The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-03

ant things TO ho'ioe VIVA IL -
ing a crime?"
Escc.atain Dickson. a retired secret ser
aFoe7cer. had repea.sJ the words OF
Va question. We sat Oeside the open
by - Of his library and watched the
u smoke from our pipes drift out
- the summer night.
NJ - some moments of thought, he
rspiied: ovnaria,co If has
- fixed conviction with me thai
ZINC was ever committed where the
R-41al fails to leave behind some ciew
If il is only found and its worth
ul-,-ocisted. will invariably lead to the
s,lpsbsction of the cUlprit. / remember a
e. 1. mai never would have been cleared
ts nrobab Iv. If it had not been for
Thich I found in the crack between
- blanks of the floor. Therefore, in
'.s,rsr 10 your question. 1 will say that
.onsider the insignificant things that
IsraIIv escape notice the most impor-
-, "a search for whenever a crime
has been committed.
u have q case in mind, postoffice
-obberv It happened when | was con-
lied with that department, before y
~ transferred to the broader field of
I
~ v,1lage where il occurred. It was
Town of some 500 or 400 souls in the
e-ssn mountains. It had only one no.
- and i'm the three weeks that l was
s.,sined there. I almost destroyed my
SigestIon endeavoring to support life on
Fs abominable fare. I believe that l
sslt keener satisfaction in the royal
r,osI secured at Boston. on my re-
turn 10 washington, than l did in cap
,nrine the author of the robbery.
THE pestoffice safe had been tapped
for a large quantity of stamps, about
goo in money and brand new money
order hook. This last item gave i'm
portance to the case, because a book
of money order blanks in the hands of
clever crook can cause the govern
ment more trouble than a session of
congress.
The sAfe was a crude iron affair
which was fastened by means of a
clumsy brass key. The key was too
large and too heavy TO be lugged about,
and after the safe was locked it was
hid svav in q corner of the cash drawer.
A peculiar circumstance of the robbery
vas that the safe had been found locked
and the KEY in its place of conceal
ment. The culprits had possessed an in
innate knowledge Of the habits of the
postmaster and his assistant, Miss
iundy, a young lady Of fine appearance
and charming personality.
Mason. the postmaster, had a theory
that two tTamps had committed the
theft He said that two suspicious
characters had come into the office the
afternoon before the robbery and had
bought FIVE tWo-cent stamps. He con-
LII
As he said that persons Of their type al
ways bought stamped envelopes-no
more than they needed at the time-and
that they always mailed their letters
before leaving the osfice, addressing
them with the dilapidated pen main
tanned by the postmaster at all country
Offices for victims who have no alterna-
tive than to use II. At the back of the
building, 8 window glass had beer
broken out, and Mason especially d.
rected my attention to il. as he said il
must have been by this means that the
robbers gained entrance to the building
All Of the doors had been securely
locked
The windows were without shutters
and they were fastened by means of d
stick set diagonaIly across she upper
sash and resting on the lower nae, a
device commonly employed in country
towns where weights have not come
into use
Mason displayed entirely too much
nervousness in his conversation. and II
vas evident that he was anxious to In
press me with his theory of the case.
began TO form vague suspicion OF hin
al the very outset. A circumstance thai
Strengthened il was the fact that the
window had been broken by some one
inside the building. The fragments a
glass still lay scattered upon ,he s-o5in,
Hist in front of the window. Mason "a
sared ihe that they had not been dis
uFbed. The most careless observes
could not fail to see that the window
aad been broken from within Ali IN,
Haements had fallen outside and Their,
vas not particle of glass on tile hooi
OF the Office.
/ didn't let Mason suspect my 1oub
o. him, but, on the contrary. took par
ocular pains 10 impress him with tn,
Seiet that I had perfect confidence u
.s theory and that I would imnesiiate
SCI about following the cicv that D.
"ea furnished Nevertheless. I made
minute examination of the premises
au me only thing I found was a small
Neel pin with a greer glass head
rs IN a crack of the floor immediatell
~ rent Of the rified safe without at
aaeung attention. secured the pin ant
SuCA II beneath the lapel of my coat
thought it might prove of value. 1
W. II was the key to the situation.
ny examination showed that the rob
s mad entered the postoffice through
v mont door, and that the broken win
vas merely a blind OF else it ha
- broken by accident. l didn't TAX
ucn stock in this last theory. but %
window down as a deliberate effoT
muddy the water. There were ivy
ss a front and a back one. Tn
one was kept locked and the Ike
" y hung on nail in the office. Onl
sSoh and Miss Lundy had keys to tn
nov set about learning where Ma
NJ and Miss Lundy had been on tn
~, OF the robbery and also to sii
49, lne matter of the two tramps.
~ take much work to establish I
ssa own satisfaction that Mason Ia
s..,oeFately dec; wed rs about II
~ hs- | qCsstic.e- y.,ssS SsS-sSsss ar.
bas ssyse Ign GsS.p.sh severe
e s, 10 bees a<tne porch of til
49,, - next door at the very tim
~ ~ on said the men had visited III
srs ramps were rare in the viilag'
10 Knew that two strange men eoul
an, oIe visit such q town as that with
~ aura inc afro,4s.r, oo-.fd fxx