The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-04-18

that. answered John Beggs Be-
sides, never saw the thief's face be-
fore. made my round at FIVE, no
I tody here, then
Poe requested two clerks to take the
positions of the scrub-women and had
Beggs stand on the spot where he had
been attacked. After that Poe walked
lack and forth. twisting his lips with
tense fingers and glancing up sharply
from beneath. his heavy brown brows,
sensing the situation.
Finally, giving a little satisfied
grunt. he asked to have Beggs tied as
he had been when found.
The policeman who liberated Beggs
was at hand. and proceeded to initiate
the manner of tying.
# Poe picked up an end of the rope
idly, and made casual examination:
i then he drew out his knife and shipped
OFF bit of it, which he placed carefully
in his vest pocket. as he turned to view
the officers clumsy work at duplicat-
ing the thief's rope-tying method.
1t was funny way he was tied
up said the policeman, stopping with
puzzled frown. This rope ran in a
loop over Beggs's neck, came down be
! tween his legs, and tied in the back.
There seemed to be some system to it"
Like this, was it?" asked Poe.
catching up the rope, throwing a loop
OF it over the trembling watchman's
neck. drawing the ends up between his
legs, and tying them behind in Sc
ries of peculiar knots.
The officers eyes went wide with sur
prise That's 1t, exactly" he ex-
claimed. never saw anything like
1t before. ! noticed it particular"
Poe volunteered no explanation to
the awed group around him; but he did
smile to himself as he glimpsed the
cashiers interest He had already
asked in detail about the two women,
but had learned little, outside of the
fact that they we're trustworthy, did
4 their work with the regularity of such
machines, and that the one whose body
was found 1ammed in the front door
beside Beggs. According to Beggss
story. the other woman must have
been killed, too; but she might have
escaped or been released by the crimi-
nal; at least, her body had disappeared
entirely.
That was clearly where the doubt
lay. Poe took the broken bucket used
by the woman whose body had disap-
peared. wrapped IT into a neat parcel.
turned to the cashier and extended his
hand in goodbye.
But you couldn't have formed any
theory in such short time exclaimed
Cribben. WI, you haven't any clue
outside os tn scrub-woman,s disap-
pearance. She was probably killed
and carried a-Tay. to shift suspicion"
Probably.' answered Poe, the
strange wri- les pickering for mo-
ment in his checks. But I'm taking
bit of VIZ rope with me. and the
pieces of bucket | may be able
to gather ething from them"
Without s1erther comment, he bowed
and wall.ed out. On his way 70 the
South ST. n. he sent the following
wire in er to Burns, the million
ARE banl,rs. who shared with Mitchell
r
ests of Justice.
Canvass opium dives catering TO
foreign criminals. Watch for tall,
whfte-faced Englishman with close
cropped hair, tenor. decided stoop.
Send Volume H. and suit of Stops by
my man to Grand Central at 11:12.
I'll run across you"
Christopher Poe took an afternoon
train for New York, secured an in
closed section. locked the door. care
fully united the bundle containing the
broken bucket and examined it, first
roughly, and then mlnutely.
At quarter past eleven the train
gliGed into New York and Poe slipped
along the platform to meet his man.
receiving from him e shabby suit OF
clothing and thin, little book lettered
~
Diminishing the man. he crossed
quickly to hotel, secured room In a
!. moments time, and changed to the
disguise.
While doing so, he paused occasion.
ally to run through the index to the
vellumed volume: wonderful little
book, painstakingly printed In a clev
: erly contrived cipher code The fooled
3tu5e l sHoheu CHdT IUiHS ldSLe, une WOfh
: having been done by binder even bet
t ter than CockerelI The book was one
r Of set Poe had compiled with endless
e labor 1t contained the history Of
{ crooks. little known to fame. but who
! had been connected with clever crimes
| particularly bank robberies Their
I methods of work. usual haunts. com
4 panions, and other valuable persona
!. information, were detailed
Il Meantime he had finished transform
E ing himself into an ordinary lookin.
!, tough. down on his luck, and hat
dropped into chair. skimmin,
through the book Suddenly h.
7 stopped at one entry and read i
Z through carefully.
t