The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-12

firrnation list is made up by the chief
clerk comes to me through the hands
of the confidential man, and is re-
turned by me to him. He then gives it
to the file clerk, who. with his other
duties, attends to the sealing and
stamping of all the mail which leaves
my private office. / am not familiar
with the smaller details of the New
York office, but / imagine much the
same method is employed there
Now tell me something of these en-
ployes. beginning with the confidential
man.
Tobias Nipple, our confidential man,
! has held his present position for thir-
| ty-five years. We have been lifelong
| friends. When / was taken into the
| firm at the age of 80, we were both
clerks together. One of my first or
ders was to place him in the position
| he now holds. and to give him a sub
| stantial increase in salary. He is a
very religious man, a deacon in the
church, besides being greatly interest
ed i'm city mission work. His salary is
| $4,000 a year, which is much more
than such positions usually command
but he is more than a mere clerk
He lives in his own home. a very hand.
some one in Riverside. His son, byt the
way, is attentive to my youngest
daughter, so you see we are bound to-
gether by family as well as business
| ties"
Have you ever known him to dab
! BILE in stocks?" asked Clarke.
Never 1t is a capital crime in my
| office for any of the working force
to have any dealings on the exchanges.
Besides. Nipple is opposed to the stock
market on principle. Several times his
conscience has troubled him so regard
| ing the nature of the business with
which he is connected, that only by re-
| Winding him of the stronger duty to
his family have I prevented him from
resigning. But il is needless to qucs-
ton me regarding Tobias Nipple. If
ever a man was the soul of honor, he
| is, and / would as soon suspect my
self as suspect him.
Now for the chief clerk, them" said
Clarke.
The chief clerk. Gordon Wiley, is
young man who has only been with
us about six months. He came from
the New York house and is a protege
of my son-in-law. / know very little
about him other than that he does his
work well and seems invariably civil
and willing. I have felt slightly pre-
JUDGED against him at times, because
| he wears more expensive clothes than
| he should on 1925 a month. but ! have
found no reason to let that weigh
against him. The file clerk 1 think you
can count out altogether. He is an
Overgrown boy. and I am satisfied that
if he lives to be as old at Methuselah,
he will be filing papers at the rate of
| IS a week"
1T is clear" commented Clarke
meditatively putting his cigar, that
you have stumbled upon somebody's
secret code. Your reverSes in business
are doubtless the result of information
given and received through this
method. What | fail to understand Is,
why the parties to the conspiracy, for
| such II appears TO be. did not adopt
| the quicker medium of the telegraph. or
the safer method of the private let
ter. This point doubtless will be clear
| if we can get at the roots of the myS-
| terry. Did it ever occur to you that
you might break the thread of Informal
ton by pocketing the report immedi-
ately on its receipt and never letting
/ ii out of your hands?"
But it only dawned on me gradually
that there was any connection between
these writings and my business losses.
I have taken that course with yester-
days report and il has never been out
of my possession
Then it will be interesting to see
| If the developments are the same, al
| though I am inclined to believe that
we will have the whole matter cleared
up before we will have time to test
that plan. Now let me ask you If any
one in your office, or any of your COM
petitors, has apparently benefited by
your losses"
| Absolutely none. and that is one of
the things that mystify me. The stocks
of companies which we have been after
have been bought by small brokers,
practically unknown on the street, and
evidently acting for some person or
persons who are strictly in the back
ground. Now, Mr.. Clarke, / am a man
of business and 1 recognize that you
have your own methods. SO take your
time and I will give you every advan-
| tage in getting to the bottom of this.
II you succeed you may write your own
| check for your services. Is there any
thing else you would like to ask me?"
| No: / will look into the case tomor-
row. I shall doubtless call at your Of
flee in the capacity of one seeking adj
vice regarding the placing of some Sc
curities. 1t will be strange if we do not
turn up something"
When the sound of Bottoms carriage
wheels had died away, and Clarke and
I were again seated in our coZy little Ii
brary, my companion sat for many min
utes gazing fixedly at a list of the
mysterious sentences which he had has
tily scrubbed.
IAN apparently simple case, Sexton, "
he finally said. But there are depths
to it which we have not sounded. Boil
ton was as honest with me as it is pos
sible for a man to be who is daily in
the mad vortex of money getting. There
was something in his mind, however
which 1 could not grasp. Several times
had a stray thread and then il was
gone. 1 feel that, before we are done,
we will witness a drama of human
hearts; yes, perhaps a tragedy"
can you make anything out Of the
cipher?"
mo, and 1 have little hopes of doing
so. 1t is obviously an arbitrary code,
and the fact that the sentences always
stop short of ten words would suggest
II was devised for Geographic purposes,
despite the use to which it was put
Which of the clerks do you sus-
pect?' / asked. as Clarke tossed away
his cigarette and seemed inclined to
end the conversation.
''Oh, that deals with the mind of
man, something upon which it is i'm
possible TO speculate. According TO Boil