The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-07-23
THE RAT SWINDLE,
ny nRucE PARkER.


FCepyright. 1893. BY American Press Assoc
ciation.l
''Yes," said a retired United States
mint inspector, "a mint manager needs
to keep bis eye open to be able to
turn back the metal be receives. Cold
is valuable in very small quantities.
It's just as good IN tilings as it is in
coins and as good In chips as IN bars.
There are lots OF ways small bit Of
the metal can be carried away, and as
soon as one method is found out an
other is invented
when | was inspector at western
mint young man named Trevor came
into the service, in whom took deep
interest. Indeed. It was natural that
/ should be interested ia him, because
he was engaged to marry my daugh-
ter Betsy. had no objection to the
match provided they would wait long
enough for Trevor to become sufil-
GENTLY valuable at the mint to COM
mand an adequate salary and to have
saved q little money for q nest egg,
He thought differently He wished TO
be married FIRST and get the salary and
Che nest egg afterward But | stood
firm, and be was obliged to wait
In mint the gold iugots are sent
J to the rolling room 70 BE- r0ied into
strips When received they are care.
fully weighed and when sent out are
weighed again. OF course both figures
should tally exactly Well. one dry
there was deficit OF about $40, OF
course ! was greatly troubled. Before
letting any one ont Of the room made
4 personal search of every employee.
Trevor worked ID the rolling room.
and when he came up to be searched
he seemed TO me to be d triae agitat.
ed. Now, we inspectors are Ike de-
tectiyes. we build up theories on
small occurrences. 1T popped into my
head that Trevor III his iInpatielee
To marry had fallen under temptation.
But nothing was found on him or any
one else. THE next day there was an.
other shortage OF about S14. and the
next and next shortages Of various
similar amounts
my theory about Trevor was terri
bic anxiety to me. liked the boy, and
knew Bet was bound up ii him. 10
discover that be was i thief would be
4 disappointment 70 me and a heavy
blow 10 her. Ordinarily / did my own
Investigating. but Id this case | was
30 disconnected over Trevor's probable
guilt and 80 averse to watching him
that i introduced detective into the
rolling room under the guise Of an en-
pIoyee. with instructions to look for q
clew and to watch Trevor especially.
whether my feelings betrayed me
to Bet Or to Trevor or both or whether
they saw through the detective ruse !
don't know, but eonstraint sprung TIP
between me and them. Neither party
said anything about the matter be-
tween us. but each knew the others
secret One day Trevor came UP to
me ana said he'd like to see me II
the coinage department. ! saw that
something was on his mind and went
with him Iii & state Of dread fearing q
confession. When we reached the
room We had started for Trevor sud
denly turned to me and said:
2 DO you smell anythingg
surprised, / shifted aud replied that
/ certainly did smell something dead.
"sIt's q rat IN a trap be replied.
wen, what Of that?'
" Go III there, pointing to q, place
Or concealment. and watch. We will
close in twenty minutes. Before that
time you will see the rat removed.
Then step out the door, 90 down the