The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1913-07-29

ouN ~ CoNtl, luSutu ulueE inc OCOF or
an Elizabeth street store. The letter
was crisp and clean. as If it had been
taken from an envelope that had shell
tered it in its travels until very re-
Gently.
rs this the only letter OF this sort
you have?" ! asked.
mo, no." he laughed. There were
others. tore them up. / paid no
attention to them until this one came.
1t names a time when l must have
the money ready. That is why camo
here"
"Were the letters all in this hand
writing?" ! asked.
lie was a little slow In answering.
Eyes" he said. finally. Yes, all the
same handwriting"
"An right" l said; lets go down
to your Office"
He grumbled at this.
1T would not 90 for me to be seen
with YOU" he protested. 1.-THE So
C.ety has eyes everywhere. If you
rcmc 10 Elizabeth street with me it's
spies will see and they will get suspi-
cious. Then they will kill me as a
warning for others to be careful"
"All right" said l. when can
come to see your"
You want to see me in the officer"
Eyes. in your Office"
THAT is absolutely necessary"
Yes" l said, its necessary"
"All right, all right" he said. Come
tonight then, at ten. The street will
be crowded so that you can slip in
without being noticed"
put on some old clothes that niaht
and slouched through the crowds in
Elizabeth street until reached Leonis
store. l went in, pretending to have
some business at the banking window.
and when no one was looking slipped
back into the office
Il want to take look at your books
Grst ef all" / said.
lie was puzzled, but he turned ovei
10 me his books. He had kent the
signatures Of his depositors in a sim
gle big book and this was what |
locked over most carefully.
l found what l had hoped to find.
About year before one "Ignacio Mar
tina had written his name and his
address, "WhiteGsh. WIS.," in Leoni's
signature book in the same fine ItaI
ian hand that had written the threat
enirg letter There was no mistak-
ing It, The writing was too distinc-
tive to be confused.
was on the point of telling Leoni
what I had found but on second fash
/ reasoned Here IS an excitable
Italian, half crazed with fear. and IL
l tell him what think ! have found
he'll go up in the air. and II he doesn't
plot to take his private vengeance
he's almost sure to let someone know
what he's been told" So / said moth
Ing, but looked through the book
without comment. After a short time
left Leoni, telling him I'd call him
up in a day or two
DO you think you can catch them?"
he asked.
81 don't know" I said. Its pretty
hard for an American to get onto the
crooked ways of these fellows, but
we've never failed on a case yet"
"Ah," he said. But you never had
a case like this?"
mo" said l. that's true, too"
When ! got back to the Office tho
manager said well, how do you
like Black Handing as far as you've
gomez"
That's a funny looking case to
me-" / said. 1T looks too easy to be
true"
told him what I had found, and
what my theory shaped up like.
ooh, drop it If you want to, he said.
Il don't think we care to be mixed
UP In that sort Of a mess. Do just as
you please about it."
had already made a start on the
case and had discovered what l was
inclined to believe was a striking
clue. The attraction of the man-hunt
had me. and l said.
"I'll go on with IL for a while at
least. if you don't mind"
Next day I went down to the Fed
eral building and looked over the
names OF Italians who had applied for
citizenship in this country. There /
found 'Ignacio Martina's" name again.
and in the same handwriting as the
Black Hand letter that Leoni had re-
ceived. ] called up Leonis bank on
the phone Leoni didn't happen to be
I'm. II he had been this story proba-
bly, would never have been told His
clerk was In and in answer TO ~
question he looked up his books and
round that lgnacio Martina stu was
living I'm Whitehsh Wis that he got
his mail at the general delivery, and
that he was tall thin man with a
thin face
Left for Whitefish that day Thirty
hours lator / was asking tho postmls-
tress Of that little town n she had
any mail for "Ignacio Martina" She
had OF course she knew that / wasn't
Martina so she wouldn't hand over
the letter, but ] had glimpse OF It
and saw that IL was from New York.
] spotted Martina next day. lie
was q vilainous. though intelligent
looking follow who lived ina the Ital-
ian settlement OF the town without
any visible means OF support Now SEQ
now pure luck often makes "a case for
@ detective with scarcely any effort on
hie own
There was in WhiteGsh a private
italian banker operating much after
tho manner OF Leoni I'm New York.
The Italians who lived In the town
wcro mostly men who worked on the
railroad and their families. They had
begun 20 settle in tho town few
years before and one Frank Cantino,