El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-05
CASES Of
DETECTIVE BURNS
Continued from page I. this section.)


before had brought suitcase one
night after Sseven o'clock, and, with
his office door open, had disrobed al
most IN the presence of the watch
man. put on a dress suit. and had
gone out to attend a reception About
eleven o'clock he had returned. taken
of the suit, put il back in the suit
case, and taken it away with him
RMS happened on several occasions.
But he had taken nothing out except
the suit The man was sure of that
1t was all cleverly done to educate"
the Waterman to see him going in and
out with a suitcase at night
Recalls Forgotten Incident.
The trail was now hot One day I
went to the cashier himself. col
ton demanded, without any warn
vault?"
Why replied Cotton thoughtfulIy,
when L became cashier about a year
ago the combination had to be
changed 1t must have been done by
a lOcksmith.7
It didn't take me long to find that
the accounts showed no charge what
ever for the services Of a Iocksmith.
Then Cotton recalled that when he
had assumed his duties he had asked
the chief clerk, whom he succeeded
as cashier, what to do about the COM
binatiOn.
oh" said Braden, there isn't any
need Of getting a lOcksmith; III help
you change it"
Together the cashier and the chief
clerk had set the combination. I
made the cashier show me exactly how
he claimed it was done.
It seemed that there were four num-
berS IN the combination, the first and
last being fixtures. so that only two
had to be set by Cotton himself. AC-
cording to Cotton. Braden had stood in
a certain position while he had tried
to fix the second number after the
first fixture. As often as he tried, he
failed. Something was wrong with the
tumblers- At last Braden had said he
thought he saw what was wrong.
Upset it, Cotton" he had ordered,
and begin all over again. III tell
you when the tumblers catch. First
the fixture There Now try again.
Four turns to the right. remember,
and set it wherever it happens to be.
There-slOwly - nO-whOai-a little
more, there. The tumblers catch all
right Set that number down, what
ever it is Now twice the other way
and set it at just whatever 1t is
when the tumblers catch-there."
Card Forced on Cotton.
Suddenly the truth flashed on me.
There were only two numbers to be
set, since the first and last were fix
lures In some way. Braden had made
scratches on the back of the lock which
would Indicate to one who had made
them where the combination was be-
III set ny SDALlt Ollt else On the. OLNlEE
side. One scratch was at y, the other
at 10. Twelve and 10 were the second
and third numbers in COltOn's combi-
nation
From the position which Cotton said
Braden had assumed, I saw that Braden
could manipulate the tumblers so that
whatever number Cotton set the COM
binatiOn at would prove q failure. Then,
after Cotton had tried again and again
and failed, Braden had worked the
scheme of telling him that the tumblers
caught at the u and then at the 10.
They caught because Braden did not
manipulate them at those points.
Braden had forced a card on Cotton,
Now" I reasoned. that filing Of
the dog locking device could all have
been done a year ago, when Bradeu
himself was cashier. Therefore Col
toms story is quite plausible, and ne
might not have noticed il. since he
would have no occasion, If he were
honest to discover that the time lock
was imperative after he thought he
set it"
More than that. it was found that
Braden had often been found, when he
was cashier, working over the lock,
which he always said was out of order.
The Cunning of the Thief.
Pleclng the case together bit by bit
like a mosaic, I next investigated to
determine who had arranged that the
Waterman should be so occupied that
his place was vacant for % minutes in
the afternoon when ne started on his
rounds to light the gas. The superin-
tendent told me that Braden had said
that by a reimbursement they could do
with one less Waterman. The scheme
seemed so well worked out that Atchi-
son had said il Was all right
The mystery was gradually clearing
ieself up. Braden had first filed the
dog locking device, then he had worked
Cotton for the combination The next
step was to educate" the watchman
TO see him go in and out at night with
a suitcase.
There was still no chance to get
away with anything unless the vault
was cOngested. Braden had accom-
plished this as cleyerly as he had the