The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1912-09-18

description was on the Hudson The
Nadine had disappeared
went back TO the slip in Hoboken
and began to work among the hang
ers-on along the docks The Nadine
had been under their eyes constaffty.
and finally one Of them let drop fbe
remark that put me on the scent
Wherever she went, she didn't 60
far" said this man. They didn't
have gasolene in her enough to run
FIVE miles, and there was no chance
to get any when they slippd out At
night"
II this was true the Nadine must
have put in at some nearby dock to
purchase gasolene II she intended TO
make a long trip. SO far as we could
hnd she had not done this There
was a chance that the boat still was
in the vicinity.
Working on this chance we began
to search the ner- oy boatyards. On
the second day we ,ound her. She
was up high and dry, having her keel
repaired, under the name of the Gull.
But for the waterman who had OBJ
served the depletion of her fuel sup
ply the boat might have lain there
till Il rotted before we noticed IL, Cor
the work of 'disgu: Jing her had been
well done, and boat on the blocks
in dry-dock is of different appearance
than a boat In the water.
was forced to smile in admiration
of Gerber when I found the Nadine
He had fooled us, and fooled us artis-
tically. We had thought it certain
thing that he had flown away up or
down the river. He had worked artys-
tically to this end. But he had done
nothing of the & rt. All he had done
AS I discovered hen located the
engineer--was to telephone the lat
ter to take the Nadine out at night
and lay her up for repairs in the
boatyard. Then he, Gerber, had fit
ted otherwhere, leaving US to chase
away on his false, watery tracks 1t
was we'll done. II was better done
than most crooked pieces of work But
like all crooks he had not stopped to
consider the absolute certainty Of be-
ing caught when there Is plenty of
money willing to be spent to effect
capture.
Get him." directed Brundage. Il
don't care how high the bills run; get
that man."
After that it was only question Of
time.
How Is the net woven with such
certainty around the hiding criminal?
In Gerber's case, ten days after his
defalcation was discovered, 10000 cir
culars, containing his description and
history and two cuts of him, were in
the hands of as many trained men in
all parts of the country. A thousand
men, in all the large ports of the
world, had these circulars three
weeks later.
Gerber was not caught, however,
until after three months had elapsed.
Then one of his intimate friends
whom l was watching as the first per
son Gerber would be likely to COM
municate with-received letter post
marked New Orleans, and addressed
in a disguised hand. l had possession
of the letter before the. friend eyer
saw Through a secret arrangement
with the postal authorities. | opeAed
it-and it was from Gerber. Copying
the letter, word by word, / sealed it
again, and sent it along to its destin
alton. But before he ever received
the letter l was on my way to New
Orleans. l went straight to the gen.
eral delivery window at the post Of
fee and waited Gerber had directed
his mail to be sent there. | got him
that night He came in with his hat
over his eyes, and asked for a letter
When he turned away from the win
dow | was standing before him.
Hello, Gerber" l said, Il came
down to bring you back to Hoboken."
He stood dumb for ten seconds.
Then he blurted: How in-did you
ever do it? Haven't been out of my
room in daylight since l came here"
"Oh, WE'LL" said, you come back
like nice boy and I'll tell you all
about it on the train"
Brundage didn't prosecute Gerber.
He said. Fifteen thousand dollars is
big sum to lose. But it would be
harder for me had l lost faith in my
sense of intuition