The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-09-11
miscellaneous.
A DEAD MANS HONOR.

In the year 1868, which you will re-
member was fraught with more excite
ment than any other of the civil war,
the firm of Bass, Williams l. Girder,
which was doing business in a town
on New England coast, appeared in
the newspapers in connection with a
series of startling incidents. The firm
dealt largely in fisherman's supplies
and in fish and lumber, and in con-
nection with it's general store it had a
private bank and the town postoffice.
George Bass was postmaster, at least
in name; John Williams ran the store,
and Joseph Girder, conducted the
bank. The head man of the firm was
Philip Lacy, who was a bachelor and
had grown up with it from boy. He
was implicitly trusted and any one of
the partners would have suspected
one of the others as soon as Lacy.
On the morning of July in the
year named one of the employees open
ed the store to find Lacy sitting on
chair in the bank with n gag in his
mouth and his legs and arms tied TO
the chair, He was released at once,
but it was an hour before he could
tell the story. He had been in the
habit of remaining at the store until
a late hour in the evening, looking
over books and accounts. On the
previous evening just after 10 o'clock,
and as he was ready to leave, he had
suddenly been attacked by two men,
who must have been secreted in the
store with that object in view. He was
seized from behind and choked into a
state of insensibility, and when he re-
covered he was sitting on the chair,
bound and gagged, and the two men
were at work on the door of the bank
vault. The vault was merely brick
closet, defended by an iron door
which had none too safe lock. There
was no safe inside. All the money of
the store, bank and postoff1ce was
placed in this vault at night, and on
this occasion, besides about $50, 900 in
greenbacks, there were government
bonds amounting to $4,000.
1t was not until a detective was
called into the case that the finger of
suspicion pointed to Lacy. The EN-
ploye who found him gagged and
bound, suddenly recollected that all
the knots were loose and that it was
little work to throw off the ropes
Lacy had seemed much exhausted,
but this might have been a sham.
Lacy had been heard to wish for
money to go into business for himself
had said he was tired of working for
other folks-had attempted to borrow
a considerable sum of money to buy a
share in a fishing craft. Once the
tide turned against him it was easy
to make out strong case.
After a weeks investigation the
detective was satisfied that the trusted
head man" mad robbed the concern
and had hidden the booty, and there
were so many points which favored
this idea that Lacy was held for the
crime. Three days after the robbery
a boat was picked up on the harbor
which had been upset; when she was
righted two dead men were found in
her. That they were not sailors was
easy to see, and that the craft had
been stolen from a town a few miles
away was soon ascertained.
Any man who has made a study of
crime will tell you that a perfectly
innocent man often Inisleads justice or
convicts himself by the demeanor
when under charges. When Lacy
found that his story was disbelieved
he felt so grieved that he sulked and
refused to answer any questions and
thus made matters worse for himself.
There was nothing which he could
not have explained, and yet when
asked to explain in order to acquit
himself his silence was construed as a
sure indication of his guilt. The fact
that he had been fully trusted for
twenty odd years went for naught af-
ter the detectives report and he was
sent to prison to await the action of Il
higher court. A week before his trial
was to come off he hanged himself in
the cell. His suicide was therefore &C
eepted as the strongest proof of all
that he was guilty. He left no mes
sage behind him, but that made no
difference. He had closed the
case and practically admitted his
guilt and the public press dropped it
Mt that point. The firm was rich
enough to stand the loss and go ahead
and in a year the great robbery was a
thing no longer gossiped about.
If Lacy took the money and bonds
and all wereagreed thathe did-where
did he secTete them? That was a query
which was coming up daily until al
ter his suicide. Detectives and Others
searched in vain for the plumber, and
it was finally agreed that he had an
outside confederate. This man, who.
ever he was, had been admitted to
the bank; he had tied Lacy as they
found him; be had taken away the
plumber to share and share alike.
| That he had not come forward after
Lacy's arrest with money to retain
counsel was part of the plot; that
Lacy had not peached on him
was because that he hoped to get
clear and enjoy his share of the haul.
Everything worked out nicely to make
out case, and but for his suicide the
man would have surely gone to State
prison for a long term Of years. There
was just one map In the firms em