The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

My friends could then send me all the money need, which I would receive the day after tomorrow at Petroleum Cen ter"
 George Book was thoroughly taken off guard.
 'I am pretty good penman and would be glad to write the letter for you" he answered. This, as a matter of fact. knew already. for I had learned that George Book was good scholar. hav- ins been a country school teacher some years before in his native county. Craw- ford county, Pennsylvania. He was also considered an extra good penman At the same time, it was on Henry and not on George that the suspicion had naturally fallen
 George Book excused himself and went to his house. which stood nearby, re- turning in a few minutes with letter paper. envelopes and a big lunch for two, including pot of coffee. We ate the lunch together, and then I produced cigars from my pocket, and We lit up. After we had finished George Book start cd to write the letter at my dietation. Tn dictating this I used as many words aS l cOulu WHICH ndu Decn used Ill the anonymous letters. with whose contents l of course thoroughly familiarized my self
 l at once perceived that George Book was using the same quality of paper as that upon which all the anonymous let ters had been written and, in conse- quence, did not make my letter very long. I also perceived, before three lines had been set down. that he used the same handwriting, the same kind of ink and in all probability, the same pen as had been used previously. It was now obvious that the letters had been writ ten by George. Whether or not he had drawn the oil out of the tank had still to be shown, and that was the more serious offense, by far.
 When the letter had been written Book addressed the envelope inclosed the mis- sive. ~and sealed and stamped it. Appar- ently profusely grateful, I thanked him and departed in the direction of Petro leum Center, which I reached early the following morning after I had set out.
 During the course of the forenoon I submitted the dictated letter which I had taken away, as though to post 1t, together with the anonymous let ters, which had been sent to MT. Acl1- ert, to writing expert who was con nected with the First National bank of oil City. He compared the four and said without hesitation that they had all been written by the same person. That afternoon I went back to the AclSert lease, knowing that George Book would be off duty and in bed and that in consequence, there would be no probability of my meeting him Approaching the emptied tank, I care fully shoveled the snow from around the salt water faucet and. when I got down to the muddy ground, l found very distinct traces of No. boot. The boots had been very recently half soled and the shoemaker who had made the repairs had placed three nails in a row across the center oi the half sole, as his trade mark and sign manuaI
 Returning to oil City l made dil gent inquiries among the shoemakers of the town. There was not a large number of men who did repair work of the rough and ready type which was required by the men employed in the oil leases, and after short in yestigation the man who had soled the shoes was discovered. He at once re- mem bered having repaired a pair Of shoes for Henry Book a couple of days before the oil tank had been emptied
 It developed then that both the brothers were in the conspiracy, the one having written the letters and the other having acted upon the threat