Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-11
THE PHANTOM AUTO
Confirmed from page 10

serted and silent. At last the voices are
heard again. the car stirs, moves away, and
the cyclist drops in behind. Another race
which leads off in another direction. Finally,
from knoll, the lights of a city are seen. Ten
minutes elapse, the auto stops, the head lights
flare up, and more lesurely it proceeds on its
way
On the following evening The Thinking Ma
chine and Hatch called upon Fielding Stan
wood, president of the Fordyce National Bank.
Stanwood looked at them with interrogative
eyes.
We called to inform you, Mr.. Stanwood,"
explained The Thinking Machine, that a oox
of securities probably United States bonds, is
missing from your bank"
WHAT exclaimed Stanwood, and his face
paled. Robbery"
:" | only know that the bonds were taken
out of the vault tonight by Joseph Marsh
your assistant cashier" said the scientist, and
that he, together with three other men, left
the bank with the box, and are now at-a place
| can name"
Stanwood was staring at him in amazement
You know where they are?" he demanded
e." | said | did" replied the scientist shortly
Then we must inform the police at once,
and
crime" interrupted the scientist. 1 do know
that every night for week these bonds
have been taken out through the connivance
of your Waterman, and in each instance have
been returned intact before morning. They
will be returned tonight. Therefore, I would
advise, if you act, not to do so until the four
men return with the bonds"
1t was singular party which met in the
private Office of President Stanwood at the
bank just after midnight Marsh and three
companions, formally under arrest, were pres
ent, as were President Stanwood, The Think
ing Machine, and Hatch. besides detectives.
Marsh had the bonds under his arms when he
was taken. He talked freely when questioned.
:" l will admit" he said without hesitating,
that have acted beyond my rights in remov-
ing the bonds from the vault here, but there is
no ground for prosecution. am responsible
officer of this bank, and have violated no trust.
Nothing is missing. nothing is stolen. Every
bond that went out of the bank is here"
But why-why did you take the bonds?"
demanded Stanwood.
Marsh shrugged his shoulders
:" It's what has been called a get rich quick
scheme" said The Thinking Machine. Mr..
Hatch and | made some investigations to-day.
Mr.. Marsh and these other three are interested
in business venture which is officially dis
honest, but which is within the law. They
have sought backing for the scheme amount
ing to about million dollars. Those four or
five men of means with whom they have dis
cussed the matter have called each night for a
week at Marsh's country place 1t was neces-
sary to make them believe that there
already million or SO in the scheme, so these
bonds were borrowed and represented to be
owned by themselves. They were taken to
and fro between the bank and his home in a
kind of automobile
And his statement of the affair proved to be
correct. Marsh and the others admitted it.
1t was while The Thinking Machine was home
ward bound that he explained the phantom
auto affair to Hatch.
The phantom auto, as You call it," he said,
I" is the vehicle in which the bonds were moved
about. The phantom idea came merely by
chance. On the night the vehicle was first
noticed it was rushing along, we'll say, to
reach MarshS house in time for an appoint
ment. A road map will show you that the
most direct line from the bank to Marsh's was
through The Trap. If an automobile should
go half way through there, then cut across the
Stocker estate to the other road, the distance
would be lessened by good five miles This
saving at first was of course valuable, so the
car in which they rushed into The Trap was
merely taken across the Stocker estate to the
road in front. Of course they always returned
to the bank by another route"
But howl" demanded Hatch. There is
no road there"
81 learned by telephone from Mr.. Stocker
that there IS narrow walk from very narrow
foot gate in Suckers wall on The Trap lead
ing through the grounds to the other road.
The phantom auto wasn't really an auto at
ALT was merely two big motor cycles arranged
with seats and steering apparatus. The
French army has been experimenting with
them. The motor cycles are, of course, sep
arate machines, and such it was easy to
trundle them through narrow gate and across
to the other road. The seats are light: they