The evening world., 1911-03-06
the two men whom he encountered last
Thursday.
Walked Only Few Steps.

Walked Only Few Steps.
When n reporter for The Evening
World reached him old Mr.. Bancroft
had recovered somewhat from the shock,
hut his thin voice quavcred and Ais
ts. hands shook as u with palsy as ne told
..s his story.
1T was last Thursday afternoon" he
bcp said, about 4 o'clock, Just after the
49,, close of the days business, that, follow
1. ing my custom Of years, I started FOR
our safety deposit box In the vaults
under the Produce Exchange Building.
which If Immediately back OF our OF
Nces. To : ach them I had only '' pass
out Of the rear entrance OF ms build-
ing. cross n small interior court, enter
- the ground floor corridor OF the Produce
10 Exchange Building and go down % short
49, ftight oi steps into the basement.
1T has long been my bablt to make
this trip on Thursday afternoons ana
a.. Monday mornings-on Thursda5 20 lock
up securities entrusted to Ne or belong
Ing to us. and on Monday TO bring
them back TO our Offices.
II was carrying In my hand an ordl-
nary manila cnv~clope-walcts vs. call
them on tho Street-cont1iulng the So
~ %"t'-ities. Each block was made M into
ri sepa. ate packet and the whole had
flnl.i been put by me personally into the en-
velope, which then tied securely wIiA
a string.
Jos.Icd q. "s ibt ~"
IT crossed tho court. entered ~ Pro-
- ducc Exchange Bullding, went dorm
the steps and entered the basement az
the southwest corner. To reach tho
tfo-. gate giving admission TO tho vaults
i-rr proper. which are ut the extreme cor
81 ner, I had to pass the length ~ a mar
- row L-shaped corridor with an abrupt
,rao elbow In II, turning at right angles. The
-. corridor is not more than I'VE feet
wide. ] think. and ~ walled on both
'"@ sides with brick ana well lighted with
80" electric lights at intervals.
as 81 do not remember that 7 saw amy
D ..H. one ~ I pptersd tho lnvvar cavriIpr Tho
I-.G Waterman In charge of the gate was. Of
course. entirely out Of my range ~
~rT vision, beifg around the corner at the
ss~ long end Of the corridor. ! don't rec
vsrf ollect that any one met or passed ne
eolss ne | made my way along the PASSAGE,
..S.A until Just as | reached the turn. At that
-Er precise instant q young map. seemingly
In n hurry. bumped into me with great
49, violence. ! do not know whether he was
h~so coming toward me or whether he came
up behind me. Indeed. he may have
been standing stlll In the shadow be-
yond the turn. waiting for me.
IAN | know Is that I was violently
struck and bowled over. ! fell on my
side with the breath all Knocked out %
me. I am an old man and a thing In"
MAT left me stunned for the moment
The envelope fell out ~ my hands. In
stinctively ! CROPPED for II. hut before |
could get my fingers on n another young
man suddenly appeared. lie aided the
man who had collided with me to help
me to my feet.
Lightning Change Trick.
"one of them-thc newcomer, ! think
1t. wns-stooped ana picked up some
thing and put into my hand what I took
10 be the wallet ! h7d dropped n m 'ucn;
before. ] know now, OF course. thar n
lightning quick Job Of substitute must
have been done. hut the resemblance" II
q = the substituted envelope 20 the rr'""c
~ one was SO close End the whole ;hinr
H. took place SO quickly that I never su..
'pected anything.
Together they brushed mo off ami
IVA p!cked mn my hat. The flrst n. was
all tho time apologizi~g for havin run
into me and expressing tho hopN tNnt
hadn't been hurt. lie kent murmurIng.
as an excuse, something about having
49, been in a big hurry.
Ell told them l didn't think 7 wa
hurt and then. stlll omewhat dnaed
made my way TO the gates opening
into the vaults. ! can't tell where q
was they parted from me, or whether
they accompanied me all or II part o
the way TO the gate. but I seem t.
have a more or less hazy recollection
that they both left me nj the poin'
whore the collision had occurred an,
went away together In the direction
whence I had come. At any rate.
IL thought no more OF them,
81 cannot describe the two men. eX
cept to say that they were both young
well dressed, alert and bright The,
impressed me at the moment as beln'
bank clerks or messengers, Such n
you see everywhere here In the nnancia
district. and they appeared to know
their surroundings. ] assumed tina
they were on similar business TO tina
which had brought me.
1T seems to me. although 7 canno
lie positive on this point, that the ma
who ran into me was about thirty year
~ old, Of sandy com pleyion and had %
light clothes, while I recall tho othe
hazily as being considerably younge
and shorter and having on n dark sui
AT any rate, | went around the tuy
20 the gate, spoke to the Waterman an
passed In. | then went Co our s1fet
deposit box, unlocked II and pat IN IN
envelope without opening IL. locked n
box and went home.
Found Only Scrap Paper.
@ This morning my son and partn'
went to the box and got the envelop
He brought 1t here to the office al
found the strIng binding intact, but
was full OF scrap paper. Then when
had recovered from the FIRST shock
examined the envelope more close
and saw that. whereas our vale
have the name ~ the Arm print
across them in black letters. IN
envelope was perfectly plain. lie
Il is-see for yoursclf,' ana the quivo
ing hand offered q big slde-Cpening e
velope OF tough, reddish brown mani
paper, made to fas'en with two str'n
that were afixed 10 the mar. The g
velope was big enough TO hold u she
OF ordinary typewriter paper Nitho
folding. What u now contained We
nifty or sixty squares cut from cven'
papers. dated between Feb. q al
Feb. Is.
"What was the value OF the seauri,
that were ytolenr" asked the report