Willmar tribune., 1900-09-12

of that. It does not seem possible that.
in spite of all our care, they can have
succeeded in making away with SO
much money. But they did. There can
he no doubt about that; for in the pa
pers which Arbogast inclosed for me in
his letter to his wife he explains just
how the thing was done. It is simple
enough when you know the trick; but
it took fiendish cunning to devise it.
I never would have thought that ras-
cally bookkeeper intelligent enough TO
conco>t such a scheme"
IF the scheme is work of genius"
said Sturgis, ''you may rest assured
that 'X'-who may very we'll be Henry
Seymour-was the author of it,
swell, at any rate" observed Dunlap,
''there is one thing that must be done
at once; and that is to find both Chat
ham and Seymour. It is not possible
that in two years these men have spent
u quarter of million dollars between
them."
1T is at all events possible that they
may not have done so,' replied Sturgis:
"for my Investigations show that both
Arbogast and Chatham have been men
of regular and exemplary habits in
their private lives. They do not ap-
pear to have been living much, if at
all, beyond their means. There does
not seem to have been, in the case of
either man, any room for double ex-
istence, which might otherwise have
explained the situation. Neither was
spendthrift or gambler, and neith-
er was dissipated."
'Then you have not the faintest idea
of the present whereabouts of Chatham
or of his mysterious accomplice?"
"Let me tell you exactly wha. i have
done up to the present time; and then
you will be able to judge for yourself.
And I, too, shall see more clearly where
we stand; for the necessity of putting
ones thoughts into words is an aid to
clear thinking"
CHAPTER XIII.
THE LOST TRAIL.
So saying, Sturgis settled himself in
his chair and began his narrative.
''After leaving you this morning, my
first step was to gain admission to the
Tombs-"
ITO the Tombs?' interrupted Dun
lap.
''Yes; the cabman has been remanded
to the Tombs to await trial for compile
ity in the murder of the unknown man
whose body was found in his cab"
''Arbogast's?'
'Yes, Arbogast's. But of course the
police do not know that"
"Were you allowed to see the cab
man."
Eyes. AS reporter of the Tempest,
was able to obtain an interview with
him. When first arrested, the man,
whose name, by the way, is Reilly, was
incapable of making connected state
ment; the lawyer assigned to defend
him laughed in his face when he heard
his story, and advised him to leave
the romancing to trained lawyer as
his only chance of escaping the electric
chair. Naturally, under the circum-.
stances, the poor fellow hesitated to
unbosom himself to stranger. But
I finally managed to gain his confidence
by showing him that l believed his
story, and that was trying to find
the men whose scapegoat he now is. It
seems that yesterday afternoon, at
about three o'clock, he was stationed
at the cab-stand in front of Madison
square, where he was accosted by
man, answering Chatham's description,
who engaged him to drive him to the
Fulton street ferry. On reaching the
ferry, the man ordered Reilly to pro-
ceed to low grogshop on South street.
Here he entered, returning in few
minutes to invite the cabman to take
drink with him. The men seated
themselves at table upon which a
bottle and two filled glasses were al
ready placed. Chatham handed one of
these glasses to Reilly, who drank it
and probably many more. At any
events, he remembers nothing further
until he was rudely shaken by Chat
ham, who led him out into the street.
Here the cold air revived him, and he
remembers noticing several things to
which he did not pay much attention
at the time, but which seem significant
now as he recalls them:
'Firstly-It was now quite dark.
"Secondly-The cab, which had been
facing south. when he entered the bar
room, was now facing north.
"Thirdly-Chatham persistently car
ried his left hand in the bosom of his
coat; he was very pale and seemed weak
and ill.
'He with difficulty climbed upon the
box beside Reilly and ordered him to
drive uptown. Presently the cabman
became drowsy again. The next thing
he remembers is coming to himself
after the overturning of the cab by
the cable car. That the man was
drugged there can be no doubt. It is
probable that while he sat apparently
drunk in the barroom, Chatham took
the cab to the Knickerbocker bank, ex-
pecting to smuggle Arbogast into it
without Reilly's knowledge - deep
move, since it would effectually cover
up the trail, if they wanted to make
away with the bookkeeper, as they:
evidently did. Seymour may have met
him at the bank by appointment; but
am more inclined to believe that he I
was there unknown to Chatham. and
possibly for the purpose of spying
upon the latter, to see if his instruc-
tions were carried out. He lent his ac-,
complice a hand in the nick of time;& 4
and then, like a prudent general, he re-
tired to safe position, thence to di-
rect further operations. What can
not yet understand is, why Cha than