Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-02-27

Of man who was guilty of pecu-
latiOns Of some sort. Suppose, for in
stance, old Andrew Elser. when his
law business had failed him, had be-
gun to speculate with the funds be-
longing TO the boy for whom he was
guardian. His speculations are I'M
fortunate. He plunges and loses still
more. He becomes desperate He
sees no way of replacing the money
he has stolen. It seems certain that
his crime will be discovered and that
he viii be disgraced He can not
sleep nights. His brain, constantly
agitated by fear and worry, will not
permit him to rest. His judgment,
never acute, or he would not have be
come a thief, becomes more and more
unbalanced Then one day this gel
low letter comes. II reads cOnvinc-
ingly 1t promises immediate aid 1t
pledges secrecy. At last he sees an
honorable way out. He hastens to
send a reply to Lock Box No II,
Ardway, \. J., as directed. Can't you
imagine what happens then? Young
communicates with him at once You
used the telephone, didn't your"
Sure" he said, the telephone ev-
cry time 1t leaves no records behind
it and the BertiIlon system can't
identify voice
Now" the inspector went on,
what does Young say over the teIe-
phone to Elser? Something like this
You're an old thief I've got the
proof. You are stealing somebody's
money. Steal some more and give
it to me or I'll tell Unfortunately,
in old Elser's case there was no more
money left to steal. so he killed him
self. Am l right, Young"
Again the prisoner nodded, and
again he demanded another dose of
morphine. His muscles were again
getting beyond his control. As Davis
fixed the hypodermic, I asked: But
where does the old maid from Con-
necticut come in? Surely she wasn't
defaulter."
4 suspect it was the brother with
whom she made her home" said the
inspector
Damn her." said Young bitterly, 1T
was she who queered the whole game
We tackled her brother for five hun
dred and it came so easily we de-
cided to make another try The weak
kneed old thief, in his terror of us,
told his sister all about it. She in
sisted on coming down here. She
Gu nd trio 70 Gpd h. 81
er of the letter. Rouser denied know
ing him. She was a wise old creature
and pointed out that as postmaster he
must know who got the mail Her
suspicion of Rouser scared him stiff.
He wanted to give her the money
back, but at fyst l wouldn't hear ito
it. She was threatening to commit
suicide if We didn't. He was so
scared that | finally consented to let
him square her. | wanted to use him
still further and wasn't ready to have
him get cold feet | gave him the
money, and he went to the hotel late
in the afternoon to see the cid girl
He slipped up to her room and found
her hanging there. 1t gave him such
q shock that he dashed back to the
post Office. grabbed his bicycle and
hustled out here as fast as he could
come, where l was waiting to meet
Katharine Parrish"
With difficulty | suppressed an ex-
clamation of establishment | could
not doubt that be was telling the
truth, for his story dovetailed so well
with what Louise had told me. Yet
it seemed impossible to believe, it
surely was preposterous to imagine
that General Parrish. wealthy and
honorable as he was could have
been a thief. l refused to believe it.
| decided to demand an explanation
from Young of why he had sought
meeting with Katharine
ITS too bad Rouser was so easily
frightened" Davis was saying sar-
castically. He was so scared that he
left behind in the cash drawer five
thousand he had just received from
Henry Eberle."
The accursed fool" screamed
Young in frenzy CT rage that he had
failed to get his hands on this bit of
plumber. The sneak didn't tell me
that Al he said was that Dora Hast
ings, who was a restaurant cashier,
had insisted that it was utterly i'm
possible for her to pay up. The dirty,
damned sneak!"
In a fit of madness he cursed and
cursed again his dead associate, foul
oaths rolling in streams from his
parched lips. Anxiously l waited for
his fury to subside to ask him about
Katharine and Hugh Crandall II
seemed dissertation of her woman
hood to mention Katharines name in
the presence of such man, so as he
subsidized l merely asked: But what
about Hugh Crandal?"
Damn him. he cried, that was
another of my mistakes, l knew
Crandall in college When l got the
goods on old Parrish thought could
rely on Crandall to help me to turn
the trick. l didn't know he was in
love with the daughter. When l told
him about it he refused to have any
thing TO do with it and rushed off and
Squealed to the general Much thanks
he got for it! The naughty old gen