The stayer. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1896-1903, 1901-10-31

spraguc this evening There was. of
course, no reason why should. Well,
DIR. Murdoch, did they find Ruther-
ford?" 8f
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 Tcmpcst:
1.-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 that three gas Jets were lighted and
turned Oh full blaze. AT first the detectives
were Inclined to think that hank robbers
had gained all entrance To the building: and
that one III them, having caught sight OF
Shorty Duff as he reached in to steal the
satchei frVIn 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 u bullet.
1.-The vaiise. when opened. proved to con-
tain only change Of linen for man and n
few toilet articles Uf but slight intrinsic
value. The satcnei itself IL an ordinary
cheap leather handbag. stamped In imita-
ton Of alligator skin.
''.rhc 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 Al 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
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-
ries?"
Hold on. DOCTOR" exclaimed
Sprague; you are doing Sturgis an
injustice. Why pick out, as test of
his ability, a 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 elements; and then, at least, some
interest will attach to your wager"
"Ah! you think the problem has al
ready been solved?"
ITO be sure. The article you have
read us started out as il it were going
TO prove interesting; but. instead of
| that, it ends in an anti-climax. Whit
| is the crime here? The confessed theft,
by a petty sneak thief, of satchel
worth. with it's 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"
II cannot agree with you, Mr..
| Sprague. While the crime in this case
may be petty theft, II contains, to my
mind. interesting features, which you
appear to lose sight Of in your disdain-
full summary. The problem, it seems
| 10 me, involves a 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. should like to know
the cause that lighted the gas in the
| knickerbocker bank"
II shall probably find out that cause
the day after tomorrow" said Mr..
Dunlap. smiling. land / shall give the
| fellow q talking to for his carelessness
in forgetting to turn out 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 employe, 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-
tot shots. The police theory that these
zhots were fired by bank robbers seems.
| | admit. very fnr-fetched. Profession
al cracksmen would hardly be likely to
| fire unless cornered; and then they
would fire to kill or at least to disable.
| II their bullets failed to hit the mark,
they would at any rate leave some
| trace"
IL beg to suggest" remarked Dunlap.
that the shots heard by the policeman
and his prisoner were not fred from
| the inside of the bank"
THAT appears quite likely" admitted
Murdoch; but they must at any rate
have been fired in close proximity to
the bank, since the witnesses agree
that they appeared to come from in
side. In that case, whence were they
fired? BY whom? And why? On the
whole, my little puzzle does not seem
TO me SO i'll chosen. What 10 your own
opinion, Mr.. Sturgis?"
II quite agree with you that the
problem is probably not SO simple az 1t
seemed at first blush to Sprague.
Every well. Then doubtless you are
willing to undertake the task Of supply
ing whatever data may be required to