The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1906-12-06


THAT bill was deposited" said he.
"by Mr. Bixby, who keeps II little hotel
around the corner. aud he redeemed 1t
q few minutes ago. He told me he got
1t from minister who IL spending his
vacation here. The way remembered
whom l got It from Is the corner was
torn off. and l charged 10 cents for
that. Mr. Bixby dldn's want to pay II,
but when / showed him a package of
mutilated currency l 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 1t redeemed"
On inquiry 1 learned that this bank
was not In the association and had
not received the circular.
Then 1 called on Mr.. Bixby.
Mr.. Blxby 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 ruefully at 1t
when / introduced myself.
II got this the other day." said he,
from man whom married in the
parlor OF the hotel. He was stranger
here-so nm land he asked the land
lord to direct him to clergyman's
house. saying he wished to be mar.
ried. The woman was with him, and
as l was standing by Mr.. Bixby re-
ferred him to me. We got the license
l performed the ceremony and he gave
me this bill as a fee. l never saw him
before and don't know where he Is
staying or whether lie Is still in town
or not"
His description of the man Tailed
fairly well with the appearance of one
of the gang, and as he felt sure lie
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
with the writing on the slip left in the
safe and decided they had both been
written by the same hand. The name
signed was William Weston, not quite.
or rather little more than. William
West.
We failed TO find him. and returned
to the hotel for supper.
He's gone, | concluded dejectedly.
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
In thn NIl ha Ia,
had had the counterfeit twenty-I went
at once to the cashiers house He was
not at home but would he at 10 o'clock.
/ waited till he came.
"Yes," said he in response to my ques-
tion; "such man as you describe came
into the bank the other day with cheap
time lock appliance which lie 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 l might be compelled to open it at
the muzzle Of a gun. AS there have been
SO many cases like that recently l let
him show HE 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 ii opened.
huioudy anu y ne set IL LOT
o'clock the next morning, and It work
ed all right both times. This afternoon
when we closed he oiled everything up
and set the thing for O'Clock Monday
morning. II it works all right l am TO
pay him $50 for It,"
You opened the safe several times In
his presence?' | asked
'Yes. sir" replied the cashier.
"The inner compartment whero you
keep your cash too?''
mo; only the outer door, At first he
wanted to put the appliance on the inner
lock also but
'"rhen the combination is the same on
both locks" interrupted.
How do you know that?" asked he In
astonishment.
"How did you happen to tell the man
so?" was my reply.
lie stared at me in amaEement.
"Come to think. l did tell him. He said
to me. 'Or course the inner combination
Is different from the outer and | said It
was at first. but as l got confused some-
times with two sets OF figures l had II
changed to correspond with the outer
one"
"And after that lie didn't think It nee
essary TO have his contrlvance on the
inner LOCKE"
mo. sir. lie said II they couldn't open
the outer door they couldn't the inner. OF
course"
quite evident" / replied
''lIs stood behind you pretty close when
you opened the safe two or three times2"
1 asked.
eyes, sir. But he would have TO have
remarkable memory 10 remember the
combination II took me two weeks to
msmori2e II, II is quite complicated"
said he with a tinge OF pride in his tone,
"Hls memory would sutice. but he
didn't trust 10 IT," said !. You don't
know, 1 suppose. whether he had his
hands in his pockets while you were
working the combination
"Yes; he did" spoke UP the cashiers
son. u foxy faced young man. who was
employed in the bank, "IIe kept his |
hands In his side coat pockets all the |
time"
"And he had little pad in his pocket |
on which he wrote the numbers as we'll |
after each number. He's got the com-
bination all right" said L.
The old cashier looked at me curiously |
and doubtingy.
Sand some time tonight" I continued, |
''hs win open the safe, but We viii catch |
him in the act"
'But the time lock is set for Monday |
morning." he replied obviously.
suppressed smile and asked him |
who set H.
''The man set II himself, Mr. Mu-
right his name is," he answered limo
Gently,
1 could see that he didn't more than half |
agree with me IN my suspicious. or else |
his old New England pride was aroused |
and he Wouldn't admit that he had been |
gulled by sharper
However, at / O'Clock that night Mr.. |
Mulright forced back window OF the |