Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-11-16

SUITED.
looking carefully over some toothbrush
es, bought one, paid for 1t with a FIVE
dollar bill and received $4.70 in change.
THE clerk had received through
customer. who was beyond suspicion,
one Of these same bills before. which
had been pronounced a counterfeit and
was suspicious of this one. But in
stead Of refusing it he gave the man
his change and sent boy after him to
see where he went While the boy was
gone the clerk took the bill he had re-
ceived to the bank, where 1t was pro-
nounced spurious. The boy saw the
old man who had passed it go into
certain house. then returned to the
drug store and reported the fact. A
watch was set upon the house, but the
party who had gone In there was not
seen to come out or again enter 1t.
This is the point at which ] took
the case. 1t may be supposed that my
first move would besto call at the
house on some pretext and find ont
who lived there. Any such act might
stand against me in the future. In
stead, | rented room opposite the,
suspected premises. where from a win
dow | could keep il under constant
surveillance. and spent many an hour
watching it. Several times l sat up
might see some suspicious circum-
stance. An elderly woman lived in
the house. who. | learned. was
widow with two or three little Chill
dren. She did not appear to have any
dodgers. though there was card In a
window, Room to Rent" | saw one
or two persons who were passing look
at the card. ring the bell. enter and
come out, but duriag my watch the
room was not hired.
Zone day | received notice that
counterfeit bill had been passed at a
meat store, another at a newsstand and
still another at a hardware store. In
deed. the reports of the passing OF
these bills came in from all over the
city. One Of the persons on whom they
were passed had submitted to be vic
timized In order to catch the perpetra
tor. Not being sure that the bill was
counterfeit. he had pursued the same
course as that pursued by the drug
clerk. The person who had offered the
bill was a woman. She had been fol
lowed, and the house she entered was
watched But she was not seen max
ing an exit. nor did she ever again APP
pear to the watcher or any one else
concerned.
when I had gathered these add
tional facts | felt sure that ] had met
with conditions that wouid he very
difficult to unravel And yet It appear
ed that more than one person was en-
gagged In showing the couDterfets. and
the more persons possessing a secret
the NOR difficult 1t Is 70 keep IT.
90 ihp president ~ the bank
whose bills were counterfeited receIv-
ed an anonymous note written in a
feminine hand that il he would send
to such a street and number he might
be afforded a clew to the counterfeit
ers. The note was turned over to me,
and / replied to it in person. l was
received by a young woman. who told
me that man in a house directly OPP
posite to the one In which she lived
had excited her suspicious. But she
could give no reason for this except
that he appeared to have no business.
IF | were to let it be known that
was a detective working up a case !
would get a multitude OF clews every
day. and each clew would be more ri.
dlculous than its predecessor Never
-
be so positive that there was ,sorne