The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-11-07

sAesI q AOOOCly A0A UVVA COAAllllLtOV.
Il reached the store early in the
morning, shortly after the arrival OF
the heads of departments. l saw at
a glance that it was case of bur.
glary, and by gang Of the most ex-
pert and daring men in the business.
While the clerks were figuring up to
find how many thousands of dollars
worth had been taken l made a tour
of the store to find out, if possible,
how entrance had been gained
II went first to the cellar and had
not got very far until saw some
thing that gave me start.
1.-Two feet were sticking out from
between some packing boxes that
stood directly on an open hatchway
leading to the first floor. I pushed
aside the boxes and found the body
Of man lying in a pool of blood.
felt his pulse. 1t was still beating
very family, but l could see that he
was in a critical condition. He was
wearing watchman's uniform. Yet
we had found the Waterman upstairs.
I called some of the clerks. With one
breath they declared it was the watch
man. Then who was the man we had
sent to the hospital with broken
head?
I'VE carried the man upstairs. Sew
eral more Of the clerks took a look
at him and were unanimous in declar-
ing that this certainly was the watch
man. There was letter in the pocket
of his blouse addressed to the watch
man at Hoboken. / did not know
what to believe. One of the two men
was the Waterman, but which l was
unable to say. His wife had been
sent for and was on the way. She
would be able to settle it beyond
doubt.
when site arrived at the store she
gave one look at the body Of the man
had found in the cellar, shrieked,
threw herself on the body and tainted
dead away. That settled it. This was
the Waterman himself. To make it
doubly sure, as soon as she had re-
covered sufficiently to talk, asked
her if there were any marks upon the
body of her husband by which he
could be positively identified. She re-
piled that her husband. who had been
in the navy, had the picture of full
r.gged ship tattooed on his chest.
II quickly stripped off the mans
shirt. No ship was there. The am
bulance was at hand and, taking the
wife, went with 1t to the hospital
where the first man had been taken.
HE had the ship in the right place.
I was glad of 1t and the wife was
overjoyed, for the doctors said the
real Waterman was but slightly hurt,
while the fellow had found was
certain to die.
1T was then clear to me that the
man in the cellar was one of the
thieves who had fallen through the
open hatchway. The plot was then
apparent. Acting upon the most re-
markable resemblance between the
two men, the thieves had waylaid the
real Waterman, knocked him out and
substituted their own comrade in his
place. Even the policeman on the
beat, who knew the Waterman we'll.
had talked with his prototype without
seeming the deception. No blame was
}attached to him when even the mans
own wife was deceived.
my thread to the solution of the
mystery was now the bogus watch
man. I kept close watch on him in
the hospital. In a few days lie died.
l had it publicly announced in ali the
papers that he would be buried in the
potter's field. But the next day an un-
dertaker appeared with a permit to
take the body. let him have it,
but also got a strong pull on him and
had myself appointed his assistant.
"Now I was in a position to learn
who was interested in the body. 1t
was a woman. put shadows on he:
and soon found out that she was a
Miss Snyder, who had a brother Sam
who was something of crook. That
was enough for me. I soon had the
; body fully identified as that Of Sam
Snyder.
"Still I was long way from the liv-
ing members Of the plot. But with
Sam Shyder dead l was convinced that
the thieves would do something for
his sister and only living relative.
kept a close shadow on her. Soon l
was rewarded by finding that she was
in receipt of money from some source
The amounts came on the first of ey.
cry month from different places. Then
the payments stopped.
"As a last resort I went directly tc
the woman. l told her that l was a
crook and an old friend of Sans who
: had frequently worked with him.
!; told her SO many things about Sam
that 7 had learned that she was con-
. WINGED. She began to talk freely and
gave me a lot of information about
Sans utilization with Tom Lynch 4
gang.
ut did not take me long to find Out
; that she had a grievance against Tom
Lynch. She said that Tom Lynch hat