Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1906-10-05

From the moment the bill was first
mentioned one of the clerks. a yOuug
man who had been with the blnk about
Il year. seemed i'll NJ ease lie turned
pale and finally biurtcd out.
"Yes, they took II, but it was in the
middle OF Il package Of good money. |
took so OF good money saturday and
substituted the counterfeit for ii. |
thought could replace it today And
le burst into tears
So they did take IT, said 10 myself
and. what is better, they don't know
they have ii aud may pass it out. not
noticing that II Is bad
Bethany Bros were members Of
bankers association that vigorously
prosecuted bank crooks. and through il
nearly every bank In the country was
asked to look out for the counterfeit
twenty. fully described in their circu-
lar, and 10 keep the matter from the
newspapers so that the robbers would
not be notified. in which case they
would of course destroy the bill
| wrote the treasury department at
Washington requesting immediate in
formation IL the bill should ever be
sent to them
Ten months TO a day after the date
OF the robbery | received word from
Washington that they were returning
the counterfeit twenty to bank in
town on Cape Cod.
The next day ! stepped up TO the
cashier OF that bank and showed him
the message
That bill was deposited" said he,
"by Mr.. BiXby, who keeps Il little hotel
around the corner, and he redeemed it
few minutes ago. lie told ne he got
It from minister who is spending his
vacation here. The way remembered
whom | got it from is the corner was
torn off. and charged IL cents for
that. Mr.. BiXby didu't want To pay it,
but when | showed him Il package of
mutilated currency was putting up
that day TO send to Washington for re-
demption he said he guessed it was
only fair TO pay something toward the
expense of having it redeemed"
On inquiry | learned that this bank
was not in the association and had
not received the circular
Then l called on Mr.. Rixby.
Mr.. Bixby said he had given the bill
back to the minister and pointed him
out to me sitting on the veranda
The minister had the counterfeit in
his hand and was looking rucfully ut il
when | introduced myself.
Il got this the other day" said he.
from man whom | married in the
parlor of the hotel He was stranger
here--so am land he asked the land
lord to direct him TO clerGyman's
house. saying he wished to he mar
ried. The woman Yas with him. and
as | was standing by Mr.. Bixby re-
ferred him to me. We got the license
performed the ceremony aud he gave
me this bill as a fee. | never saw him
before aud don't know where he Is
staying or whether lie is still in town
OF NOT.
His description of the man tailed
fairly well with the appearance of one
Of the gang. and as he felt sure he
would know him II he saw him again
we started out to walk about the town,
which was fairly swarmIng with sum
mer boarders. Stopping at the office
where the marriage license had been
procured, | compared the signature
safe and decided they had both been
written by the same hand. The name
signed was William Weston. not quite,
or rather a little more than. William
West
We failed to find him, and returned
to the hotel for supper. ~
He's gone. concluded deiectedly.
Then a thought struck me. He may
have designs on bank here. If so,
this being Saturday. tonight is the very
time he would select to do the job.
AS there was only one bank of any
consequence in the place the one that
had had the counterfeit twenty-I went
at once to the cashiers house. He was
not at home. but would be at 10 o'clock.
| waited till he came.
Yes" said he in response to my ques-
ton: such a man as you describe came
into the bank the other day with a cheap
time lock appliance which he said would
work as well as the very costly ones
He argued that as my bank Is situated
no sane burglar would attempt to blow
open the safe, therefore the danger was
that might be compelled to open it at
the muzzle Of gun. AS there have been
so many cases like that recently, l let
him show me how his device worked lie
put it on and set 1t for ten minutes. In
five minutes | tried to open the safe, but
could not: after ten minutes 1t opened
Thursday and again Friday he set it for
S'o'clock the next morning, and it work.
ed all right both times. This afternoon