River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-10-17
A Matter of
COxSc ienco e&
By WILLIAM BLoss



by the Cook County national bank
of Chicago to its principal corre-
spondent in Kansas, the Kaw Valley
Farmers bank, disappeared between
night and day, between heaven and
earth, in the twinkling of an eye, as
vaniEhes a specter, and left no sign
behind.
VERY interesting case, very" said
the superintendent of the Bolerton
private detective agency, rubbing his
hands with discreet enthusiasm, as he
CLEANED from the lips of the manager
of the express company from whose
custody the valuable package had
been lost the brief story of the disap-
pearance. quite unusual, indeed.
Wen have the rascal, and the money,
too, inside of three days, take my
word for it,"
DO you really think SOP" eagerly
qucried the manager, catching sharp
ly at this plank Of hope, for he had
felt quite depressed over things.
Sure" answered the Bolerton ex-
pert, sure" And he went away whis-
Ting cheerily.
But at the end Of twice three days
he came back and gloomilv asked for
more data. He had to have sol~e-
thing to work on, he said.
This rather pleased the manager, in
his secret heart. Indeed, l think he
felt better over this confession of
impotence than he would if the Boiler
ton person had walked in with the
thief in one hand and the money in
the other. You see, the Bolerton per-
son had rather nettled the manager
with his airy ways and his of
fensiv~ oyerconfidence. The manager
chucki,d, therefore, when he was APP
pealed to for more facts The Boiler
ton person had quite lost his iaunty
manner and seemed wholly willing to
sit as disciple at the feet of wisdom.
Il told you in the first place, Wins
low, you'd find this a pretty tough
nut to crack. I've been in my bust
ness 80 years, and this beats me,
clear. But no. you were so cocksure.
Going to get the man and the goods
] think you called the money the
goods'-in three days! Now it's
week, and you come back to me for
fresh start, | thought you adver-
tised that you ran a detective agency
and that you never slept"
Winslow was duly humble and
failed to resent these sarcasms.
II only asked for some more facts"
he said. mildly.
There aren't any more facts.
You've got 'em ALI Here-the bank
hands in its package; its messenger
gets n receipt for it; the package is
receipted into a sealed safe; the mes
senger on our Kansas City car re-
ceipts for the safe; he delivers it to
Kansas City. Kansas City opens it
and says the $4,000 package isn't
there. There isn't any dummy, there
isn't anything, not even disorder.
That's all we know As for suspi-
cions, we haven't any. All of our en-
ployes who had access to that pack
age are old and tried Besides that,
one man couldn't have got away with
1t aloue-there would have had to be
two. You've had the whole force under
fire for week and you found out
what? Why, that every mothers son
of the men you have Swallowed are
temperate, married home-loviug.
good, honest, decent citizens, with
stake in the community and good
name to take care of"
The superintendent made a gesture
with his hands outspreading, mean
ing that he admitted all that,
81 wouldn't care so much about the
loss in money" the manager went
on: this company isn't going to lose
any dividends because $4,000 fell
through a mysterious hole in its peck
ct and hid itself-but as long as the
case isn't cleared up we are natural
~ in an unhappy state of mind 1t
isn't pleasant, standing on the edge
of quicksand, you know. None of
us know when such thing win hap
pen again. And next time the pack
age might be really worth something
] don't suppose you have any ideas"
The superintendent smiled grimly
and the line of his lips grew very
straight.
But probably you'd better keep
on the case Maybe some day you'll
have one"
Then the manager wheeled back to
his desk, and Wnslow walked slowly
out, with two deep vertical wrinkles
in the middle Of his brow.
Brand Mccullough had the night
rur on Wednesdays and SATURDAYS
from Chicago to Kansas City as mes
senger for the Ocean & Lakes Elk
press company. Tuesday nights and
Thursday nights he doubled back.
When he got to Kansas City On Sun
day mornings he did not have to re.
port for duty until train time Tues
day evening, and this delightful
three-days' breathing oasis in hard
worked and responsible occupation
he spent almost wholly in the com
pany of the young and charming Mrs.
Brand Mccullough, VINO now had been
a matron nearly half year. but had
not vet ceased to be sweetheart
They had been married when pr,,,l