The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1912-02-01
cHAST0A !.

That was Q roEAsr peculiar erans.
ths robbing Il " Unals Abnss's safe.
1t was clsvsriy paaAns1. opDoetanaay
timed and successfully sxssutsA. n
was = good hanl. too. Forty thousand
dollars In crisp sal1 q tAe realm -
pretty high pay tor alnost any erim-
insl for . few hours' work and risk.
and that u what tho psrpstrstor Oot
out of It.
You viii notice that said Grim
inal." did that 70 distinguish 1t from
the operation Of . gang Of thieves;
for a. 1t turned out 1t was the work
Il . single Individual and not the
combination Of effort Of eoteris.
That made 1t still more dimcult to
solve. A . chain 10 no stronger than
its weakest link, 80 10 the cunning
Of . combination Of men no keener
than the wits Of it, dullest member.
That 10 why conspiraciss generally
come to somebody turns out to
be weak. In the matter Of which l am
speaking there were as many bafiiing
points - there are to a hedgehog, and
for . time 1t seemed impregnable. AS
for the sleuth hounds of the police.
they came up to 1t with caution.
smelled about 1t discreetly and then
drew away. looking wise. to ponder
ing wise and pondering yet. But with
william LeDuc the case was differ
snt.
LeDuc had been something Of
friend Of mine ever since we were
schoolboys together. and he did real
ly brilliant work on the case. Every
thing conjured up by the human mind
10 capable Of human solution II We
90 about It right. and LeDuc found
the way. Just because dog 10 help
less before . bristling porcupine 1t IL
NO sign that all animals are. The wild
oat isn't. He IL too quick for the
bristler. He feints him out Of his de-
fensive posture by lightning play
and eventually gets him by the un-
protected nose-which IL the begin
ming Of the end Of the problem. Just
what LeDuc did has never been made
public up to this time for the reason
that none but he or 10 competent to
give the inner particulars Of the run
ming down Of the thief. and up to this
time neither Of US has cared to tell.
But feel that must do SO now.
That happened to know moro than
anybody else about certain incidents
connected with the affair and was
able to supply LeDuc with the proofs
of guilt was due to the fact that |
lived with Uncle Abner at the time
the crime took place. l, also, was the
one who found him lying bound and
unconscious. Also it was myself who
reported matters to the police and In
troduced LeDuc to my uncle. AS for
tho time when the burglary took
place. happened to be away from
home. having stayed at hotel In the
business district quite q few miles
from where lived.
And now at the outset am going
to emphasize one fact. While 1t u an
unpleasant thing for me to do 20.
am going to tell everything know
regarding this crime. am going to
spare nobody's feelings, faults or repu-
tations. That I have not done SO be-
fore was because of reason which
will be apparent when all the other
facts are known. But now that a
certain event has happened 1 feel
free to make everything known.
In writing this account have
thought best to do SO chronologically
when possible. Therefore, must go
somewhat into matters which pre-
ceded and were more or less directly
connected with the crime in order
that the motive may be shown and
that there may be the proper per
spective. To do this must tell more
or less about people not absolutely
connected with the burglary. but who
are necessary to the narrative by
reason OF their propinquity. How
over, they are simply the shading
and side lights that go to make up the
picture And while LeDuc may disap-
pear for considerable periods In the
telling, the mistake should not be
made of thinking he is nowhere
around. That is what he did In the
ACLuAl lcTECIluS OuS OA IhO SdoCS oaA
that is what misled the criminal. But
when his fine italian hand did appear
at the finish, 1t wore glove of mail.
Right at this point l find myself
somewhat at a loss to decide Just
where to begin the recital. This is
for the reason that I am not a writer
trained in the art Of building up a
mystery with such skill that 1t stands
intact until the time comes to demol-
ish it; when with one deft blow the
keystone Is removed and the whole
fabric comes down with crash.
Therefore all can hope to do Is to
simply and plainly outline the char
acters which seem to me to be per
tinent to full understanding Of con-
ditions, and then go on and relate
events as they happened. Perhaps |
had better begin with brief descrip-
ton of Uncle Abner. his peculiarities
and meannesseS