The Springfield herald., 1912-07-19

fortably fxed now. since he took my
advice and handles the family pocket
book himself"
He laughed reminiscently. and /
chuckled with him.
YES" he went on. "the old man
had to be advised little bit some
lister-flne woman, lovely lady. but
inexperienced In handling large sums
of money. you know-had been given
free swing at the colonel's bank
account BY jove! l tell you she tore
a hole into 1t for two or three years.
Yes, sir! Nearly had the colonel OF
his feet. said to him. Colonel. only
one thing for you to do. Shut down
on Mrs Hollister. Don't let her handle
a dollar. Otherwise you'll be selling
that happy homo Of yours up on the
Sound.'"
And he shut DOWN. l asked.
Eyes, yes Closed down on her
tight For about a year she's had
to go to the colonel for every cent she
got, and, believe me. sir. the colonel
has been careful, very careful. indeed.
o. yes. the colonel Is safe enough
financially Anything up to a million
should say.
thanked my new found friend for
his friendliness and confidence, and
went further on my way, rummaging
around Wall street to find all could
about the state OF HOLSTERS finances.
There was little enough to find. APP
parently the colonel was sound SO far
as money was concerned. and CLAWS
was the only man who knew that
there ever had been any financial dif-
ficulty between him and his wife.
Everywhere that investigated /
found Hollister spoken of in the higl-
est terms. He was fine. honorable
gentleman. Mrs. Hollister WASH SO
well known among the colonel's
friends. In order to make my inves-
legations thorough got on Broadway
car and rode up to the theatrical dis
trict, to the office of a friend OF mine
who conducted a booking agency,
There l gathered that Mrs. Hollister.
formerly Margaret Wynderly. was not
as happy with her rich husband as
she had expected to be. 1t seemed
that Mrs. Hollister had expensive
tastes The colonel did not approve
of them. At one time. SO tho gossip
of the Riaito had 1t, Mrs. Hollister
had gone SO far as to threaten to go
back to the stage to earn money to
crafty her whims.
All these minute investigations may
seem to the layman to be superfluous
in a case like this. What could the
Hollister's family affairs have to do
with the advent of burglar In their
home? I could not answer this ques-
ton any better than the reader at the
beginning of my search. but success
full detective work Is. largely mat
ter of watching the small things. 1t
is the small things that the wrong
doer fails to cover, not the large ones !;
and it is among these small things
that the careful detective will often
find the tiny item :hat puts him on
the trail of something big l had NO
definite plan in so carefully looking
up the Hollster family circumstances,
only knew that 1t was my duty as
an Investigator OF this case to find
out all about them that could.
ran down all the information !
could scare up in New York; then,
next morning. I bought ticket to
the station on the Long Island Road.
where the Hollister home was To-
Gated.
l arrived at the station, Sound
hurst, near noon and registered at
the little hotel in the village. The
clerk at the hotel dined at my table
and led him to talk about the Hollis
ter family. / was surprised to find
that even there the news of the bur
glary had not become known. and
the clerk did not hesitate in discuss
ing the people who lived in the big
house on the Sound.
I've got cousin who takes car .
of their launches ind boats" said he,
''and l know about all that's going on
up there. And let me tell you, mister
those rich folks don't have SO much
smoother sailing than US poor ones
No sir, they have their rows just like
We do. Why. here two months age
this spring. Mrs. Hollister had soEe
of her old theatrical friend out for
a visit, and they were raising Ned
out in one of the big launches, and
| Old Hollister came running out in a
smaller launch and ordered the whole
lot of 'em back to shore. They had
a merry old row that night, him and
her. and she was going to leave him
and then he cooled down, and at last
she agreed to stay. l guess he mus
have given in to her because she's
had that bunch of show people out
every Saturday since. And believe
me, they have some times. then. One
of them is her brother A young fel
low; great sport. After the rest =.
'em have gone to bed at night he
comes down here and has few
drinks with the bunch in the bal
here. Great little fellow"
After dinner I went out an strollec
down to the nearest telephone Office
and called up my friend in the book
ing office in New York.
do you know anything about Mrs
HOLSTERS brother little fellow with
sporting tendencies?" I asked.
Yes. know of him." came the SLOW