The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-12-03
FL Newspaper scoop.

eno IuciueuG anu regarded IL as purely
commOnplace-nOt extraordinary in
any way. If any thought fitted thru
my mind it probably was to the effect
that he was chasing customer of the
bank. Mr.. IL. was an experienced
banker. He did not telephone police
headquarters. He went himself. Tel
ephone messages leak out in some Pc
culiar manner when anything of i'm
portance occurs. In about Is minutes
the cashier returned-and about 5 min
utes later the captain of police in plain
clothes arrived upon the scene. Fin
ishing my business at the hotel l went
down the street and about 10 or Is
minutes later 1 observed the captain
walking briskly in my direction.
"Any thing doing, Captain p l in
quired.
Nope"
"Robbery-shortage?"
"Nope."
twenty-five thousand gone ?" said.
"How ju know?"
"Don't know. / am asking you."
The captain and 1 were the best of
friends.
"Mum's the word-less half a thou"
he calculated under his heavy mus
tache-and walked on rapidly.
r This was Friday. The next day Mr..
Il. was to go off on his regular two
weeks vacation-a rule in vogue
among BANKERS so they may be able to
check up clerk and audit his accounts
during his absence. The captain Of
police had Mr.. B. and the other clerks
on the gridiron that afternoon and he
and the detectives came to the conclu-
sion that the cashier was the man to be
watched. The young innocent and
guileless Mr.. B. was in the adolescent
stage. He surely could not-would
not-put up a job to get away with
1924, 500 just before leaving town.
That night the Bank Clerks Associ-
ation met to tender farewell (for two
weeks) to Mr.. B. It was their custom
to do that whenever one of the men,
bers went off on trip. They met in
the banquet room of the swell restan-
rant of the town and had gay old
time. OF course, they knew nothing
of the shortage at the Bunion Bank
that afternoon. Everyone was in high
spirits-including Mr.. B. Joy was un-
confined-champagne and Holsters were
consumed with relish. The time came
for speech-making and fun and while
the festivities were at the pinnacle of
their glory one of the boys pulled an
old oilcloth satchel out from under the
table and on its sides were painted in
white letters the name of Mr.. b. and
the following: W TO CANADA.
The chap who cOnjured up the job
knowing nothing of the trouble ut the
BuniOn Bank-arOse and amid great
hilarity and laughter, said: ."Mr. b.
upon behalf of the members of the
Bank Clerks Association of this city [
have the honor to tender you this me-
mento of our esteem and regard. Take
it with you in your travels and thus
avoid suspicion by being bold in your
undertaking.
This was too much for MI. B. who
knew the boys were not" "wised up" to
the doings at the Bunion Bank. In
stead of taking the thing good-natured-
ly he became angry and asseverated it
was mean of his fellow-clerks to spoil
his fun with horrible joke like that.
The other fellows endeavored to as
suage his grief by proclaiming it q
harmless stunt and all that sort of
tommyrot, don't you know. The ban
quet was over by midnight and Mr.. B.
reported at the bank the next morning
as usual. That afternoon he was to
leave on his vacation-going to Chica-
go.
In the meantime I endeavored to get
hold of more facts for story for the
next mornings issue. 1 turned the
thing over to our city editor -and he
aud the reporters went at it. They
had interviewed the police department
and others-but there was nothing do
ing. 1t was a boomerang stunt and
came back to me. l wrote column
of hogwash on the subject, but stated