The Republican journal., 1915-09-02

WORD seemed out of its regular appea

more. ITS the word 1abour;" that
should be spelled labor"
That's what Webster says"
Il noticed it at first, but l didn't
think continued Mitchell Il suppose
that shows the counterfeiter is illit-
erate?"
"On the contrary, it shows he is
pretty we'll educated" replied Poe.
Mitchell looked at him blankly, his
lower jaw hanging loose. "Oh. he re-
marked
Guess the others overlooked that,
too," said Poe.
It's not one of the usual ways of
detecting counterfeit | wouldn't
ever think of reading the printing on
a bill"
The little things count"
But surely you can't see any clue
in that misspelling?"
Il certainly have an inkling to the
counterfeiter from it," was the abrupt
reply, as Poe rapidly thumbed through
the stack Of five-dollar bills, looking
first at one side and then the other,
and paying no attention to Mitchells
lmportunate questions.
Finally he folded the roll carefully
and placed it in his breast-pocket.
I'll take these with me, if you
don't need Them" he said Tell me,
where have those things been passed."
Mostly around New York. It's
funny, the counterfeiting band doesn't
seem to have many agents outside,
most of it has cropped out in Brook
Ign; but then, this is the first batch,
and l suppose we'll soon be getting
others from the interior states"
Poe secured list of the banks that
had been caught on the bills and de-
parted
He went at once to his rooms, where
he spent several hours closely exam
ing each bill. Finally he separated
one from the lot, the only one which
showed a slight difference from the
others. This he put beneath the mag
nifying- glass; and studied it at great
length. Only one portion of the bill
interested him; it was the white spot
on the back, at the left. balancing the
frame which contained the printed
notice with labor" misspeIled
On that blank spot was the light
impression of finger. Poe bent close
over it, and followed the light ridges
which had left their Impressions Evil
IDENTIFY he was classifying the kind of
in tha
system of finger-print Identification.
He studied away, mumbling quick
phrases to himself, according to
habit he could not break:
First finger. right hand. Loops ap-
prox. tented arches-eleven ridges
ulnar-outer terminus-accidentals.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, Hmmmm-
curious - twins - needles, no! -ah.
East India. Fakir. Paper. L"
Christopher Poe dropped the mag
infer, and swung around to the tele-
phone at his elbow In a minutes
time he was connected with Mitchell
How about the Coney Island bank?"
he asked. How much of the queer
was showed Off there"
They took in seven thousand of it,
nearly. Got in heaviest there. Doesn't
seem possible; but it's the cleverest
counterfeit ever made"
And the Brooklyn National?"
Stuck for nearly five thousand"
Good" Poe started to hang up
when Mitchells voice broke in axious-
ly:
Have you got anything to work
on"
Yes, good deal"
Il hope you're not trusting entirely
to that misspelled word? | don't see
anything in that"
No, I've got finger print to work
on now. Just discovered it on one of
the notes."
But it might be anybody's finger
mark; the bills have passed through
a lot of hands since they were made"
There's something different about
this mark that assures me it was left
by the counterfeiter himself"
rs that so?" the voice became anx-
ious. Suppose run over and have a
look at it,
Better hurry, then" replied Poe.
TITS after three now, and I've got to
get out to Coney before supper" He
paused, started to hang up, and then
called, Bring Burns with you"
The pair of bankers arrived shortly,
and Poe showed them the finger-pfints
he had discovered. Both looked at it
carefully, but neither believed that it
was an important discovery.
Why" insisted Mitchell that fin
ger print could have been left by any
of hundred people who might have
handled the bill. It's just light i'm
preston; any man with dirty fingers
who touched the bill could have left
it. Besides. how could you trace a
man from this finger-print, even if the
counterfeiter himself left it,"
There are the print-f1 flies in the GRIM
inal records" put in Burns. THE du-
plicate of that finger-print might be
found among those"
"Oh, no." smiled Poe, you are away
off the track. This is only the print of
one finger, and it would be next to i'm
possible to find the print matching it.
if it were in the criminal records.
They only use those for Identification
with all ten fingers. Besides, haven't
a notion this fellow has ever been
caught"
Then how on earth are Won going