The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-09-07

storms had not stopped at the Astor
House at all. He hired a room there
by the week, but never went to 1t, and
only called at the hotel to get his
mail.
Storms had told one Of the members
of the firm that he had given a din
ned to some of his English friends at
the Aston House and related some of
the stories which were told by his
friends Of American life. 1t was con-
sidered very strange that Storms, who
carried all the marks Of honesty in
his face and speech, should have lied
about such an unimportant matter;
and, considering all the circumstances.
a doubt was raised about his veracity
in other matters of importance.
Several days passed and nothing
was heard from Storms. Wells & Co.
became bit uneasy and sent cable
to Frink e Beamen, asking for in
formation about the further shipments
of gold. Frink & Beamen replied that
they did not know anything about
shipments of the precious metal, and
would be delighted to find any of 1t.
Then the direct inquiry was made by
Wells G. Co. Of Frink & Beamen il
they had not consigned 100000 to
Wells & Co. The answer came back
that they had not.
This news turned things upside
down in Wells & Co.'S establishment.
The gold which they had sold had
been broken up into smaller packages
and pretty widely distributed. Some of
the coin was found and it was pro-
nounced genuine by bank experts. but
the deep interest of Wells & Co.
aroused the suspicion of some of their
customers. and they sent several sam
pies to the assay Office for analysis.
This examination showed that there
was practically only trace Of gold
on the face of each coin, and the
metal was worthless.
Then there was the deuce to pay.
The customers of Wells & Co. de-
manded the return of their money and
the firm was forced to suspend tenn
at this juncture and / must confess
that it looked like mountain. Ad-
vices from London showed that all
the papers which had been used by
Nathaniel Storms in this country had
been forged, and the investigation
made by Wells & Co. was just ten days
too late. The plot would have been
exposed II they had made inquiries
concerning Storms at the start. Pri-
vate letter blanks and secret marks of
Identification had been obtained from
Frink & Beamen in some way, show
ing that some one in their employ had
been giving information. There was
nothing in this country but a good de-
scription of Storms. He wore a full
beard, and I knew that he would
shake this at the first opportunity, so
that a description Of him was useless.
was sent to London to work up
that end with the Scotland Yard peo-
pie. / brought them the information
about the letter blanks and secret
marks, and watch was put upon
everybody in Frink & Beaman's Of
flee. They had twenty clerks working
for them, and 1t took some time to
pick up our man. We found young
fellow named Sinclair who had money
to burn on SIS a week, and pinched
him. He squealed without delay, and
said that he had been induced to give
up the secrets of the business by two
men who claimed to be Englishmen.
They gave him $500 for his work. He
heard them call each other Andy and
Wary. and this gave the first tip on
the gang. was satisfied that the two
men were Andy Bliss and Wary Nc
Gee, both crooks. 1 learned that the
bogus coin had been brought from
America on the Cunard line in casks
Of white lead, and had been returned
by the same line.
AS 1t had been arranged that the
money should be paid in New York,
/ knew that 1t was certain that Wary
and Andy would be on board to get
their whack. and came back. I could
not imagine who this Storms was, and
my only hold was to keep the pipes
running for Bliss and MCGEE, who
naturally would not be much alarmed
over the robbery for the reason that
every end was covered.
I knocked around among men and
women 1 knew to be crooked for about
month before I got good tip. It
was in Nat Cunningham's saloon on
the Bowery that overheard con-
versation between couple Of bank
sneaks, who were telling friend
about a trip they had on Andy Bliss
yacht, and the sport at the fishing club
in Ravenswood.
1t took me a couple of hours in
Ravenswood to locate the clubhouse.
1t was in an old deserted mansion. I