Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1917-11-07

to all appearances accident M/T>X/
and there nothing the sur W4K-
face to indicate fraud. Notwithstand- MHTN
ing, the officer went into court to W/IA
contest the claim for insurance and WI
to prosecute the insured. The case N4/
went slowly along until the defend VIZ
ants put in their claim, mostly for I&$<
expensive furniture. Then the officer x
showed his hand He produced the
entire remains of the fire in the form of ash and
charred wood and convinced the jury that the fire
was not only of an incendiary origin. but that
there was nothing of value in the building
The owners of the furniture had described a
number of brass beds, elaborate brass-fnished
furniture, dressers, wardrobes trunks tables,
lamps and other metalbound articles. The de-
tective showed that there was not a trace of
metal in the ash-no hinges, knobs or brass bed
frames nothing in fact but several hundred nails
such as come from packing While it was
impossible to prove arson, the insurance was
never paid as the insured fed the same night
Rancher Robbery Victim.
Only few weeks ago a Lankershim rancher
saved $1,000 and sent dishonest broker to Jail
for long term by breaking up the elaborate story
of the accused. The rancher drew the money from
local bank for the purpose of purchasing an ad-
ditional piece of ground. He went to his home to
meet the agent, and while awaiting his arrival
worked about q windmill in the yard. Becoming
warm with the exertion of Tightening up a number
rancher removed his coat and hung it on board
at the well. After time he went to q nearby
building to secure an additional section of pipe.
On his return the coat the ground the
money missing. The rancher heard the mufHed
roar of an automobile driven at high rate of
speed and rushing into the road saw small ma
chine disappearing in cloud of dust. The
rancher believed he recognized the brokers' auto
mobile, and going to telephone he notified the
police and sheriffs office of the theft and of his
suspicion of the broker
But while waiting to hear from the officers the
raneher surprised to observe the broker COM
ing down the road in an entirely different car
than the he usually rode. The rancher for
mally welcomed the broker, made a quiet state
ment of the robbery and then declared that he
had recognized the thief. He did not mnce
words but openly accused the broker of the theft.
While the men were wrangling a deputy sheriff
appeared
The rancher was positive in his identifca-
ton of the broker being the person that had
fled that the deputy placed the man under arrest.
A search of the brokers' safe revealed several
of currency that totaled a little more than
$2,700. The broker fell back the plea that
there could be Identification of money unless
it marked unless the numbers the bills
were produced. Nevertheless, after consulta-
ton between the rancher and q deputy district
attorney a warrant was issued. The money in
the brokers' safe seized, placed in
velope and marked evidence.
At the trial the rancher unable to prove
much of on the broker. The machine was
one of several million of the same model He
could not swear whether the broker in the
machine, and he acknowledged that he did not
have the numbers of the lost currency. Then the
broker placed on the witness stand and en-
deavored to show that he at certain office
at the very time of the robbery. Then by rela-
tives he tried to show that the money in his safe
TO in A +
this point the district attorney called on several
persons who alleged they had paid him money.
In each instance they declared the money had
been drawn either from a bank or had been
cured on the day of delivery from another.
The district attorneys representative then arose
and walking over to the accused broker, broke the
seal on the package of money held as evidence
and holding it in front of the prisoner, demanded
if there was any identifying mark on the cur
rency. Nonpused for the moment, the man re-
piled there was none. Turning to the rancher the
deputy asked the same question. YES, there Is
decided mark of Identification on every BILL, the
man replied. Turning back to the broker the
deputy gave him another opportunity to identify
the money, and third time appealed to him to
know if there was any way in which he could es-
tablish ownership.
Remember the rancher had not viewed the cur
rency since 1t went into the hands of the deputy
district attorney. The deputy then called on the
rancher to identify the money.
eff the bills in that package mine the edges
will be found smeared with red lead dropped
the roll onto a splotch of the red lead while was
working on my windmill and after cleaning OFF as
much of the stuff as / could. put the money In a
coat pocket letting the damp edges project out
so they would dry. That is how this man (point-
ing to the prisoner) came to the money.
The bills were examined and each one was
found to have the tetae red mark along the
edge More than that. three witnesses came for
ward TO testify that they had observed traces of
red on the brokers' hands the day of his arrest
and the broker declared that he must have cut
his hand"
He Forgot the Rain.
In a prepared story meant TO deceive, quite as
likely as not the imposter will overdo his part
and thus lead to exposure. youth with serious
charge hanging over his head managed to quite
fog the Issue of the cnSe hv cleyerly nrenared