The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-22


 case when they come"
 Its a blessed mystery to me- cried Pycroft, scratching his head. "WhateVer they wanted to bring me all the way up here for, and then"
 "Poohl All that is clear enough" said Holmes, impatiently. Tt is this last sud- den move."
 You understand the rest. then?"
 T think that it is fairly obvious What do you say, WatsonT'
 shrugged my shoulders '1 must con fess that I am not out of my deptns' said l.
 "oh, surely, if you consider the events at first they can only point to one eoii- chsion.
 What do you make of them?"
 'rNVeu. the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is the making or Pycroft write a declaration by which ne entered the service of this preposterous company. Do you not see how very sus- gestive that is?"
 q am afraid miss the point"
 well why did they want him to do It? l Not as business matter. for these ar engagements are usually verbal. ana tnere was no earthly reason why this should De an exception. Don't you see, my young l friend, that they were very anxious to | obtain a specimen of your handwriting, and had no other way of doing it?'
 And why?"
 "Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made some progress with our little problem. Why? There can be | only one adequate reason. some one wanted to learn to initiate your writlng' | and had to procure a specimen of 1t hrst | And now if we pass on to the second point we find that each throws light | upon the other That point Is the re- quest made by Pinner that you should l, not resign your place. but should leave l the manager of this important business | in the full expectation that MT. Hall Pycroft. whom he had never seen, was about to enter the office upon the Mon l day morning."
 .sMy Godl" cried our client, what blind beetle have been!'
 Now you see the point about the hand writing Suppose that some one turned up in your place who wrote completely 1 different hand from that in which you had applied for the vacancy, of course 1 the game would have been up But in | the interval the rogue had learned to initiate you, and his position was there fore secure, as I presume that nobody in the office had ever set eyes upon you" | Mot sou,' groaned Hall Pycroft. ''Very good. Of course it was of the ut- most importance to prevent you from | thinking better of 1t, and also to keep you 1 from coming into contact with any one who might tell you that your double was at work in Mawson's office. Therefore they gave you a handsome advance on | your salary, and ran you off to the Mid ! lands, where they gave you enough work to do to prevent your going to London, where you might have burst their little game up. That is all plain enough"
 But why should this man pretend to | be his own brother?'
 1 Well, that Is pretty clear also There are evidently only two of them in it. The l ot hat ic inC at 10 of one acted as your engager, and then found ! that he could not find you employer without admitting a third person into his plot That he was most unwilling to do. He changed his appearance as far as he could and trusted that the likeness, which | you could not fail to observe, would be put down to family resemblance But i for the happy chance of the gold stuffing your suspicious would probably never have been aroused"
 Hall Pycroft shook his clinched hands in | the air. Good Lordl7 he cries, while I have been fooled in this way what has ! the other Hall Pycroft been doing at Mawsons? What should we do. MT. Holmes? Tell me what to do." .We must wire to Mawson's." "They shut at twelve on Saturdays"
 "Never mind. There may be some door keeper or attendant-'
 "Ah yes, they keep a permanent guard 10 curities that they hold. I remember hear ing 1t talked of in the city" | "Very good; we shall wire to him. and see If all is well, and if a clerk of your name Is working there. That is clear enough; but what is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the rogr"s should in- stantly walk out of the r and hang himself"
 'The paper!" croaked a voice behind us The man was sitting up, blanched and ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes, and hand which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which still encircles his throat.
 "The paper! Of courser yelled Holmes, in paroxysm of excitement. Idiot that I was! I thought so much of our visit that the paper never entered my head for an instant. To be sure the secret must lie there" He fattened it out upon the table, and cry of triumph burst from his lips. Look at this, Watson, " he cried. Tt is London paper. an early edition of the Evening Standard. Here Is what we want. Look at the headlines: Crime In the City. Murder at Mawson & Williams. Gigantic Attempted Robbery Capture of the Criminal Here. Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it. SC kindly read 1t aloud to us'
 It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event of inn portance In town, and the account of il ran in this way:
 "A desperate attempt at robbery, cul mnating in the death of one man and the capture of the criminal occurred this af- ternoon in the city. For some time back Mawson & Williams the famous financial house, have been the guardians of securi- ties which amount in the aggregate to a sum of considerably over a million sterl- ing: So conscious was the manager of the , responsibility which devolved upon him in consequence of the great interests al stakes that safes of the very latest con , struction have been employed, and an armed watchman has been left day and night in the building. It appears that last week a new clerk named Hall Py- croft was engaged by the firm. This per- son appears to have been none other than Beddington, the famous forger and cracksman, who, with his brother, has only recently emerged from five years spell of penal servitude. By some means which are not yet clear. he succeeding in winning under false name this official position in the office, which he utilized in order to obtain mouldings of various locks. and thorough knowledge of the position of the strong-room and the safes
 Tt is customary at Mawson's for the clerks to leave at midday on Saturday Sergeant Tusop. of the city police, was somewhat surprised, therefore, to see a gentleman with a carpet-bag come dowr the steps at twenty minutes past one. His suspicious being aroused, the sergeant fol. lowed the man, and with the aid of Con. , stable Pollock succeeded, after a mosi , desperate resistance, in arresting him. Ii was once clear that daring and giean.