The Springfield herald., 1912-07-05

been fortunate enough to find such
man at my first try. l believe ! can
trust you My name is Ezra Brun-
dage."
AT first the name conveyed nothing
to me.
Inventor of the Brundage novel
ties" he continued, land president of
the Brundage Novelty Company. of
Hoboken."
placed him, then; / had seen his
photograph in the advertisements of
the Brundage novelties.
What is 1t that you want me 10 do.
Mr.. Brundage?" asked.
II want you" said he. ito satisfy
me that the Brundage Novelty Com
pany is not being robbed"
Then he went on to explain. 1t
seems that he had no definite reason
for being suspicious. He said 1t was
only his intuition that told him all
was not right in the company. He
said that a sense of wrong-doing on
the part of someone in the office had
impressed him several weeks before;
that the impression had grown until
he had begun to investigate, and
though he could find no signs. he now
was fully convinced that the company
and therefore himself-was being
robbed.
Intuition entirely. Mr.. Cornell" he
said. But all my life have listened
to my intuition. evon in my business
dealings. and find that 1t guards me
better than anything else l know"
Whom do you suspect" / said
bluntly.
"Mr. Cornell. I am in partnership
with young man named Gerber"
And he's the man. is he?"
He bowed. 81 am afraid so. though
I dislike to say 1t. Mr.. Gerber is a
young man, and hitherto l have
thought him the soul of honor-one
whom 1t was a privilege and pleasure
to associate with"
"And how do you think he's get
ting away with the loot?"
He thought 1t over for few Sec
onds and said slowly: II do rot
know. That is what what you to
find out. He is our treasurer, and
80 has charge of all the finances of
the firm"
WELL" said l. 'are there any de-
tails you can give me? Any point
ers?"
None" he said. But / have this
suggestion to make; that you go to
work in our office as a clerk where
you will have opportunities for close
observation"
ITO watch you partner, Gerber"
ITO watch Mr. Gerber. place the
case in your hands; watch. Mr.. Ger
ber"
Back to the office l went to report
to the chief.
~ thought you would find sort of a
queer bird from the way he phoned.' -
said the chief. But business Is bus
mess; he's retained us for the Job,
and your job is to watch Gerber.
However, don't be so slow as to mere
ly follow his suggestion about going
to work in the office. Beat the old
man to 1t; look up Gerber-after
hours. You'll get more there. prob
ably. than you would In the Office
Under these instructions / went
over to Hoboken at once with an
other man to get "spot" on Gerber.
who was unknown to me. Getting
spot" on a man in detective par
lance signifies this process: one de-
tective enters an office or place of
business and asks for the man that
is wanted. Meeting him. he makes
: some excuse and gets away. At the
door of the place he waits for the man
to come out. Across the street is an
r other detective. Whe1 the man who
Is to be shadowed comes out the first
detective signals to the man across
} the street in some unobtrusive way.
} and drops out. In this case Cluffer.
! the man who went with me, entered
the offices of the Brundage Novelty
Company and asked for Mr.. Gerber.
Having met him Cluffer merely ap-
} piled for position-and was turned
down. When Gerber came out at S
I In the afternoon Cluffer, standing near
+, the office entrance, took paper from
: his pocket and began to read 1.-THE
signal we had agreed upon. Then Cluf-
fer went back to New York. and l.
whom Gerber had never seen. took
up the trail. In this way all chance
7 for suspicion on the part of the sub
ject is eliminated.
. For the next three days we took
3 him up in the morning and put him to
bed at night" That is. from the mo-
ment when he left his house in the
!, morning to when he retired for the
= night, Gerber never was out of sight
of a detective.
By day, in the office, had him un
p der my eye, having gone to work
5 there as clerk. Outside of the Office
another man from the agency watch
y ed him, no matter where he went
0 Gerber didn't have a chance to make
t move that wasn't reported on.
/ But nothing developed in this time
e and I went to the chief and reported
n my belief that old Brundage was hall
t cracked and that his suspicion was
;. nothing more or less than hallucina
s ton, a brainstorm. to put in bluntly.
e well, don't let that worry you.
l. said the good natured chief. "Brun
o dage is paying the bill. He's good fol
y it, and there's nothing more import