El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-07


A few days later a prosperous, kind
~ looking man wandered into the Con-
nec1cuL Jail and asked for the warden.
He was interested in an organization
that had for its object the welfare Of
children After a talk with the war
Qen. he asked TO be shown through the
Jail
Have you any boys here2" he asked,
as he took pains to impress his senti-
ments on the warden again, for the ben
eft Of the prisoners
Yes, one was the reply
"H-m. Does he associate much with
the other prisoners-the more hardened
unes2"
"Well-er-there is one. who seems to
have taken a fancy to him"
go What is this one in for, may
I ask2 What is his name2"
It's a long story" replied the war
den. as he sketched over the expert
Says his nam is Peters, John Peters.
But we call him the mysterious cOun-
terfeiter.' All the secret service men
can't seem TO get out Of him where The
counterfeit was made Or"
"Oh, I don't care about his story" re-
marked the phllauthrOplSt, but ] do
care about boys; and If he talks TO thai
boy, I'd like TO talk to him Where IS
this mang
4Over there across the corridor. IN the
first tier"
The kindly man continued to look at
the various prisoners, with word OF
announcement now and then But he
I talked mostly Of the boy, until they
came around to Peters.
so this is the man who is interested
in the boy beamed the philanthrOpiC
man. Il wish you would introduce me.
I'm glad to know you-er-Peters
What did you say, warden? Counter
feitiug2 The warden tells me YOU talk
with our young friend a great deal I'd
like TO talk to you about him Ties q
fine boy, and 1 nope ne comes Ou5 ~
this without any worse ideas thar whel
he came in"
Peters Lets slip n Clue.
The mysterious Peters frightened Up
a bit at the mention of the boy Yes"
he agreed thOughtfully, he is a fine
young fellOW-uOO fine TO be here"
Some Of the states have the most
barbarOus way Of putting boys In Jail
trOpist; particularly in the west
Yes" agreed the mysterious counter
feiter; "in Michigan they don't have
anything like they have in New York
NO; its terrible out there, I have
heard" added the kindly man, betray-
ing not sign OF qualification. Then
he passed on. for there was something
The mysterious Peters had suddenly
lost all interest in the boy and was
looking furtively at the kindly man.
had not found out what town the
cOunterfeils were made IN, but I had
narrowed the search down at least to
the state Until then they might have
been anywhere between Bermuda and
Hawaii
In Michigan"
A sudden Turn to the Puzzle.
Suddenly the mysterious counterfeit
notes showed up again, this time In a
little town In Missouri Surely peters,
or whatever his name was, could have
had nothing to do with that 1t showed
one thing, at least Peters was not the
mysterious cOunterfeiter himself, al
though the trail possibly might lead
through him.
The news sent me off on a new clue
a StOrekeeper out there had been ar
rested for passing the notes, and he, at
least, proved 10 be no very secretiye
fellow when cOrnered. He told a re-
markable tale. as far as it went
Some time before man had come
into his store, a very bald man. stout
with a IlOrid face and small eyes For
several days he had lOafed around and
his chief characteristic seemed to be
that he talked both very 1asL ana very
much without betraying himself. AT
last, however, he had led up 10. the point
the way TO make money fast and IN
large quantities.
Now" ne said. 'sI know a man in the
east VINO has as safe and easy scheme
as any / ever heard Of He leaned ms
elbow on the counter and whispered
He has some 'phOney' bills-yOu know,
cOunterfeits-as good as the real thing.
All you have to do is to buy some, and
right here in your store you can get rld
OF them as easy as-as passing them
for some of them =.
The man from Missouri did not even
wait TO be shown. He had been worked
up TO the point gradually by personal
green goods canvass such as has seldom
been attempted by the bOldest operator.
The man had given the name Of Isaac
Havens1 but that meant If anything,
even less than the name John Peters in
the first case. Peters was at least stun
languishing in the New England jail.
On the Trail Of Isaac Ravens
I put myself in the place OF the green
goods artist. and began TO reason out
just what ne would do, how he would
act, what his fears would be. and how
he would guard against every posi- bic
danger One thing was certain Havens
must have got mail. and he must have
been very careful about getting It. This
took me Immediately to the pOStottlce,
where introduced myself to the girl at
the general delivery window
I'm q government officer" 7 said.
with a quick glance to either side 10
make sure that no one else was listen
ing. do YOU recall within a few
weeks any mail TO man named Isaac
Hav6ns2
without waiting moment the girl
slid off her stool and opened the door.
marked. Yes. / do recall it"
I did not take time to enlighten her
that / was not pOstoffice inspector.
but secret service man. Here was
the track
The man with the florid face had'fg-
ured out the exact time when the reply,