Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-06-27
OFF now than you were 5<1oss.s re.
marked Dunbar. eyamininr the result.

marked Dunlap, examining the result.
swat minute. These vertical lines,
we say, divide the words of the message.
There are five words TO the line; only
two on the last line before the sig
nature; that is to say, 12 words in
the message. Now, consider the first
word. Evidently the 'G' begins this
word since it is a capital; and the flour
ish on the tail of the 'e' tells us plain
ly enough where the word ends. Note
the space between the e and the e.
Have you ever taken the trouble to as
| certain how constant in any given
handwriting is the space occupied by
the different letters? Try it some time.
Count the characters which you have
written in number of different lines,
reckoning spaces and punctuation
marks each as one character, and OBJ
serve how closely the results will
tally. Basing my conclusions on this
fact, may safely affirm that the
first word of the message is Game,
Gave Give, or some other word OF
four letters beginning with c. and
ending with e. shall proceed to fill
up the balance of the message as /
read it between the letters"
Sturgis wrote slowly and carefully
for u few minutes.
'There; behold the result"
The message had now assumed this
form:
Thomas Chatham.
=, B'way. City.
s sams so up m ana w Va t stSss,s
j. w. Arbogast.
Compare this with the reflection of
the original and tell me if you do not
now detect various isolated marks and
incomplete letters, all of which tally
with the text. / have inserted here"
Dunlap made the comparison.
II am obliged to admit that your con-
illusions now appear plausible" he re-
luctantly admitted.
Sturgis shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, call them plausible, and let us
proceed. Chatham kept the appoint
ment yesterday; but for some reason
Arbogast was delayed in leaving the
bank. Perhaps the necessary prepare
lions for his flight took longer than he
expected"
You think he intended to abscond?"
why should he have changed the
combination of his safe, as he did, if not
to give himself as much time as possible
to reach place of comparative safety
before the books could be examined ?"
asked Sturgis. Chatham, becoming
impatient, forgot the dictates of pru-
dence and started for the bank to as
certain the cause of his accomplice's
delay. He met Arbogast at the Wall
street door. The two men reentered,
Arbogast setting down his satchel in
the vestibule and leaving the outer
door ajar, us Quinlan found it few
minutes later, when he stole the satch-
ell. have every reason to believe that
it was ut Chatham's request that the
men returned. He wished to use the
telephone, and he did so."
"Your story is connected, and 1t is
certainly not lacking in Details" said
Dunlap, incredulously; sin fact, the de-
tails are far too abundant for the evil
dence thus far advanced"
"Every one of the details is based up
on facts" replied Sturgis. what 1
have accomplished thus far has been
simple enough, because luck has ia
vored us. Yesterday being cleaning
day at The bank, the floors were
scrubbed some time during the after
noon, before Arbogast was ready to
leave and before Chatham had arrived.
1t thus happens that almost every
footstep of the two men has remained
family but distinctly outlined upon the
wet floors, which have since dried, pre-
serving the record. The detectives last
night obliterated portion of this rec
ord, but they have left traces enough
for our purpose. If you care to crawl
around on all tours as did you can
readily distinguish these traces for
yourself"
mo, thank you," answered the bank
er. II prefer to take your word for this
part of the evidence
Then shall resume my story" said
Sturgis. 1.-THE footprints show that
Arbogast stood at his desk while the
scrubbing was going on. We may safe
ly say it was after half-past four
o'clock when he started to leave the
bank; for otherwise it is presumable
that Chatham would have waited for
him at the corner of South and Wall
streets, MS he was asked to do in the
bookkeeper's telegram. He first
II, rs f> Ill
changing the combination, so that the
lock could not be opened until he had
had fair start. Next he went to the
clerks room for his hat and coat and
for the satcheli in which he had packed
just the few necessities for immediate
use in his flight. He started to leave
the building through the Exchange
place door; but probably remembered
that the Wall street door was not
locked, and went back to lock it. As
he was about to close the outer door,
Chatham arrived on the scene, and the
| two men reentered, as we have already
seen. The footprints tell their story
fully and absolutely, their chronology
ical order being established by the oc-
casional obliteration of a footprint in
one trail by another in subsequent
trail. The two men walked back into
the room in which we now are. Their
actions after this will be clearer to you
if you will follow on this diagram"
CHAPTER NJ.
A RECONSTRUCTED DRAMA.
40 he smoke Stnrris handed Dunbar