Ellsworth American., 1914-02-18
A Case Of
Blacknail
By WILLIAM CHANDLER

|
| face on which TO write being broken
| put on another While at WORK on
the job | accidentally struck the point
| Of the serewdriver on certain part OF
| the desk which | had supposed was
solid, and out few u little drawer.
| | had owned that desk ten years or
more without being aware OF this Sc
cret drawer. Naturally | was aston
Ished There were several papers IN
1t which | removed and examined
fancied that they all related to the
same subject though this was guess
work One was plain enough to he
understood by any one. 1t was de
mand for $4,000 or the case goes De
fore the district attorney" 1t was in
an envelope addressed to Samuel L.
| Henderson and was signed with the
initials y. NJ"
Through friend In the real estate
business | learned the following facts:
The house at which | had bought the
desk had belonged to Samuel I. Hen
! derson. to whom the note was ad-
dressed
Henderson had died In a sanitarium
| shortly before the sale of the house,
and property amounting to several
| hundred thousand dollars which he
was supposed to have possessed was
nowhere to be found His house and
furniture were sold by bis widow and
daughter. their only child. The
mother was dead. but the daughter
was living on the meager income pro
duced from the amount realized from
the sale,
One morning | called on Miss Hen
| derson and asked her If she knew any
| one who had had any dealings with
her father whose initials were j. NJ.
She thought for some time. but could
recall no such person. asked her II
she had any of her fathers papers,
and she said she had a handful OF
them that had been removed from his
| desk before 1t was sold. | asked her
| to examine them and let me know II
she found a name on any of them that
would fit the initials. She looked Gu
rious, and | told her that the matter
was one of business which she would
not understand
| One evening when l called she told
me that she had found an old check
book that had belonged to her father
and in 1t a large number of stubs of
checks paid to ]. NJ. 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
derson, one Of the bookkeepers remem-
bered the name on these checks from
the fact that there was dispute about
one Of them that had nearly cost him
his 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 be a man
living in excellent style. | wrote him
note stating that ! had come into
possession of note of his to the late
Samuel Henderson. If he desired to
see me about it | would be pleased to
call on him. | received q reply stat.
ing that he did not understand what
| meant. but he would be at home the
next day at certain hour.
l found Mr.. Murphy to be a coarse,
illiterate man with a very disagree.
able expression on his face. He un.
dertook to bluff me by feigning sur
prise at my note and demanded gruffiy
what | meant by writing it ! repeat
ed to him the contents Of the demand
/ had found. how | came by it, and
said:
"Mr. Murphy, it Is evident that you
were levying blackmail upon Mr.. Hen
derson. l have become interested in
the matter. Mr.. Henderson is dead.
and no secret you held over 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. check
book has been found bearing stub for
every check paid you. Choose between
returning the money and being pros
ecuted for blackmail and at the same
time standing suit for the funds paid
you without 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:
Il had partner who was a great
rascal and is responsible for all this.
Give me little time and l will try to
End way out of the matter.
told him that he might have till
noon the next day. but meanwhile he
would be shadowed by a detective to
see that he did not get away. l took
no stock in mis- partner story.
| He eventually paid Miss Henderson
$4,000. which was all. so far as could
be proved. Of the amounts her father
had paid him. This was facilitated by
the fact that he had made great deal
of money out of the funds while he