The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1895-08-02
HIS SINGULAR CASE
A Detectives Strange Experience
with a Sleep Walker.

Such WIS the telegram received by the
chief Of the bureau Of which l am
member, and ! was 'deputed to work
upon the case; not because was the
..best mans connected with the bureau,
but by reason of the fact that was the
only available man.
-Four hours subsequent to the recep-
fion Of the message l was comforting
with Mr.. Hardy-a man nearly sixty
years of age, the proprietor of a small
store connected with his residence-to
whom had made myself known, whose
story was rs follows:
when. at the close OF the rebellion,
after four years service in behalf Of
my country. returned to my home in
this town, my health was so impaired
that / could not follow my former vo-
casion-that of q carpenter So con-
verted one Of the rooms in my house
into 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 q
comfortiibl manner: and have been
able to pay all the debts which /. owing
tnmy impecnniousness, 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,
Il was called u pom by a gentleman-a
stranger to me--who said that years
ngo he borrowed nine hundred dollars
of my father and had come to pay that
nm0nnt 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 / placed it in my
safe. ] had scarcely done so when,
glancing at one of the windows in the
store, l saw the head and shoulders of
man. who looked like a tramp and
who was watching me closely.
The lower sash OF the window was
slightly raised and the idea suggested
itself to me that this man might have
been listening to the conversation
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.
s.When / closed the store for the
night was inclined to take the money
with me into the house proper. On
second consideration deemed it wise
10 let it remain where it was, as the
sale is furnished with combination
lock. and could leave the doors be-
tween the store and my sleeping
room open and thus be enabled to
hear anyope who effected an entrance
to the storesand was tampering with
the safe.
This morning, to my intense amaze
ment, found that the money was
missing from the safe, though nothing
indicated that the store had been forci-
BILE entered or any tampering with the
safe-whose combination is known only
to me.
Il decided toemploy detective with
out delay and wired your bureau Tor
assistance"
May not the burglar have grained ac-
cess 10 the store from some other part
OF tiiA building?" ! inquired
'-T1a, could not without passing
through my sleeping-room, as you will
find byexamining the premises, and /
do not think he could have done this
without waking me, was the reply.
Il am not SO sure that you would
have been wakened by his passing
through your sleeping apartment, las G
professional manages to get about
building without making much noise,
Have you looked through the house2"
II have not
Let US do so," arising from my seat
in the store as Ispoke.
We started on our investigation of
the premises and in the e-kithen found
an uniastened 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 on the floor in the kitchen
and on the carpet in his sleeping-room,
convincing Mr.. Hardy tnat was cor
rect in my supposition that the burglar
had not directly entered the store.
Though he passed through my
sleeping room without waking me |
cannot comprehend how he could have
reached the interior of my safe with
out injuring tine receptacle, Mr.. Hardy
remarked.
From long experience ones fingers
become so sensitive as to enable him
70 open safe when the combination
is Unknown to him" rejoinea; after
a parse adding: Can you give me any
description Of the man who watched
Won through the Window"
u cannot, fErtheF than to say that
he was evil-looking, had G heavy mus
tache and beard, was probably shout
six feet in heieht " was the reply.
Were his mustache and Drsru llgnt
or darl?r
4 should say they were almost
black
u Will see If ] can learn anything
concerning the whereabouts Of this
man.