The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-11-17

1 made no progress after mailing the
lie upon Mrs. Pixley and at last deter
mined to make her acquaintance and
by pretending as a friend, or to be
smitten with her, to get the secret from
her. Under pretense Of being a bank
examiner / became familiar with the
| employees, she among the number.
pathy. One day when she was leaving
| the bank after business hours joined
her and walked with her. Passing
| restaurant, told her that was going
| in to take a lonely dinner. Would she
| help me out with her company? She
| consented, and, selecting table in
| corner where we could converse with
out being overheard by others we dined
| together. .
commiserated with her at having
such a husband, expressing wonder
| that any man should desert so charm
| ing woman. She seemed to feel very
| bitterly toward him, but, Of course, IL
she were thief as well as he, 1t
might be a part of her game to feign
this 1 asked her If she suspected who
was the woman with whom her hus-
band had gone away, and she said she
felt sure Of the person. got nothing
out of her, but was impressed with
the belief that there was good deal
in her. whether for good or for evil,
though l did not feel that it was for
evil. After dinner l escorted her to
her home and left her at the door, at
the same time receiving an invitation
to call upon her,
Despite all my efforts found moth
ing to imp.icate Mrs. Pixley, and there
was no evidence at the bank to prove
that she was purloining its funds,
though the president had put Carter
on the watch for this. After a time
Carter said that. whatever was her
way of taking money, 1t was so sub
tie that 1t was beyond his penetration.
However. the cash on hand was con-
stantly deficient, and Carter suggest
ed that Mrs. pixley be simply dis
charged without any reason being Civ
en- her. The president communicated
this to me, and suggested that lie
put the matter off. | had become con-
,vineed that Mrs. PiSley had a secret.
i was steadily gaining her confidence,
and hoped in time she would let
out something. TO this he assented.
"A couple of days after this re-
lcelved a note from Mrs. Pixley, MS fol
lows: u rs 2Gugg = ta, VII, uX
Dear Mr. Detective-YonT are on. the
wrong track in shadowing me- Conceal
yourself under the steps leading up ia
the bank tomorrow night Cor, rather, the
next morning. at l o'clock and wait till
I come . .Ll4 y MD. P.
cannot tell why, but was not SO
much astQnished1 at this as might be
, expected. was certainly. rejoiced, be-
cause l knew important developments
, were to come. At the appointed time
T went to the bank and waited in the
shadow of the steps. Ten minutes
/ later Mrs. Pixleya went up the steps
I Joined her. She tapped at the door
and 1t was opened by the Waterman
We went in behind the counters. Mrs
I PiXley opened safe, took out som,
heavy account book, which laid on ,
!. high desk for her.
How is 1t that you can come here
= at such time and open this safer"
asked her.
: THE Waterman Is in my secret.
3 am allowed the combination OF thi.
e safe, which contains only books"
And here began the revelation. an
3 something of an accountant, this being
one reason why l was put on the job
r Mrs. Pixley spent two hours with me
: over a set of books, showing me that
. Carterhad manipulated them to concea
: certain peculations. And the entries
l bearing upon them were so dovetailed
into certain entries In set Of books
= that had been kept by her husband as
to make 1t appear that Pixley was the
t defaulter. And could not see how
8 Pixley could have shown that he was
t Innocent in the matter looked aside
e at Mrs. Pixiey and asked:
i,"How abort the woman with whom
your husband deoamped?"
Il was the yelled woman who went
: with him to collect the money owed
r him, but l didn't 60 away with him
ohO udy be uisCONeIeu HOW MT. carter
: to conceal his peculatlons, had manipu
, lated these books. He came home sc
broken down that |. fearing he would
2 make poor showing under an inves
tigation, concocted this plan whereby
: l might have an opportunity to study
I out the problem for him. The watch
D man, Callahan. has always been my
, husbands friend and at the risk OF
[ losing his job has admitted me here al
E dead of night. | have had an expert
[ accountant with me at times, and to
gether we have unraveled this conspir
acy and can make a showing such as
: have given you
Where did you get your knowledge
, of bookkeeping?"
, II studied It after my husband left
The person you sent to find out about
that caught me unawares. But at the
time did not know she came from
you"
Mrs. Pixley," l said admiringly, tax.
, Ing from under my coat my badge OF
office and handing 1t to her. 81 re.
. sign in your favor. If am worth SIC
day as a detective you are worth a