The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-03-04

not been whispered in connection with
the affair.
Now, here's curious ciTcum-
stance" continued Baxter The other
rObber was seen, too, but not recog-
nized. He may have been disguised or
he may be a stranger. At any rate We
have his description, and we know thai
he carried a large black hand bag.
That bag doubtless contained $4,000
and more Of Uncle Sans money. He
had sense enough not to run, and Billy
Stern, the letter carrier, who was the
man that saw him, had nc idea that
there was anything wrong with the fell
low until after he heard that Allen had
been seen running in the other direc-
ton empty handed. Then the meaning
Of the man with the big bag flashed
upon Storms mind, and he told me-"
Does the description fit anybody
hereabouts?" asked Graham.
Except for a beard, which might
have been false, of course" said Bax-
ter, 'it would fit Stuart Farnsworth,
the postmaSter's son, fairly well. And
there's a point: Young Farnsworth
might have known of the unusual sum
Of money in the postofice safe. But he
seems to have a fair alibi. He was
calling that evening on a young lady
named Annie Davenport" And the de-
tective tapped the envelope with his
finger.
at lies in my mind that the robbery
was past 49, said Graham, land the
young man would not be staying at
Miss Davenport'S so late"
eve learn that he left about H." re-
spOnded Baxter, but the thieves were
at work in the poStoffice by 10 at the
latest. 1t was better than two hours
Job on that safe. And now, Mr.. Ora
ham," he continued, Twill you help me
read this letter? 1t is in cipher, and
we can't make anything Of it. We
have reason to assume that Allen has
sent several to Miss Davenport since
the robbery, and we think that we are
justified in trying to get at the bottom
Of this puzzle. The young lady may be
entirely innocent, of course. It's prob
able that she knows nothing of Aliens
connection with the robbery or that he
is suspected. There's doubtless some
trick by which she is made to hand on
these letters TO the right party"
''rd say the same to her if 1 was
you" said Graham. "Then you'll be in
the way Of learning the insides of all
this"
Baxter baked at this suggestion, but
we succeeded in persuading him, and
he set out for the house where Miss
Davenport lived with her widowed
mother. l gave him q note of intro
duction to the young lady and some
rather severe admonitions as to bis be-
havior, for 1 could see that he vaguely
suspected her of some perhaps uncon-
scious) completely in this affair. He
was gone about two hours and return
ed both pleased and puzzled. Our aft
ernoon edition had gone to press by
that time, and Graham and 1 gave
Baxter our undivided attention.
This is a queer business" said he.
I'll be hanged if 1 understand 1t. But
here's the story: A few days after the
robbery Miss Davenport got note
from Allen. He told her some sort Of
faxed up story about being bothered
by his debts and the noble resolve that
he had made to pay them all. 1t was
necessary, he wrote, that he should
communicate secretly with friend in
this town. Would Miss Davenport re-
ceive the letters and simply hold them
until the friend should come and claim
them? She need not answer; he would
take it for granted that she would do
this small service for one whom she
had once been gracious enough to
count among her friends. Since then
she has received five letters and has
held them unopened on the theory that
they were not for her. The friend has
not appeared. made her understand
mighty clearly that this was a part Of
the postofice robbery, and naturally
she didn't like the idea. Here are the
letters and her written permission for
Mr.. Graham TO read them If he can"
Give me the one that your gillie
found on the street" said Graham.
And Baxter laid it before him. 1t was
a brief typewriter note consisting OF
a single string of jumbled letters and
figures, as follows:
3I2fqpv1eb sf2vd3p HE ?
oqxg 1zfu2 m gr T V u q W {
n 2 y X n 3 I p II.
you didn't show anything like that