The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-18
How Billy Gard Ran Down Perpetra.
tors of a Plot to Loot the New
Beaufort Bank

bookkeepcr, how few people
/ know anything about their
own business. Take bank ac-
counts. for instance. Many people
have money in bank which lies there
inactive. There is not one man in
Ave aving such an account who can
tell the amount of H."
This statement vas launched during
the evening meal at Mrs. Hudson's
boarding house in the prosperous little
town Of New Beaufort, which slum-
hers in one OF the valleys Of central
New York.
II must take issue with you there"
yen,ured the elderly rector OF the
Episcopal church who, being a
widower, boarded with Mrs. Hudson.
81, for instance. have managed 4 save
a little none for old age and I can
tell the amount Of II to a penny"
And know just how much I have
on deposit" insisted Miss Dolan. the
schol teacher.
serted a widow who had collected life
Insurance.
"As a test Of my contention" said
Gard, II am willing to pledge a box Of
candy to each OF the ladies and cigars
to the gentlemen who will set down
the exact amount of his or her mac
tive account in the First National
Bank and then prove the figures cor
rect by application to the cashier"
This proposal appealed to those who
had beer drawn into the controversy.
Next day they asked for the figures.
and each had won his reward. Gard
seemed chagrined that his theory
should have thus gone to the winds,
but he cheerfully stood treat.
For he had established a fact very
important to him. The inactive ac-
counts OF the First National Bank of
New Beaufort were intact.
This was one OF the first steps in an
investigation Of a financial institution
which. while seemingly In the best OF
condition, was suspected OF faving
been looted OF hundreds of thousands
Of dollars. Special agents Of the De-
partment Of Justice al Washington
knew that an official OF the bank had
been trading heavily in Wall Street
and that he had lost. Gard, a member
OF the detective force OF the Federal
Government, had been sem to investi-
gate. Representing himself as a
bookkeeper he had secured employ
ment with the leading grocer OF the
town and had come to board with Mrs.
Hudson.
He stayed three weeks. At the end
Of that time he reported the shortage,
fixed the blame upon the man re-
sponsible for 1t. showed the methods
used. cited the accounts from which
the money had been stolen, told what
accounts were still intact. Yet he had
v been inside the bank. had seen
none Of its books. had consulted with
nobody familiar with them. had re-
ceived no confessions. The manner In
which he accomplished these ends H.
illustrates the methods used by this
new detective agency Of the Govern
ment.
II was a TRANCE conspiracy Of cir
cumstances that brought to New
Beaufort detectives from three diff
ferent services on the night, two
months later. that Conrad Compton
the enterprising citizen and banker
was giving his big party.
mere was Nh',pIu al pam 1
mar from New York. McCord would
not have been in New Beaufort hui
for the ramifications of the New Yorl
police department in keeping track o.
the middle class criminals who liv,
through the trade of burglary call
ing that is sometimes refined into art
And the police department would no
have come into possession Of a certain
Tip If Speck Thompson had no
served a term In prison and returned
10 his I'D haunts so broken that h,
chose TO become a stool pigeon because
he was no longer up to second story
work.
Speck had found that Dutch Siiro,
der had arranged to crack a safe ant
that the scene Of the cracking wa.
New Beaufort. He had informed tn,
police, and hence McCord's presence II
acommunity that was far from metro
po.!,an. He represented the first O
the detective services.
The second service was represented