The San Francisco call., 1898-02-25

in any manner other than that some body was offering the precious metal Month after month as the accounts were balanced the deficiency was not ed, but it was impossible to trace it to 1 any one department, and the conclu- sion was reached that somebody was -subjecting the gold to the sweating process and carrying it away in Quan- titles so small as to escape detection. The usual caution was redoubled, and every employe who could possibly be cdnnected with it in any way was closely shadowed, but this also proved useless. Under the most rigid scrutiny nothing out of the way could be dis covered. and the stealing continued as regularly as before.
 Seeing that they could do nothing themselves. the authorities placed the ma atter in the hands of Secret Agent Harris. This was about two years ago, and during all that time the gold has been systematically carried away in small quantities so cleVerly as to eIude the most vigilant watchers. No one person could be suspected, as the work was done so neatly as to make IL lIl- possible to suspect anybody.
 . Despairing of finding the culprit un- aided Mr. Harris placed the matter in Morse's hands while continuing to work with him. Morse and his assistants took hold of the case, realizing the roaenitude of their undertaking, but confident Of a successful termination of their efforts. For a time they were completely baffied. The shadowing sys- tenn was renewed, and each employe who had anything to do with the hand ling of the gold was, unknown to him self, under the eyes of detective, who watched his every movement until con- vinced of his innocence.
 The real culprit, however, was still bright enough to elude the watchers, and the pilfering went on as merrily as before.
 Drawing the natural conclusion that after the gold was abstracted from the Mint 1t was disposed of somewhere within the city, Morse set himself to watch on the outside, and his vigilance was soon rewarded He made the dis covery that Eggers was disposing of small slugs of gold, and that the source from which he obtained these was somewhat enveloped in mystery. This led to a watching of Eggers' associates, and the suspicion soon fell on Clark son. who was watched by Captain Cal lunden and Agent Harris until the lat ter was removed and his place was filled by Sprague,
 COIluQSnl lic1l AlC licN NAAN right man, Morse delayed the arrest knowing that the time would soon ar rive when more of the stolen metal must be disposed of and preferring to catch the culprits red-handed. In this he was successful. Yesterday he placed Eggers under arrest, and at the same time Sprague and Callunden took Clarkson into custody. The men were taken before Marshal Barry Baldwin and charged with the crime. Clarkson, who is believed to be the real culprit, was held in default Of $5000 bail, but Eggers was simply held as a witness and was released on his own recogni- Zance.
 The most important evidence against the men is a slug of gold found in Egg gers possession, and valued at about SS0 It has the appearance of having been melted in a blacksmith's forge. = It is believed that Clarkson, who handled a great deal Of the gold, would manage to secrete small chips Of it about his person when no one was watching. These would not readily be missed, as their weight would be in finitesimal alone, and they could read fly be carried away and melted down into slugs in any convenient furnace.
 The pilfering has now been going on for about three years, and the loss has averaged about 5000 a year The credit is due to Morse and his assistants for the clever way in which they managed the investigation and the speed with which they brought the criminals to justice. ..
 Clarkson. when seen at the County