The Cairo bulletin., 1912-11-02

None OF the clumsy little tracks let
by the crude criminal We're to be
found In this case. He had just come.
had got the money. and had gone. He
was an artist.
"Wel.' said Chief Burns, at looks
rs ii Il new Hitter had begun work
among the banks IN dead earnest Bar
I've seen work that resembles this be-
fore"
We hunted through or records,
and sure enough, the s1Ae methods
that had worked in Mauiiiion had
been used in Michigan about year
before A coal man had advertised
his business for sale. a prospective
purchaser had appeared, had estab-
lished his credit, had cashed drafts
through introductions 70 the local
banks, and had fitted. no one knew
where. And no one had discovered.
Going back still further VIC found
that about year before another case
OF the same sort had been reported
from Iowa. This was before the Burns
agency began to handle the Bankers
Protective association's business. We
hunted through all the records we
could find, and as near as we could
Judge, about once every twelve months
a man appeared In some small town
as jenkins had appeared in Medallion,
and put over about the same kind OF
Job, The man never had been APP
pretended or even located Upon in
that the. Eitcr' always used a diff
ferent name, that he was sometimes
shaved, sometimes bearded. some
times splHrgily dressed, and some
times quietly--but always he was a
coal man of forceful character and
apparent success. 1t was obvious that
ne and our Mr.. jenkins" were one
and the same man
A hurried fitting around the coun.
try placed in my possession the vari-
GUS specimens OF handwriting that
had been lett by the "kiter' AT first
was amazed and disappointed to dis
cover that they were all apparently
the work OF different men, but lew
days work on the part of our hand
writing expert demonstrated that one
man had written them ALL but that he
had so skilfully disguised his hand on
each occasion as to make each spcci
in Drnt
from the others. My respect for my
quarry grew immensely at this reyela.
ton. The man was absolutely the
cleverest forger ever had heard OF.
Now I knew that the Jenkins who
had fooled the banks in Medilion was
an old and expert hand at crime, that
he had worked at it for at least six
years, and that he seemed to do only
one job year And still ! was as far
away from any apparent cleW as when
| started on the case, Somewhere
in America this forceful. clever fell
low Was living on the proceeds OF his
crime. But what task to look for
him, For this jenkins was not OF
the criminal type. He would not be
found by hunting among crooks. lie
might be anywhere and in almost any
plane OF society
The only physical proof that | had
of the existence of jenkins was his
variously disguised handwriting This
was the only trace that he had left OF
igs ar
it proved,
| will not tire the reader with tell.
ing about the very weeks OF futile
toll spent at first on the jenkins
| case. They were weeks Of searching
and reaearching without finding any.
thing, Nothing interesting happened
In that time, But in the end, after
the weariest sort OF digging, | finally
unearthed the salient fact that all of
the coal men who had been the means
Of attracting the fatal Jenkins to their
towns had advertised their business
! for sale in the same coal trade pub
| LEGATION.
This publication was small week.
ly issued at Philadelphia. II went
only to retail coal dealers II was
not for sale on newsstands. nor was 1t
to be found in any library in the coun-
try. 1t had 3,752 subscribers. ana
these were about the only people in
the country who knew that such q
publication existed Reasoning the
thing out it seemed possible TO sup
pose that jenkins for years had been
a constant reader OF this paper.
The case for this theory summed
up thus:
Six certain men mad published In
this paper ads Offering for sale coal
business, which Jenkins had answered.
These particular ads had appeared
in space covering six years,
In three cases at least he had as
serted that he had seen the advertise
ment in this publication.
He was Sc familiar with all tho IN.
to-date news Of the trade that he could
hardly have obtained Il any ether way
than reading closely the gossip Of d