The Winslow mail., 1900-12-20

the same instant a man darted down the
steps and ran toward Broadway
Richard Dunlap, president of the
Knickerbocker bank, was listening at
tentively enough now. Behind the calm
mask of the fnancier there was the evil
dent anxiety of the bank president.
For the stability of a bank, like the
honor of woman, is at the mercy of
every passing rumor.
"TIe carried in his hand small satchel,
which he dropped as soon as he saw that
he was pursued After an exciting chase
| Flynn overlook his man, whom he recog-
| nized as Michael Quinlan, alias Shorty
| Duff a well-known sneak thief. On the
way back to the bank the policeman cues-
toned his prisoner about the pistol shots.
! Qunlan vehemently denied having fired
| them but admitted that he had stolen the
| satchel. His story is that, as he was
passing the bank, the outer door was ajar.
| Seeing the satchel in the vestibule he en-
tered, crouching low in order to avoid be-
ing seen through the inner door, the upper
portion of which is of plate glass. Scarce
! ly had he laid his hands upon the satchel
when he was startled by the report of a
| pistol. For moment he was dazed and
undecided how to act. Then, as no one
seemed to take any notice of his presence,
he was quietly slipping off, when a second
! shot was fired. Panic-Stricken, he took to
his heels, only to be captured by Flynn
ION reaching the bank Flynn found the
outer door closed, but not fastened The
| heavy iron gate between it and the inner
| door was securely locked however so
| that it was impossible to enter. The Knick-
erbocker bank has a second entrance on
! Exchange place. But this, too, is protect
ed by massive iron gate, which also was
| found locked. Flynn raped for assistance,
and the call having been answered by Po-
! licemen fitzpatrick and O'Donnell, he left
| the former to watch the Exchange place
door, and the latter to guard the entrance
on Wall street, while he took his prisoner
| to the police station.
| Messengers were at once dispatched to
| the house of Richard Dunlap. the presi-
dent of the bank, and to that of Mr.. George
S. Rutherford, the cashier. The former was
not at home, and the family being out OF
| town, there was no one who knew where he
was spending the evening"
Every eye turned toward Richard
Dunlap as this paragraph was read.
His features remained impassive, under
| the full control of the veteran fnan-
cier; but to an observant eye like Stur-
gis', the mans real anxiety was be-
| trayed by the unconscious action of his
right hand, which lay upon the table
and played nervously with a fork.
eyes," said the banker, carelessly,
feeling the curious gaze of the other
guests upon him, and answering their
unspoken questions, ''yes, that is true;
[ did not tell my housekeeper that l
was invited to dine by our friend
Sprague this evening. There was, of
course, no reason why I should Well,
DR.. Murdoch, did they find Ruther-
ford?"
Murdock had looked up while the
banker was speaking. He now leisure
ly found his place and continued the
reading of the article in the Tempest:
''The cashier fortunately was at home
and he hurried down town a once with his
set of bank keys. Two detectives from the
central office accompanied HIM, and the
three men carefully searched the premises
They found nothing out of the way there,
except that three gas jets were lighted and
turned on full blaze. At first the detectives
were inclined to think that bank robbers
had gained an entrance to the building; and
that one of them, having caught sight of
Shorty Duff as he reached in to steal the
satchel from the vestibule, had fired upon
him. This would explain the pistol shots
"
the bank, however, failed to reveal any
trace of a bullet.
''Thc valise when opened, proved to con-
| tain only change of linen for man and
few toilet articles of but slight intrinsic
value. The satchel itself is an ordinary
cheap leather handbag, stamped in imita-
tion of alligator skin.
1.-THE police are now looking for it's owner
in the hope that he will be able to throw
some light on the mystery of the pistol
Shots
When DIR. Murdock had finished read
ing, everybody, except Dunlap and
Sturgis, looked disappointed. The
former settled back in his chair, the
muscles of his face relaxed, and the
anxious bank president once more be-
came the genial and polished man of
the world. The reporter sat gazing
thoughtfully at his wineglass.
''Well, Mr.. Sturgis," said Murdock,
''what do you think of my little prob
lem?"
81 have already been assigned to
work up this ease for the Tempest" an
swered the reporter, quietly.
Indeed? Perhaps you are the au-
thor of this very article? No? Then
are you willing to make the solution
of this little mystery the subject of
our wager and the test of your theo-
RESP
Hold on, DOCTOR" exclaimed
Sprague; you are doing Sturgis an
injustice. Why pick out, as test of
his ability, problem which, to all in
tents and purposes, has already been
solved by the police? Give him some
truly llnotty question and he will be in
his element; and then, at least, some
interest will attach to your wager"
'Ah! you think the problem has al
ready been solved?"
'To be sure The article you have
read us started out as if it were going
to prove interesting; but, instead of
that, it ends in an anti-climax. What
is the crime here? The confessed theft.
by petty sneak thief, of a satchel
worth, with its contents, perhaps eight
or ten dollars. And where is the mys-
terry? The ownership Of a few pieces of
unmarked linen of so little value that
the owner does not care to take the
trouble to claim them"
81 cannot agree with YOU. Mr..
Sprague. While the crime in this case
may be petty theft, it contains, to nv
mind, interesting features, which YOU
appear to lose sight of in your disdain-
full summary. The problem, it seems
to me. involves suitable explanation
of two rather mysterious pistol shots.