, 1917-09-27

Marvel was studying out a new case
He nodded to me in an distracted way
On the glass-slabbed table before him
were a dozen or more little rolled-up
wads of paper. / knew they repre-
scented puppets he had been moving
about, shaking up, almost talking to,
almost making them talk to him
separating. combining, Analysing, In
fact winnowing facts with a sieve of
probability.
81 think I've got It," he said, sweep
ing his mines from the table with an
air of precision and fnality. you
have come in at the finish, probably.
You were in at the start, SO you will
have a glimmering idea of what it is
all about when l speak one word
Ransome."
THAT is suggestive" / told Resilius
Marvel, but scarcely enlightening. 1
fancied that Alison Ransome was a
closed chapter in the suppressed SEN
sations of local banking circles"
What! with one hundred thousand
dollars unaccounted for, and the gag
placed with all hands around?" de-
rided the great one. Hardly"
Ransome had been anybody's friend
and ~everybody's favorite. He had
broken into banking about a year pre-
vious in the eager, rollicking fash
ion of a college lad full of financial
theories and expecting some day to
gain a presidency in a jump. His un-
Gle was the big man in the Unity
National bank, and Alison skipped
over messenger service, ''the books"
orl Tho ourranou IN . varv hriaf
period, and bad charge of the ponder
Gus and opulent money vaults with
three men to help him fill an easy job.
Then one day a big sensation was
born at the Unity National. Ransome
and a bank policeman who had left
the institution two hours previous,
the former ~handcuffed to a treasure
satchel. returned, both of them white
faced and scared looking. They bore
the satchel casually enough now, for
one side of 1t showed a circular cash
with half the surface Tapping loose,
and emptiness where there had been
fifty thousand dollars in neatly packed
and labeled national bank notes.
In a word, this happened: A bank
at Riverton, a suburb twenty miles
out, had made a special deposit of
the money noted, subject to call and
personal delivery when required. 1t
vas a special Juno and a larger sum
in ready cash than the suburban bank
cared to risk carrying. Besides that
the transaction was trusted by the
Unity National. The call of that
morning had been anticipated for sew
eral days. Ransome was deputized to
lN1srN- H. ,@rnr a-I hrtr~ haDly N
receipt.
He never qualified for the receipt
and he and his guard never got as
far as the suburban bank. Once
aboard the train and occupying n
seat together, in order to rest COM
fortably the handcuff was unlocked
and the satchel was set on the car
floor. The guard retained hold of the
end of the chain, and Ransome set his
feet firmly IN the satchel so 1t could
not be budged without his knowing 1t.
Lo and behold! in spite of all their
precision, as they neared the end of
their brief journey and lifted the
satchel to rehandcuff 1t to the wrist
of Ransome, 1t was discovered empty.
That is, some one occupying the seal
directly behind them had reached
under the fitting footrack, had insert
ed a keen shoe blade within the leath-
er receptacle and had quietly lifted
out its contents. The train had stop
ped at all local stations, so the clever
thief might AVE left the train at any
one Of six stops.
Not a soul recalled even noticing
the missing passenger. The shoe
knife vas found on the car floor. Also
a cane. light and somewhat peculiar
as to its end ftting-of which more
anon. II was o in the possession
of the man who had reawakened in
my mind the little history / am trying
to epitomiZe in my struggling, faulty
way.
Neither money nor thief was found.
No possible blame could attach to
young Ransome. 1t marked him, how
ever, as an unlucky wight with a big
loss to his record. Then followed a
happening that placed him In the
"hoodoo" class. 1t was in connection
with b bank cash reserve, the real
strength and sinew of the institution,
kept sacred and apart within the holy
of holes of the Unity National. When
foreign capitalists visited the bank,
or 1t was policy n business to i'm
press a client, or ruralite correspond
ents were in evidence, it was the prac-
tice to show them over the institution,
winding up with a view of the treas
ures of the great inner vault where
real money was really kept.
As in all large banks the Unity Ma
tional maintained its actual cash re-
serve in permanent form. Thus there
were packages representing $4,000,
$4,000, even 100000. In these the