Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-10-30

i
the full control of the veteran 1inan-
cler; but to an observanteye Ike Stur-
| gis', the mans real anxiety was he
trayed by the unconscious action of his
right hand, which lay upon the table
and played nervously with fork.
| Yes" said the banker carelessly,
feeling the curious gaze of the other
| guests upon him, and answering their
unspoken questions. yes, that is true;
l did not tell my housekeeper that
was invited to dine by our friepd
| Sprague this evening. There was, OF
! course, no reason why l should. Well,
DIR. Murdoch, did they find Ruther-
| ford?"
| Murdoch 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 at 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 thai three gas Jets were lighted and
| turned on full blaze. At first the detectives
| We're inclined to think that bank robbers
! mad gained anentrance to the building: and
mat 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
heard by Flynn. A careful examination of
| the bank, however, failed to reveal any
| trace of a bullet
| The valise, when opened, proved to con-
| tain only change of linen for a man and a
Few toilet articles of but slight intrinsic
value. The satchel itself is an ordinary
| cheap leather handbag, stamped in imita.
| ton of alligator skin.
THE police are now looking for its owner
| In the hope that he will be able to throw
some light on the mystery of the pistol
| Shots"
| When DR.. Murdoch 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.
swell, Mr.. Sturgis," said Murdoch,
"what do you think of my little prob
lem?"
II have already been assigned to
work up this case 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
spragne; 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 soma
| truly knotty 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 ale
ready been solved?"
''To be sure. The article you have
read us started out as if it We're 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 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 a petty theft, it contains, to my
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,
to say nothing of such minor details as
lighted gas jets behind securely locked
gates. AS Mr.. Sturgis has informed us,
in his earnest and lucid way, every eff
feet has cause. should like to know
the cause that lighted the gas in the
Knickerbocker bank"
II shall probably find ont that cause
the day after tomorrow said Mr.
Dunlap, smiling, "and | shall give tbs
fellow talking to for his earelessnesss
in forgetting to turn out the gas whea
he locked up"
"Mr. Dunlap's suggestion" eontins
ued Murdoch, sis plausible in itself,
and we might even assume thar the
I ooilC SSiCiCo aAN~1 iO,SAiAisS
up the bank, forgot to close the outer
door on the Wall street side. But even
then, we have not disposed Of the owns
ership of the satchel nor of the two piss
tol shots. The police theory that these
shots were fired by bank robbers seems,
l admit, very far-fetched. Professions
al cracksmen would hardly be likely to
fire unless cornered; and then they
would fire to kill or at leastlo disable.
If their bullets failed TO hit the mark,
they would at any rate leave some
trace"
81 beg to suggest. remarked Dunlap,
"that the shots heard by the policeman
and his prisoner We're not fired from
the inside of the bank"
THAT appears quite likely" admitted
Murdoch; "but they must at any rate
have been fred in close proximity to
the bank, since the witnesses agree
that they appeared to come from in
| side In that case whence We're theye