Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-10-18

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 finan-
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 fork.
sYes,'' said the banker, carelessly,
feeling the curious gaze of the other
guests upon him, and answering their
unspoken questions, yes, that is true;
RI did not tell my housekeeper that l
vas invited to dine by our friend
sprague this evening. There was, of
| course, no reason why I should. Well,
DR.. Mnrdock, did they find Ruther-
ford?'
Murdoch had looked up while the
banker was speaking. He now leisure
~ found his place and continued the
THE cashier fortunately was at home,
and he hurried down town at once with his
set OF bank keys. Two detectives from the
central of1ice accompanied HIM. and the
| three men carefully searched the premises.
They found nothing out OF the way there,
except that three gas jets we're 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
~ hox inc
Shorty Dun as he reached in to steal the
satchel from the vestibute, 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 bullet
1.-The valise. when opened. proved to con-:
tain only change of linen for man and q
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.
well, 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
awered 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 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 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 a 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
he owner does not care to take the
trouble to claim Them
Il 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 ef
feet has cause. I should like to know
the cause that lighted the gas in the
Enickerbocker bank
Il shall'probably find out that cause
the day after Tomorrow" said Mr.:
! Dunlap. smiling, land I shall give the
fellow talking to for his carelessness
in forgetting to turn cut the gas when
he locked Up
''Mr. Dunlap's suggestion" contin-
ued Murdoch, ''is plausible in itself,
and we might even assume that the
same careless emp]oye, after locking
! up the bank, forgot to close the outer
door on the Wall street side. But even
then, we have not disposed of the own
ership of the satchel nor of the two pis-
tol shots. The police theory that these
shots were fired by bank robbers seems,
admit, very far-fetched. Profession
al cracksmen would hardly be likely to
fire unless corRered; and then they
would fire to kill~or at least to disa bic.
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 were not fred from
|