East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-12-29
Ed HAYES TRAPPED,
FACES PRISON Term
Marked Coins Prove Undo
ing of Ice Company
Employee

Ed Hayes, we'll known young
man of the city, is today staring a
penitentiary term in the face as a re-
suit of the startling discovery that for
three years or more he has been steal
ing money from the till of the PEN
dleton Ice & Cold Storage company.
He has been arrested and admits his
guilt and this afternoon was placed
under $500 bonds by Justice of the
Peace Parkes
Money in small sums has been
missed from the company till for a
long time but it was not until the last
month, or since Earl Gillanders, one
OF the partners. has been keeping the
books that any effort has been made
to uncover the cause of the almost
daily disappearance of several dol
lars. No suspicion was directed at
Hayes and the members of the firm
were as much surprised as any one
yesterday when, by the assistance of
a spy and marked coins, they fixed
the responsibility upon the young
man
1t . is impossible to estimate with
any accuracy the amount which he
has stolen during his operations but
Messrs Kopittke and Gillanders be-
lieve his stealings will total over
thousand dollars.
Was Former Employe.
Hayes has been in the employ of the
Pendleton Ice and Cold Storage COM
pany at different times. He mad
worked for the former owners of the
business before Kopittke & Gil,anders
purchased it three years ago and dur
ing the past year has been retained
by the latter gentlemen several times
as driver of a coal wagon and col
lector 1t was while employed there
that he became acquainted with the
habits of the bookkeeper and with the
secret of the till, and taking advan-
tage of this knowledge, he would let
himself into the office by means of
pass keep at noon while the office
men were at lunch, reach through en-
opening at the back of the cash
drawer, take therefrom a few coins
and depart.
Spy Detects Him.
Yesterday Clarence Kearney. a for
mer police officer of the city, was
stationed in an upstairs room of the
Bowman hotel the windows of which
commanded a view of the office of the
ice plant. During the noon hour
Hayes was detected entering the Of
flee and was at once suspected. The
coins had been marked and. when he
spent one at a picture show the Of
ficers had their evidence complete.
The remainder of the coins and the
pass key the young man threw away
in the rear of the barroom of the
Hotel St George, having become sus-
picious that the officers were watch
ing him.
He was arrested last evening bv
Sheriff T. D. Taylor and formal
complaint was made against him to-
day.
Money Missed Long Time.
How 1t was that he had succeeded
in his operations for so long a time
without detection has been the sub
ject of much discussion on the street
today AS a matter of fact, accord
ing to Mr.. Gillanders, the shortage
has been missed for the past three
years but former bookkeepers were
reluctant TO inform their employers
fearing lest they should be suspected
or accused of lax methonds
However, when Mr.. Gillanders took
charge of the books and began TO
not a constantly recurring shortage.
he began an investigation. He chang
ed the lock on the door and on the
cash drawer into which the days re-
eeipts were deposited but still the
shortage continued at intervals of two
or three days Most often there were
sums from a dollar to three dollars
missing, but on the thirteenth OF the
present month the till was short ten
dollars.
Drawer Not Unlocked.
The proprietors could understand
how thief could gain entrance to
the office by means of pass key but
they could not understand how the
lock to the till, which was a compTi-
Gated one could be unlocked. Final
ly they discovered that by crawling
under the desk, a person could reach
into the drawer from the back and
secure the money.
This discovery prompted them to
mark the coins and set watch,
Young Hayes is we'll known
young man Of the city, having spent
almost his entire life in Pendleton and
heretofore, has always borne a splen-
did reputation for honesty. The dis
covery of his crime has been a great
shock to his friends as well as to his
relatives.