Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-12-11
MYSTERY OF
The STOLEN GOLD
Thief Exposed by the Ac-
cuSed'S Sweetheart.

I'hil Ruutplip ana | worked for assay.
ers. ,'hil was a rrdheaded. freckied,
generally hnimeiy fellow. attentive to
business aud despite his unprep0ssess-
ing appearance very attractive to wom-
Ell This | accounted for by bis smooth
tongue
There came leakage In the gold
dust passing through our hands. and
was suspected Of being the thief. Up
to this time Florence March and ! had
been getting on admirably. but now
one day | heard BOutelle pay her one
Of his sickening compliments. and
from that time she seemed to be COM
pletply under his influence. Then |
heard that B0utelie had given evi.
dence against ME.
The leakage In the dust was very
smnli. but 1t was constant. so that In
course Of time it must be very large.
The thief had some method Of carrying
II away in intnlteSimal quantities. but
with great regularity. was called into
private Office one evening after stop
ping work and searched The other
clerks were put through similar proc
ess. but nothing was found on any Of
us was put under special surveil
lance, and it was not long before dis
covered that a new man who had come
into the aSSaying room and who APP
IN fo,
10 me was watching me- He was a de-
tective employed to gain my confidence.
Florence March gave me to under.
stand that she did not believe l was
guilty. but instead Of resuming her for
mtr relations with me she accepted
more and more Phil Boutelle's atten
tons. | charged her with her pertidy.
which. though it panied her. made no
difference in her treatment of my rival
ana ncCuSer
But one day the tables were turned.
missed Routelle from his work ana
upon inuuring learned that he had
been arrested the night before. During
the morning was called into the office
of my employers. and an apology was
made to me for the spying that mad
been done on my movements.
"You have discovered the theft" l
asked.
YES"
ITO certainty""
yes"
How was the discovery accomplish
edY''
THAT is a secret"
returned to my work and that after
noon passed Florence March ON the
street. Now that was indicated and
the man she had taken up with in my
stead was known to be the guilty par
ty | felt that | could show her my
opinion Of her conduct with better
grace than before. walked BY her
without looking ut her.
BouteIe pleaded guilty. SO there was
no evidence brought forth to show how
his iniquity had been discovered. This
was only disappointing to me. One
day soon after he had disappeared
from the world. while was In the
private office Of my employers. l asked
il would ever know how the cuIprlt
had been discovered.
why do you wish to know?"
Because girl whom respected de-
serted me for him. though be accused
me uf the crime of which he was him.
self guilty. | am curious to know more
on her account"
do you refer to Miss March?
II do"
After a few words whispered be
tween them one Of the partners said:
Miss March discovered ROutelles
rasraity"
was thunderstruck. How did she
do it," | asked
For that you must 80 to her"
hurried to Florence. She came
down to see me. maintaining a reserve
II am told you discovered the thief"
! said would You mind telling me
how you accomplished it,"
81 suspected him from the moment
heard he accused you. Besides. he was
too broad with his compliments. 1t
seemed to me they were intended to
cover some object"
"Yon mean that?"
'Certnnly."
And why did you desert me for
him?"
40 rescue yon from the position you
occupied"
And how did you do that?"
II tried to win his confidence. but
failed"
"Well?"
II can't tell yon any more. You will
blame me"
no" ! said. now knowing that she
mad saved me- Il will not blame you.
now believe in yOn thoroughly"
well. permitted him t" become so
intimate that one evening he sat Sd
near as to PVT his head just above iny
shoulder When went to my room
saw something sparkle on my dress
brushed 1t into china cup and I!
proved to be gold dust gave tn" IL
formation II detective was put on Bon
tellc's track and II was found th't /"
had been carrying gold dust away u
his hair. which was Of n cOnvpnicM
color to conceal II. The discovery cnt,r
from his washing his hair every iin'