The Irish standard., 1900-10-27
CHAPTER Xxx.
THE LEAD-LINED VAT.

TIE lliAD-LlNED VAT.
Sprague seated himself upon the
long pine box; and Sturgis, dropping
into the only chnir began his narrative.
As he talked, he carelessly whitfield
the cover OF the wooden box with the
knife which he still held i'll his hand.
He began with an account of his in
vestigation at the Knickerbocker bank
and explained the result of his observa-
lions and differences down to the time
of his visit to Murdock's house, omit
ting, however, to mention any of the
names of the actors in the reconstruct
ed drama.
$50 you Sec" he concluded, 1--WE have
established the identity of the body
in the cab, and of the young man who
disappeared after the cab was upset.
But one of the most salient features
of the case, from the start, was the
fact that neither of these two men
had derived much, if any, pecunia1y
profit from his crime. The bookkeep-
er, as we have seen, was mere cats
paw in the control of the accountant,
and his posthumous confession has
given US the explanation of the power
eNertcd over him by his accomplish.
1t was not SO easy to establish the
motive which controlled the actions of
the accountant, who was himself only
q tool in the hands of higher intelli-
gence. The deus ex machina of this
crime is man of genius who has hardly
appeared upon the scene at all, but
whose traces l have found at every
turn. He was the brains of the whole
scheme; the other men in his hands
were mere puppets. Through the ac
countant. this master spirit managed
the boolikeeper; and the accountant
himself was controlled by him more
directly, but no less surely. If he held
the former through his fear of expo
sure and consequent ruin, he influenced
the latter through even more potent
motives. lie is the father of Il beauti-
full girl, whom he did not scruple to
use as a decoy. The price agreed upon
for the accountants assistance was the
hand of this daughter, for whom the
young man had doubtless conceived Z;
passionate love. Whether OF not the
leader would have had the power to
carry out his part of the contract mat
ters little; for it is highly probable that
he never had the slightest intention of
so doing. He evidently realized very
early i'll the game that the bookl1eeper
could not long escape the clutches of
the law. But as he had taken every
prccaution to prevent. him from know
ing anything of his very existence, the
fate of the unfortunate bookkeeper
would have mnttered little to this
heartless villain, had not the probable
ity remained that, when brought to
bay, the bookkecper would denounce
the accountants connection with the
crime. This would have been extreme
ly awkward, since the accountant was
very likely in possession of some dam
gerous secrets. The safest way out of
the difficulty was to quietly suppress
the now useless bookkceper. This plan
was decided upon, and would doubtless
have been carried into execution, had
not fate otherwise decreed. After the
bookleeper's death, under the circum-
stances which have related, it became
quite probable that the accountants
connection with the case would be dis
covered; for luck had been against
him from the start, and he became
more and more entangled in the chain
of circumstantial evidence Of whose
existence his leader was soon fully
aware. In the first place, the account
ant was wounded; and thus not only
partially disabled. but also--what is
far Neutrality-suspicious. marked. A
man who carries his arm in sling can
hardly fail to attract attention. espc-
chilly when this distinguishing mark
is accompanied by another equally
glaring one in the form of head OF
brilliant red hair
"llold on, Sturnis!" interrupted
Sprague, who had been listening with
growing interest; don't you know the
accountants name?"
"Nes." replied the reporter: "his
name is Thomas Chatham"
Thomas CEatbam." exclaimed
Sprague, as the image of the miserable
young man came to his mind.
Yes" replied Sturgis, answering his
thought, 1.-The msn you met only . few
hours ago.
ITO Be continued,l