The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-12-12
1oon1rirht 81 DC Internatlonal Press Bureau.l

1t was showed under the door at
night" he said. Il found it when
open store in the morning"
put the letter under microscope
and examined it carefully.
did it come just the way it WASP"
/ asked.
eyes"
mo envelope?"
NO nothing but what you have
there"
That didn't sound good to me. I'm
der the microscope the letter failed
to show any Of the dust or dirt
that would have adhered to it If 1t
had been carried uninclosed and, with
out a cover, pushed under the door Of
an Elizabeth street store. The letter
was crisp and clean, as if 1t had been
taken from an envelope that had shell.
tered it in its travels until very re-
Gently.
rs this the only letter Of this sort
you have?" 1 asked.
mo, no." he laughed. There were
others I tore them up. / paid no
attention to them until this one came.
1t names time when I must have
the money ready. That is why / came
! here
Were the letters all in this hand
writing?" / asked
He was a little slow in answering.
yes" he said finally. Eyes, all the
same handwriting"
"All right" I said; "let's go down
to your Office"
He grumbled at this.
cit would not do for me to be seen
with you," he protested. "The So
ciety has eyes everywhere. If you
come to Elizabeth street with me its
spies will see and they will get suspi-
cious. Then they will kill me as a
warning for others to be careful"
"All right" said I. when can |
come to see your"
"You want to see me In the of1ce?'
eyes, in your office"
"That is absolutely necessary
eyes," I said, cts necessary"
"All right, all right" he said. Come
tonight then, at ten. The street will
I be crowded so that you can slip in
without being noticed"
/ put on some old clothes that night
and slouched through the crowds in
Elizabeth street until reached Leont's
store. went in, pretending to have
some business at the banking window,
and when no one was looking slipped
back into the Office.
ct want to take look at your books
first Of all" said.
He was puzzled, but he turned over
to me his books. He had kept the
signatures of his depositors in a sim
gle big book, and this was what /
looked over most carefully.
/ found what I had hoped to find.
About a year before one "Ignacio Mar
tina" had written his name and his
address, ''Whitefsh, Wis.," in Leoni's
signature book in the same fine Ital-
ian hand that had written the threat
ening letter. There was no mistak-
ing it. The writing was too distinc-
tive to be confused.
/ was on the point of telling Leoni
what I had found, but on second flash
1 reasoned: 'Here is an excitabie
Italian. half crazed with fear, and if
| / tell him what / think have found
he'll go up in the air, and if he doesn't
plot to take his private vengeance
he's almost sure to let someone know
what he's been told" So said moth
ing, but looked through the book
without comment. After short time
I left Leoni, telling him I'd call him
up in a day or two.
"Do you think you can catch them?
he asked. -
81 don't know" I said. "It's pretty
hard for an American to get onto the
crooked ways of these fellows, but
we've never failed on case YET"
"Ah," he said. "But you never had
case like this?"
mo" said 1; that's true, too"
When l got back to the Office the
manager said: well, how do you
! like Black Handing as far as you've
gomez"
"That's a funny looking case to
me" I said. cit looks too easy to be
true"
told him what I had found, and
what my theory shaped up like.
eOh, drop it If you want to, he said.
81 don't think we care to be mixed
ND in that sort of mess. Do Just as
you please about it"
I had already made start on the
case and had discovered what was
inclined to believe was striking
clue The attraction of the man-hunt
had me, and I said:
"Ill go on with it for a while at
least, if you don't mind"
Next day I went down to the Fed
oral building and looked over the
names of Italians who had applied fer
citizenship in this country. There l
FOUND sIgnacio Martina's" name again,
and in the same handwriting as the
B1ack Hand letter that Leoni had re-
ceived l called up Leoni's bank on
the nbone. Leoni didn't happen to be
IN If he had been this story proba-
blv would never have been told. His
clerk was in and in answer to my
question he looked up his books and
found that Ignacio Martina still was
living in Whitefsh, Wis., that ne got
his mail at the general delivery, and