1t at Wichita.
Harris said lie could get his $1,000 at
Wichita from his SiSter-in-law. So
all three got into the buggy and
started to Wichita. When nearly
there ByrnrS insisted Ol stopping at a
farm house to get something to eat.
Harris and Stunkel went on, separa-
ted at certain point to meet there
again at given time.
Stunkel went to the bank and GOT
$1,000, met the man as agreed upOn.
who showed him a large bundle of
money and told him he had his S.. 900
all right. They met Byrnes walking
toward Wichita from the point where
they had left him to meet them.
Each one showed up his money anG
Byrnes said he would pay the bet.
Harris handled the money for him.
self and Stunkel He had tin box.
Into this he put the $1,000 paid over
by Byrnes to Stunkel and also
Stunkel'S $1,000, locked the box gave
Stunkel the key and set it down in
the bottom of the buggy. Stunkel
thought he had his eye on that box
every moment until they arrived at
his place; when he got out of the
buggy taking the box with him.
Harris said he would take Byrnes to
the train and come back to Stunkers
to stay over night.
Shortly after Stunkel got home he
unlocked the box and found that it
contained only Usage orange hedge
balls and brown paper. He imme-
diately started to Wellington, tele
graphing the sheriff as he reached
Zyba.
ByrneS brought both teams back to
the livery stable and went south on
Washington avenue and that is the
last seen of either of them. Mr.
Stunkel has offered a reward of $500
for the men as we are informed.
The men are easily identified; they
are pr ,fesSiOnals and their head
quarters are known. In our opinion
they can be caught, but Mr.. Stunkel's
money is finally gone.
We have given the bare facts of the
case. Each of our readers can make
his comments to suit his individual
taste.
I ifflo Man aud Wor.au