The Republican journal., 1915-09-02

we nao a man below. He's confessed
it all-bully for you! Horton used to
| be an engraver on bonds for the Brit.
ish Government; he was located in
Calcutta"
so they found the plates and"
Better not talk" put in a voice
| strange to Poe. and he suddenly real
lied the stranger was a physician.
A strained silence ensued. In ten
minutes time Christopher Poe had be-
come quite himself, though he still
passed mis- hand over his bruised neck
| mechanically. curious half-smile il.
Eliminating his otherwise drawn face.
He finally reached into his vest-pock.
ct, and brought out the bit of prepared
paper evidently overlooked by Hor.
| tom containing the counterfeiter'
right forefnger imprint He handed it
to Burns, and watched him musingly.
In answer to his friends anxious
questioning and enthusiastic praise
over the capture, Poe finally managed
to sketch the whole thing to him, just
what had happened when he was alone
with Horton.
How the devil did you spot the
fellow?' burst out Burns.
1T was easy from the minute no
ticed that misspelled 'labour,' and saw
the duplicate of that fnger-print you
hold in your hand, he explained IT
you'll stop to think, you'll remember
that Englishmen stick to the old form
of spelling honor armor, labor and
the like They always put in the letter
u making it honour ARMOUR,
and 'l-a-b-o-u-r
We'll, the minute l saw that word
| spelled la-bo-u-r' | knew an English.
man had done the work, and evidently
mad been an engraver on English
stamps or securities of some sort in
which the word labor also appeared
and that the spelling of it had become
second-nature to him
Then came across the finger print
on the bill; you and Mitchell didn't
seem to take account of the fact tina,
the finger-print showed in light green
ink. identical with the ink used on
the back of the note. That proved
that the counterfeiter himself hao
| touched it while it was still wet, OF
while he had little of the fresh ink
on his finger; he smeared his light
mark on it without noticing. On ex
aiming that fingermark under the
microscope | was doubly sure the
fbn -hA bod
left his mark, for | found that the
ridges on the finger-print, which were
loops approXimating tented arches, as
they classify them in the print identi
heavy calluses. AS these were on
flcation system, showed calluses,
the forefinger of the right hand, | i'm
mediately knew that the man was all
engraver, for only the continuous use
of the graver could have left such a
mark"
Poe paused for breath, and Burns
suggested:
But that didn't give you the identi
ty CT the man"
No. Then | found the two scars,
close together on the finger print.
figured out, by the process of elm
nation. about the only thing they
could have been caused by Then !
suddenly recalled seeing twin scars
on the finger of a snake-charmer, left
by cobra's fangs, | Immediately felt
these must have originated the same
way. Having the facts that the man
was English, had been bitten by a
cobra, and that the snake was a tame
one with his poison sacks removed, or
the man would have died before the
bite became scars, | began putting
two and two together The counter
feiter must have associated with East
Indian fak.rs to have been bitten by
show cobra, as they are the only
ones who tame them. | recalled, too
the fact that fine paper is manufac-
tured in India, and that some of the
bonds uttered by the British Govern
ment there have silk threads in the
paper, similar to our currency | con-
ceived the notion that a clever Eng
lishman might have worked in the en-
clearinghouse for the government
there, and come to America with this
wonderful new counterfeit. and a few
East Indian fakirs, his friends and
servants, to help him get rid of the
stuff without suspicion falling on
him"
That's just what he confessed" put
in Burns.
80 | called up Mitchell, and asked
about the Coney Island bank. remem-
bering that he had said it was a big
loser. Finding that most of the notes
had been circulated in Coney Island
and upper Brooklyn. l became fairly
certain Of my theory. | felt sure he
couldn't have any American associ-
ates, or one of them would have
caught the error in spelling labor.
Well, you know the rest We found
only two prominent English managers
this afternoon. l couldn't find the
one on Surf Avenue when | called, but
luckily the other fellow happened to
be the right one. l suppose most of
the East Indians were in the trick,
some helping to make the money and
the others disposing of it. 1t was a
good distributing point. | suppose the
money is pretty we'll spread over the
country by travellers now. He must
have brought a stock of paper with
him from India"
Yes" answered Burns I'VE found
it. Horton confessed everything, but