Sunday Washington globe., 1902-05-04
Caught by a Little Womans
Curiosity and Intelligence
SETS HER ON HER FEET.
Does the Reward She Received for
Discovering the Counterfeiting Law
out The Quiet Young Man En-
stead of SpOOks Maize the NOISE
Through the Tube,

That it pays to investigate 'spooks" was
proved by the little woman who told how
she got her start in life 1T was when /
was living down on Fourteenth street sew
eral years ago. she said. II was squeezing
through an exceedingly small allowance in
those days, and hall bedroom, with about
two meals and half day. was the best
could do for myself. My narrow berth in
the Fourteenth street house was a third
door rear room. Next 10 it was a double
room, which had probably been intended
originally as a sitting room of a suite of
which my cubbY hole was the sleeping
apartment, for there was a connecting door,
thus afording private passage through the
whole rear of that floor.
'At the time took possession of the hall
room, however, this door was securely
fastened with locks and bolts aud hooks,
and, with the exception of sound, which
was plainly distinguishable through the
thin partition, had no means of discover
ing the identity and habits of my neigh
bors. 1t was late in the day when / moved
into my new quarters. Immediately after
dinner / went up to my room aud unpacked
my trunk and then, about O'Clock, l sat
down to read, Up to that time there had
been absolute silence in the adjoining room,
but no sooner had / taken up my book than
! heard the chink of coin as if some one
were counting money. Thisnoise continued
for fully IS minutes, and throughout that
time it was as regular in its recurrence as If
the money was held in a mechanical con-
trivauce which was so constructed as to
drop one coin upon another only at stated
intervals. The coins appeared to be all Of
one size, and from the sound judged them
to be dollars, which, being heavier, have
a different ring from the smaller denomina-
tions.
80 distinct was this cl:nking noise that
I fancied the busy 6nancier must be sitting
quite near the door, and straightway I be-
gan to wonder what business he could be in
that he found it necessary to act as his own
bBnker and to handle so many silver dollars,
which my own experience had taught me
were rather a rare commodity in New York.
Presently the monotonous counting ceased
and there was a grand finale of clashing
metal as if the entire amount had been
brushed off into box or other receptacle
at one big sweep. My curiosity had been
aroused, and listened for several minutes
for other sounds; but thereafter not a word,
not football or movement of any kind
disturbed the dead stiffness of the big
room.
''The next night this performance was re-.
peated. Again, about O'Clock, my neigh
Dor began to count his money; again there
was the clink of falling coins; again the
final jingling as the whole sum was jumbled
together, and again dead silence. For
week this bit of by-play behind the scenes
was enacted nightly. By that time I was
pretty thoroughly mystifed. To my mind
there was something uucanny in the whole
proceeding, and determined to try to learn
the history Of my wel-to-do neighbors To
that end detained the chambermaid on
some triAing pretext when she came in with
the towels one evening and presently said
carelessly:
It's very quiet in this part of the house
My neighbors must be deaf and dumb.
never hear a word out of them. They are
as still as death
''The girl looked at me wonderingly
Your neighbors9 she said.
Yes, said l, those folks in there, and
pointed to the bolted door.
The girl laughed. La, bless you, Miss.
she said, the amt nobody in that room.
The amt nobody In it since last August.
Mis- Kenny says that room s regular hoo
4ND " GAs Al . AAAE NMAy DAE alQMh AnN
house that's empty.
II tried to reply with an answering
laugh but my voice rang mirthless, for
was really frightened. When the girl had
gone went out and tried the hall door Of
the double room. It was locked, but the
key was in the door, and turned il and
stepped inside. The room was comfortably
furnished but in spite of laudable at.
g.. -. A. Il 4.
look and musty smell peculiar to an unoc-
cupied apartment II was then almost
dark and l lighted the gas before going
down to dinner for had fully made up
my mind to spend the evening in the big
room and find out who it was that counted
so much money night after night.
The evening passed slowly, but O'Clock
finally came, and few minutes later the
eternal clinking of silver dollars began.
had pushed my chair close up in the corner,
where could obtain view of the room,
and when l had assured myself beyond
doubt that there was not a soul present ex-
cept myself actually grew stiff with terror
In a few seconds I regained my senses,
however and then noticed very peculiar
thing. The noise made by the coins was
more distinct there than in my own room,
and found that as a rule this regular tap.
ping had a dull sound instead of the sharp
ring Characteristic of good silver dollar.
Poor as / then was, / had handled a great
deal Of money in my time, and / was con-
viuced that the invisible fnancier was
stocking his Golfers with counterfeit money.
That reassured me to a certain extent, for,
limited as was my knowledge Of spirits,
couldn't bring myself to believe that a self
respecting ghost would deal in spurious
coins. Accordingly set out to explain the
mystery from material hypothesis. ex-
amined the room thoroughly, and over By
the door leading into my room / saw the
mouthpiece Of a tube which I at FIRST be-
lieved led 60 the servants quarters down
stairs, but which proved, upon iuvestiga-
ton, to connect with the room above.
After listening at this tube for several
nights 1 confded my suspicious to a de-
tectiye, who at once set a watch over the
fourth story rear room. NY surmise as to
the character of its occupant had been cor
rect from start 10 finish He was tie dis
tributer for a gang Of counterfeiters, and
when he was finally taken be had in his
possession several hundred dollars in couu-
terfeit coins. He was a very nenteel-look.