The Ordway new era., 1917-11-30
b. WuLIAM ATHERTON DU PUY
Observation-Disclosures
Copyright by W. G. Chapman

h>okkeeper, how few people know
ANYTHING about their own businesses
Take bank accounts, for instance.
Many people have money in bank
which lies there inactive. There Is
not one man in five, having such an ac-
count. who can tell the amount of it
This statement was launched dur
ing the evening meal at Mrs. Hud-
sons very respectable boarding mouse
In the prosperous little town OF New
Beaufort, which slumbers in one OF the
valleys of central New York.
II must take issue with you there,
yentured the elderly rector Of the Epis-
copal church who, being yidoWer'
boarded with Mrs. Hudson. Il, for IN
stance, have managed to save little
money for old age and | can tell the
amount of it to penny"
-.And / know just how much l have
on deposit" insisted Miss Dolan, the
school teacher.
And I am quite sure of mine, as
serted a buxom widow who had collect
ed life insurance.
"As a test of my contention" said
Gard. II am willing to pledge box OF
candy to each of the ladies and cigars
to the gentlemen who will set down
the exact amounts of their inactive &C
counts in the First National bank and
then prove their figures correct by ap-
,plication to the cashier"
This proposal appealed to those who
had been drawn into the incipient con-
troversy. Next day they asked for the
figures, and each had won his reward
Gard seemed chagrined that his theory
should have thus gone to the winds.
but he cheerfully stood treat.
For he had established fact very
important to him. The inactive ac-
counts of the First National bank OF
New Beaufort were intact.
This was one of the first steps in an
Investigation of financial institution
which, while seemingly In the best OF
condition, was suspected Of having
been looted for hundreds Of thousands
OF dollars. Special agents Of the de-
partment Of justice knew that an Of
icial of the bank had been trading
heavily in Wall street and that he had
lost. Gard, a member OF this new de-
tectiye force of the federal govern
ment, had been sent to investigate.
Representing himself as a bookkeeper
he had secured a position with the
leading grocer and had come to board
with Mrs Hudson.
He stayed three weeks. At the end
of that time he reported the shortage.
fixed the blame upon the man re-
sponsible for 1t, showed the methods
used, cited the accounts from which
the money had been stolen, told what
accounts we're still intact. Yet he had
never been inside the bank, had seen
none af its books, had consulted with
nobody familiar with them. had re-
ceived no confessions. The manner in
which he accomplished these seeming
Iy impossible ends illustrates most ex-
cellently the methods used by this new
detective agency of the government.
II was a strange conspiracy Of cir
curstances that brought to New Beau
fort detectives from three different
services on the night, two months
later, that Conrad Compton, the enter
prising citizen and banker, was giving
his big party.
There was NcCord, a plain-clothes
man from New York NcCord would
not have been in New Beaufort but
for the ramifca.ions Of the New York
police department IN keeping track OF
these middle class criminals who live
through the trade Of burgia-y-a call
sng that fs sometimes refined into art
And the police department would not
have come tnto possession Of . certain
his bit rp the river and returned to
his Old hsa1tz SO broken that be chose
10 become stool pigeon because he
was 10 longer rp 10 second story
work
Speck had found that Dutch" Ehro-
der had arranged TO crack q safs and
that the scene Of the cracking was
New Beaufort. He had tipped the
5matter on to the police, and bence Nc.
Cords presence in community that
was far from metropolitan He repre-
scented the first of the detective Eerv
ices.
The second such service was repre-
vented by Ogram Newton. a bank ex
aminer In the service Of the Treasury
department. His district was cen.ra
New York. For three years he hac
been taking an occasional look into ths
hooks Of the various national bank
a of his district, checking up assets anc
liabilities, inquiring into the value o
kAs paper held by the banks. Tw,
weeks before Conrad Compton gav'
- psrty Newton Aad been In Ney
4 uasafpes ana h6d goae thoroughly int
4 go afpnern - ~ hank Ifa hooka ver,
se6s3a u eisney and there was n
=. 80 q . funA n any of ~ secur,
\ +. - ~ l 1levt0a haA eivsn u
ss - ~ q r. 90 hsA psAss