Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1899-02-17

tions. in which perhaps anxiety pre-
| dominated. / was anxious because it
seemed to me that perhaps even at the
eleventh hour might lose my man. If
by any mishap Reeves had got wind Of
my visit to his house, he would in all
probability have made good his flight
ere this. Still. the diamonds were in
my possession. and that was the main
| point after all.
Aha! the bank at last. Leaping from
the vehicle, l rushed into the building
"Mr. Reeves gone yet?" shouted to
clerk.
81 think he is just going. sir" re-
turned the man.
Without waiting to be announced. l
darted upstairs into the room which
had quilted that morning. Reeves was
lighting cigar previous to leaving the
bank. and he looked up quickly when !
entered
Back so soon,' he ejaculated; chat
means good news. Have you clew?"
81 have" I answered. sternly; sand
what is more have the diamonds as
well.''
He turned very white. and clung to
the table for support.
"Are you joking, man? !. what
do you mean?"
SIT MEANS" returned, deliberately.
as locked the door and pocketed the
key. shat your crime has been discov.
cred. and that you are my prisoner,
John Reeves. 1t is my duty to arrest
you in the queens name on the charge
of being connected with the theft OF
Lady Pollock's diamonds"
He collapsed like house of cards,
demolished by blow. His knees
knocked together. his lips trembled
his hands twitched violently. A more
abject creature I have never seen. and
if ever guilt was written on mans
face and in mans figure. it was writ
ten On his face and in his figure then
He accompanied me down the stairs
and into a cab like man in dream.
The evidence against Reeves being so
conclusive, he was advised by his coun-
sci to plead guilty and to make full
confession This he did. and the con-
| fession, which revealed crime Of
singular ingenuity and daring ran
thus:
That being desperately hard up
through high play and betting on the
turf, he had been at his wits ends to
obtain money, and it therefore occurred
to him to take advantage of his position
at the bank to obtain and dispose of
some of the banks valuables.
That his first idea had been to do this
and decamp but that further de!;bera-
ton showed him how he might with i'm
punity obtain his nefarious ends, and
| yet remain in the banks service.
That the plan which he at length hit
upon was to arrange with an accom-
plice to present himself at the bank
with letter forged by himself, and
purporting to come from Lady Pollock:
asking that the jewel case deposited by
her ladyship should be given up.
That he had arranged with the said
accomplish to wait until the head man.
ager was away from London, 50 that
there might be nobody to criticise the
forgery, for in the absence of the chief
it, of course, fell upon Reeves himself
to deal with letters of the kind in
question.
That the receipt which the supposed
messenger had handed in with the let
ter was simply another forgery by the
ingenious Reeves, copied naturally
from the genuine document in the pos
session of Lady Pollock. which copy
had been made by Reeves on the morn.
ing when the jewels were deposited
three months previously.
He was sentenced to considerable
term of imprisonment. a punishment
which he certainly merited
Perhaps they who have read these
lines will wonder what was the link
which set me on the right track, and
which connected John Reeves with the
crime. All, well, it was the smallest
link in the world, and yet it was Just
the kind of link which the most skillful
criminal is often careless enough to
forge, and which leads to his destruc-
ton. The clew in question was merely
semi-colon. Both the forged letter to
the bank and the note of introduction
handed me by Reeves bore that little
punctuation mark, which is hardly
ever used in ordinary correspondence
except by professional writer's. Recog-
nizing the extreme rarity of the mark,
it flashed upon me in an instant of il
Elimination that in all probability the
writer of the forgery and the writer of
the other note were one and the same
person. Acting on this theory took
the action have recorded, and achieved
the success for which I had worked.
Had Mr.. Reeves employed full-stop or
comma, as most other men would
have done, he would in all likelihood be
free man at this hour, and the bank
mystery would have gone unsolved.-
Tit-Bits.
Sunday Trading. -.
A German shopkeeper went one Sum
day morning to customer in order to
demand the payment of long-neg-
lected account. The police heard of
this, and regarded it as violation of
the new law against trading during the