The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-10-09
Detective REYNOLDS TALE.

1T was rather strange" said De-
tective Reynolds, that I should be
given the robbery in the house Of
Banker Rochot to work up, inasmuch
as had something of an inkling into
his method Of doing business, through
working up a case Of alleged forgery
against his son, ~Emil-which, by the
way, was proved easily enough, but
was ended by the old man putting up
considerable money to square the bust
ness.
I imagined when the report Of the
robbery came in that 1t would prove
to be an ordinary house-breaking job,
but I soon found a condition Of affairs
which started my wits humming for
all they were worth ..,..
IT was aroused from my bed to turn
out on the case shortly before daylight
on a Sunday morning, and went up
town, not feeling any too well pleased.
1 found all Of the Rochot family up
and laboring under great excitement.
They were not so much worried over
the robbery as they were over the fact
that there was a dead man in the
house. He was found in the hallway
Of the basement.
"Rochot told me he had been work
ing quite late, following a set Of COM
plicated books belonging to a mining
company in which he was largely in
terested. When he retired for the
night he was in a very restless state
and could not sleep. He occupied a
room on the top floor. While he was
tossing in his bed he heard a peculiar
noise. 1t sounded to him as If some
n were scraping a piece Of metal
against a pipe. His idea was that
the noise was in the street, and was
made by some workmen who had been
at work repairing a leak in the water
main in 65th street, near his home.
The sound annoyed him, but did not
make him suspicious. It continued
steadily, and he would, perhaps, not
have known that the sound came from
the turning Of a ratchet drill into his
safe by thieves for several hours If
be had not heard the stairs leading to
the second or third floor creak.'
HE was startled, but did not make
any outcry. He was a plucky old fell
low at that. Instead Of shouting to
see if any member Of his family, all
of whom were sleeping on the two
floors below him, was up, he got quiet
ly out Of bed to see who 1t was. In
the dim light which came from a can
die he could barely see the forms Of
two men, moving slowly in the hall
toward the front room door. Their
step was noiseless, and he saw them
disappear into the occupied by
his wife. He reasoned, from their
movements, that they were thieves,
bent upon stealing without awaken
ing any one, and knew that his wife
would not be aroused, for she was
slightly deaf.
"Rochot came down from the top
floor to his own room, where he had
several revolvers. He took the larg-
est one and then quietly aroused his
son, who was a bit Of a hunter and
had two shotguns. 1t sc happened
that the son had a friend with him,
which made 1t a shotgun for each Of
them. They crept down the stairs to
the second floor, and in the hall they
could hear the thieves talking In a
whisper.
The three men took a position
where they could shoot without en-
dangering their own lives. They had
only a few minutes to wait when the
crooks came through the hall, evil
IDENTIFY with the intention Of going out
through the front door. One Of them
carried a candle. When they got in
range the three men fired. The thieves
replied with a couple Of shots and
made a dash for the basement. The
Rochot party rushed to the windows
to fire on the men when they left the
house, but were a moment too late,
as the men had turned the corner.