Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-21

placed behind the sign sitting on the
mantel in the house at Thirtieth and
Arlington streets.
The next letter was not dated. II
indicated that the writer was on the
alert and was not likely to run into any
trap. 1t runs as follows:
No. 10.
Mr. Graves:
You must think am a fool, to run
right into the trap you thought you
So nicely layed for me. Who was
you going to shoot with your big
gun you fetched along? Did you
expect me to come right out so that
you could take a shot at me? That
was the detective, I suppose, who
rode ahead of you on the wheel to
the next corner and then come
back and went the opposite direc-
tion that you took, going to do.
also. saw your man enter the house
Friday afternoon, and then saw him
come out with the package of sup
posed $1,000 Saturday morning. I
hope he had a pleasant night wait
ing for me.
/ have been looking for you since
Saturday morning to get shot at
you, but I'll get you yet If 1t takes
a month or two unless you come
across with the coin l make an
other date with you and will ex-
[ want no decoy packages and de-
tectives around.
NOW. REMEMBER THIS NEXT
TIME. K.
The tenth was the last letter mailed.
Ritchie had written another one and
marked it mo. H." 1t was found in
his pocket when he was arrested yes
terday. 1t was not dated and was to
the effect that the recipient had best
'COT11p across with the S3OOO.'
The arrest of Ritchie was the result
of much work by the detectives. the
case was reported to the police shortly
after the first letters were received.
Not until after the eighth letter, In
which the proposition of placing the
money was made, did the officers have
anything on which to work.
DR.. Graves was instructed to obey
the instructions in the letter, but in
stead of using real money to substitute
a decoy package.
Because of the fact that the house is
vacant and open to prospective tenants
the matter of locating the writer of the
threatening letters was difficult task.
as a number of persons visited the
place daily.
Detectives See Ritchie
The detectives secreted themselves in
a closet in the house on the day ap-
to DR.. Graves. The writer of the
threatening missives evidently was wa
nv and remained away. After a tire
some watch of the place the officers
were rewarded by seeing him enter the
place Saturday night. He walked
through the house. but did not go neat
the place where the money was sup
posed to be hidden.
The suspicious of the officers were
aroused Although Ritchie appeared to
be inspecting the place after the man.
ner of a prospective buyer or tenant
there was something in his actions that
indicated all was not right.
In following up their clew the officers
began investigating the habits of the
man; learned he lived in the house
adjoining the vacant property, and that
he was a stenographer. They learned
where he was employed and visited the
offices during the absence of Ritchle.
Traced by Typewriter
An INSPECTION of the typewriter used
bv the suspected man showed the let
ters received by Graves were written
on the same machine, and that the
peculiarities of the type were ident1cal.
THE paper was also examined and
found to be the same as that used by
the writer of the letters to DR.. Graves
After satisfying themselves that the
writer OF LI0 OCsAAAAAS.AAA~e
tions was none other than the stenog-
rapher. Detectives Ritch and Roberds
appeared at the offices yesterday and
placed Ritchie under arrest.
The prisoner was questioned by
Captain of Detectives Flammer. He
did not deny the authorship of the let
ters and declared he had written them
without the knowledge of his relatives.
Says He Didn't Need Money
At the city jail late yesterday after
noon Ritchie declared he did not know
what prompted him to write the
threatening letters. He said he was
not in need of money and had no in
tention of harming the banker.
II came to Los Angeles from Indiana
last october" he said. my wife,
mother and my cousin accompanied
me. My cousin and I are buying the
place where / live. We signed a con-
tract for the place soon after our ar
rival. The place is worth $500. We
paid 5000 down and were to pay the
balance in small monthly payments.
I am not in need of money. My mother
is we'll fixed and there is no reason
why | should attempt any blackmail-
ing scheme.
II do not know why I selected DR..