The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-02-06
A Case Of
Blackmail
Bv WILLIAM


face On which to write being broken.
l put on another. While ut work OIL
the job l accidentally struck the point
Of the screwdriver on a certain part OF
the desk which ! had supposed was
solid. and out 1ew a little drawer.
had owned that desk ten years OF
more without being aware " this Sc
cret dra Naturally ! a aston
It which ! removed and examined. !
that they all related to the
same subject. though this was guess
work. One was plain enough to be
understood by any u 1t was a de-
mand for $1,000 or the case goes be-
fore the district attorney" 1t was In
envelope addressed to Samuel T.
Henderson and vas signed with the
-. M"
Through a friend in the real estate
business ! learned the following facts:
The house ut which | had bought the
desk had belonged to Samuel T. Hen.
derson. to whom the note was ad-
dressed
Henderson had died In q sanitartum
shortly before the sale Of the house.
and property amounting to several
hundred thousand dollars which hp
was supposed to have possessed was
nowhere to be found. His house and
furniture were sold Ivy his widow and
q daughter. their only child. The
mother was dead. but the daughter
duced from the n,Onn realized from
the sale.
One morning ! called ON Miss Hen
dersOn and asked her II she knew AM
n who had had any dealings with
her father whose initials were J NJ.
She thought for ONE time. but could
recall no such person. asked her II
she had any Of her fathers palers.
and she said she had u handful Ut
them that had been removed from his
desk before 1t Was sold ! asked her
to examine them and let me know II
she found Il name ON any Ut them that
would tit the initials. She looked Gu.
riOus. and ! told her that the matter
was one Of business which she would
not understand.
One evening when I called she told
me that she had found IN old check
hook that bad belonged to her father
and In It q large number Of stubs OF
checks paid to J. NJ. I knew then that
! could get what ] wanted. for the
checks must have been written with
the full name. Miss Henderson gave
me the name Of the bank On which
they were drawn. and. though all the
checks had been returned to Mr.. Hen
derxOn. One Ut the bOokkeepers remem
bered the name On these checks from
the fact that there was q dispute about
one Of them that had nearly cost him
bis position. The person to whom
they were drawn was James Murphy
began n still hunt for James MUIR
ply and. after wedding the persOns
Of that name in the directory. threw
aside all but one james Murphy. whom
l investigated and found to he q man
living In excellent style. ! wrote him
q note stating that | had come into
possession Ut a note Of his to the late
Samuel Henderson II he desired tO
zee me about it | would he pleased to
call on him. received a reply stat.
ing that he did moi understand what
! meant. but he would be at home the
next day al a certain hour
found Mr. Murphy to be a coarse.
illiterate man with a very disagree
able expression on his face. He IN.
dertook to bluf1 me by feigning sur
prise ut my note and demanded gruffiy
what | meant by writing 1t. repeat
ed to him the contents Of the demand
I bad found. how I came BY 1t. and
said:
mir. Murphy. it Is evident that you
were levying blackmail upon Mr.. Hen
derson. ! have become interested in
the matter. Mr.. Henderson Ia dead.
and no secret you held I'VE him can
injure him. 1t is quite likely that
your threats were the cause OF his
death. you have no right to the
amounts he paid you. and the time has
come for you to return them. A check
book has been found herring a stub for
every check paid you Choose between
returning the money and being pros.
ecuted for bIackmail and Mt the same
time standing suit for the funds paid
you without a legal consideration"
Mr.. Murphy lost some Of the redness
Of his face and stared at me for awhile.
not knowing what reply to make. Fl
nally he said:
II had n partner who was q great
rascal and Is Responsible for all this.
Give me a little time and ! will try to
find a way out CT the matter.
! told him that he might have till
noon the next day. but meanwhile be
would be Swallowed by a detective to
see that he did not get away. | took
no stock in nis partner story
He eventually paid Miss Henderson
$175.OW. which was all. 80 far IA could
BE- proved. Of the amounts her father
had paid him. This was facilitated by
the fact that he had mad4 q great deal
Of money out Of the funds while he
held them. He refused to tell me the
secret he held over Mr. Henderson,
but admitted that there was nothing In