The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-05-19
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|TheManIn:
! the Box
A Detective Solved the Mys- .
1 terry Of His Being There
By John L. Eyerhart
/ Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911


When l first entered upon the de-
tecriye business, being Inexperienced,
found 1t difficult to get position,
and when l got one couldn't keep It.
had been tried by one or two agen-
cies, but had been outwitted by the
parties l had been sent to outwit, and
after one of my failures found myself
with no employment and not a cent
in my pocket,
was walking disconsolately along
an avenue occupied solely by dwellings
when l saw negro man ahead of me
wheeling box on truck. He seemed
to be talking to himself In low tone,
and I came up behind him without
making any noise. Indeed, my foot
falls couldn't very well be heard be-
cause the day was wet and / wore
rubbers. Walking for short distance
behind him, l heard him say, when
get to the steps going down into the
basement I'll call Look outp SOS you
can brace yourself"
As soon as l heard this l surmised
that somebody was In the box. There
seemed TO me but one reason for any
one to be thus incased, and that was
either to break or evade the law. Some
person was going to effect an entrance
somewhere In order to be concealed
In the box till favorable opportunity
should arise to commit crime OF
some one was escaping from the POI
lice. My detective instincts further
told me that If the person In the box
were going to rob he would be taken
TO a mercantile building. If he were
going TO escape the police no would
be taken to n railroad station and
shipped rs freight.
This last was my favorite theory. I
knew that 1t was much easier to ap-
propriate movable property belonging
TO others than to get away with 1t and
turn 1t into cash.
Suddenly the negro porter turned,
wheeling the box into the basement
door of n handsome dwelling house.
had purposely dropped behind him
that In case he stopped l would not
feel obliged to walk past him. He
eased the truck down three steps I'M
der the stoop, and just as he reached
the basement door It was opened by a
maid
"Ahar' said to myself. '"This is a
servants scheme. There are more
burglaries committed through the con-
nivance of servants than any other
way. There is man in that box,
who when every one in the house Is
asleep will get out of 1t and carry off
what valuables he can find. We shall
see whether he will or not"
1t was just before dark that the box
was wheeled into the house. The
hour fitted my theory exactly. A per-
son would not wish to remain shut
up in such uncomfortable quarters any
longer than necessary. Even as 1t
was 1t would be necessary for him
to stay where he was for several
hours. | waited till / saw the negro
go away with his truck, then cast
about for an excuse to visit the house
with view to locating the position
of the box. An advertisement dis
tributer had left some handbills puff
ing face powder on the stoops along
the street Gathering few of them,
1 went to the basement door of the
house was interested In and rang
the bell The maid who had let in the
porter answered the summons, first
lighting gas jet In the basement.
As soon as she opened the door
saw the box standing in a corner In
the hall where the darby had left IL.
The top was still on it The maid
was very nice looking girl. not one
to be suspected of admitting a bur
glar to the house. asked her IL l
could sell her some face powder, but
at the same time she saw me looking
ut the box and shut the door In my
face.
But since had seen what wished
to see this treatment didn't trouble
me- I had very little doubt that
had discovered an incipient robbery.
/ was not doubtful as to the means
of preventing 1t. What interested mo
was how to turn that prevention to
my own account. If | went to tho
owner of the premises and told him
that there was a burglar concealed In
his basement he would call the police,
the burglar would be arrested and
very likely the owner would give me
SIS for having furnished him the infor-
nation. I was after larger reward.
1t seemed to me that would better
find out something concerning the peo-
pie who lived In the house. 1t was a
handsome stone front dwelling and
could only be inhabited by wealthy
people. Fortunately I remembered
that the census for 1910 was being
taken would avail myself of this
fact AS census official I could ask
all the questions I liked without sus-
picion. But ! would likely be admit
ted by the maid to whom | had tried
to sell the face powder, and 1t
wouldn't do to play two parts to the
same audience | went to my room,
where ! kept various makeup mate
rails and put on different suit Of
clothes and full beard and mustache
and spectacles. Thus arrayed. ! went
TO the house In question, rang the front
door bell and was admitted by the
same maid as before. I told her that
must see the master Of the house
about the census. and she showed me