The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-11-01

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all but perfect in detail. The fire 1>4$N>
was to all appearances accident MlH@z%
and there nothing the W4fE2
face to Indicate fraud. Notwithstand- WNfZ
ing, the officer went into court to %I
contest the claim for insurance and VIZ
to prosecute the insured. The W|
went slowly along until the defend W.
ants put In their claim, mostly for ~/
expensive furniture. Then the officer 2
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 incendary 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 s-hnshed
furniture. dressers, wardrobes, trunks, tables
lamps and other metal-bound articles. The de-
tective showed that there was not a trace of
metal in the ash-nO hinges. knobs brass bed
fraines-nothing in fact but Several hundred nails
such as come from packing cases. While 1t was
impossible to prove arson. the insurance was
never paid as the insured fled the same night.
Raneher Robbery Victim.
Only a few weeks ago u Lankershim rancher
snved 81, 700 and sent a 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 I'D
ditional piece of ground. He went to his home to
meet the agent, and while awaiting his arrival
worked about windmill in the yard. Becoming
warm with the exertion of tightening up a number
OF rods and replacing number Of iron pipes the
rancher removed his coat and hung 1t on a board
at the well. After time he went to a nearby
building to secure an additional section of pipe.
On his return the coat the ground the
money missing. The rancher heard the mufied
roar Of an automobile driven ct a high rate Of
speed and rushing into the road a small ma
chine disappearing in a cloud of dust. The
rancher believed he recognized the brokers' auto
mobile and going to telephone he notified the
police and sherifs office of the theft and of his
suspicion of the broker
But while waiting to hear from the officers the
auChor 0od IN OhS tho hrO Okar
ing down the road in entirely different
than the one 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 mince
words but openly accused the broker of the theft.
While the men were wrangling a deputy sheriff
appeared.
The rancher positive in his identhca-
tion of the broker being the person that had
ned that the deputy placed the man under arrest
A search Of the brokers' safe revealed several
sums Of currency that totaled little more than
$2.700 The broker fell back the. plea that
there could be no Identification Of money unless
1t was marked or unless the numbers on the bills
were produced. Nevertheless, after consulta-
tion between the rancher and a deputy district
attorney a warrant was issued. The money in
the brokers safe was seized, placed in an en-
velope and marked evidence.
At the trial the rancher unable to prove
much Of a case on the broker. The machine was
one of several million Of the same model He
could not swear whether the broker was 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 was at certain office
at the very time Of the robbery. Then by rela-
tives he tried to show that the money in his safe
had been delivered to him in several sums At
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 bank or had been Sc
on day of delivery from another
The district attorneys representative then arose
and walking over to the accused broker broke the
seal the package of money held as evidence
and holding 1t in front of the prisoner. demanded
II there any Identifying mark on the cur
rency. Nonplused for the moment. the man re-
piled there was none. Turning to the rancher the
deputy asked the same question. Yes. there ID
a 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 a third time appealed to him to
know If there was any way in which he could es-
tabsh 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.
.'If the bills In that package are mine the edges
will be found smeared with red lead. l dropped
the roll onto a splotch Of the red lead while was
working on my windmill and. after cleaning on us
much of the stuff as could. put the money In
coat pocket, letting the damp edges project out
no they would dry. That is how this man (point-
ing to the prisoner) came to see the money"
The bills examined and each one was
found to have the telltale 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 on 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 mposter -xxill overdO his part
and thus lead to exposure. youth with a serious
charge hanging over his head managed to quite
fog the issue of the case by cleverly prepared
alIbi. Two reputable but mistaken witnesses as