The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-08-09
100000 I'm Gold; Or the Fatal Eamd.

RAIN robberies on the Pacific
coast roads had been frequent and
the express companies, which were
the greater sufferers, were using every
means to catch and punish the Offend
ers. The boldest Of these adventures
mad been the holding up Of a train on
Inc southern Pacific railroad near sac
IaHlehto The bandits had entered the
express car, murdered the express mes
sehser, detached the car from the rest
Oh the train and forced the engineer
20 pun them down the road a mile or
tW9' WhNre they opened the express
SAFE and got away vita about $50 O0C
IN go gold pieces, the property of the
Weis-Fargo Express company.
The only thing left by the robbers
Dy which they might be traced was
the imprint of a bloody hand upon 4
package of paper in the express car.
rms was turned over to Glenn Matt
land, a detective with a leaning to-
ward the psychic.
A wonderful hand" he exclaimed
as soon as his eyes fell upon it. II
nave never seen another like il. Look
at this third finger. 1t is longer than
Inc second The owner of that hand
would take a chance If it stood only
one IN 10000 TO succeed. He has great
VIII power, TOO, as the length of the
nrst phalange of the thumb indicates.
he mad no moral nature. j could al
most swear to the identity Of the man
whose hand left that impression if L
were TO meet him on the street"
Maitland had been successful IL
working up some hard cases and he
was given this one with permission to
work it out as he pleased. That suited
him exactly. He had peculiar theories
and found IT impossible to work with
any one else successfully
For two months Maitland walked the
streets % the coast cities, studying
the hands of people he met. He was
determined to find the robbers through
the lines Of that bloody hand. He had
built up from them the form and char
acteristics of the man who had left
the imDressiSq. and his whole theory
depended on The solution Of the prob
lem through those means. He scanned
the white hands Of culture and refine
ment rough hands of toll: everywhere
and always he was looking for that
peculiar hand with its third finger and
strongly marked characteristics.
one day on Market street in San
Francisco he came upon a crowd great
" excited over a deed OF herOism just
performed A gentleman had rescued
a young girl from under the feet of a
runaway team at the risk Of his own
life. His arm had been broken in the
adventure. and he had been carried
away. bleeding and insensible. to his
lodgings near by. The girl, who was
evidently from the country, had insist
ed on going with them to nurse the
sufferer if needed. But what interested
Maitland most was the story told Of
the man himself. He had appeared in
the city several months before from no
one knew where, set himself up in ex-
pensive lodgings, and had since been
spending money lavishly, all in $40
gold pieces. He was known as Hugo
Van Staal, and posed as a German
baron.
Here was q clew at last. The money
taken from the express company had
all been in so gold pieces. The hand
of the TObber was the hand of the man
who would take just such chances as
this man had taken in the rescue Of
the girl. Maitland got a boy to point
out the location OF the "baron's" lodg-
ings and then went home to study uD
a line Of action.
a three days investigation by Matt
land developed the startling and al
most incredible fact that Baron Won
staaI was none other than John