The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1911-02-24

Ky ASSRD OVERLOOKING tue Uusy
Fr:F and bustling down
& town vista Of Broad
k8MZ way from st. Paups
NJ, chapel to Bowling
E'ySIif Green.
SSGE For half q genera
Vnlul ton he had been Bull
uyant's chosen man to cover the
territory below Inspector Byrnes' ia
nous dead line" from Fulton street
to Whitehall. inclosing the richest
square mile on earth, including the
diamond and jewelry houses OF John
street and Maiden lane equally with
the great banking centers and the
Stock Exchange.
In all these years many famous
cases, criminal and otherwise, had
come under his detective ken, yet, be-
cause Bullivants Limited preferred to
work sub-rosa, few of them had be-
come public property. Also because
the great agency made a specially of
those more or less hopeless cases
where ordinary police methods failed
or were not available.
As / glanced him over, and sensed
that he must be at least sixty, though
he looked not a day over forty-five, l
realized perhaps more than ever that
Mark Manley was about as far re-
moved from the traditional detective
Of fiction as a divinity student from
q swell-mobsman. Quiet in dress,
smooth shaven, softspoken, with the
inimitable drawl that only comes from
south of Mason and Dixon's line, he
was one Of the large colony of South
erners who have helped, along with
men from every state In the Union,
to make New York the Empire city.
Add to this an almost Understandable
habit Of quiet authority which pro-
ceeded from the backing of one of the
greatest crime-detecting and mystery
unraveling agencies on earth, and you
can perhaps account, as did, for Man.
leys air Of strength and authority.
All these were in mind as silently
watched him carefully select a long,
thin, black cigar, snip off the end,
blow through it to expel the dust, and
slowly light it from pocket fusee,-
for there was story Ia the air,
prompted by my last question. and
meant to have It.
We'll, sub" he drawled, about the
Queerest case I ever handled down
there was what we may call the de-
falcation at the Borough NATIONAL
cashier and a hundred thousand dol.
lars missing over night, as you might
say. No, it never got into the papers,
and seeing that the chief actor died
last-in his own bed, mind you,
guess no onell be hurt If give you
the story"
nodded my comprehension at this
introduction, but forebore to disturb
Manley's current of reminiscent talk,
for this was one Of those occasions
when silence was golden. So he went
on:
'The Borough National was one Of
our smaller banks, but possessing very
strong connections; there was sur.
plus of something like twelve million
dollars, and board OF directors en-
bracing half the solid names on the
street. The paying teller was named
John Risdale, whom I'd known for
years, one Of the whitest men that
God ever made.
We'll. sub. twas just ten years ago
this fall, there'd been nasty panicky
times all summer; no real trouble, as
you'll remember, but a good deal Of
uneasaness. Risdale had stuck to his
cage through the hot spell, refusing
to take vacation, which was reck
oned up against him afterward, with
out any reason, far as / could see.
He'd sent his family away,---wife and
little daughter-and had been batch.
Ing" by himself in their Fat on the
West side. ] ought to tell you that
the little girl had some sort of incur.
able hip-disease,-at least no doctor
on this side could cure 1t, though
there was an expert In Paris or vi
emma, forget which, who all but guar
anteed cures Of that particular de-
formity. Risdale and his wife aimed
to send or take the kiddie abroad, but
that meant money,--more than John
had been able to lay by out Of his
fifty dollars week.
"One day, along about this time Of
year, Risdale went out to lunch al
12 o'clock and never came back. The
bank might have got over that
teller more or less didn't count-bu,
he happened to take hundred thou
sand dollars In cash with him, and
that hurt! No, there'd been no Jug
Cling with the books nor classifying
depositors' accounts: the money was
Just lifted out Of the cash drawer
one hundred thousand-dollar bills fresh
from Uncle Sans treasury depart
ment!
"Of course the shortage was discov
cred when they tried to balance theil
cash at the end OF the days business;
but nobody thought then OF connect