Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1917-11-09

ii
well-known detective over " mn
threw an insurance fraud that was KHf$M
all but perfect in detail. The fire >K/f%X
was to all appearances accident N/TWZ
and there nothing on the sur EX7K
face to indicate fraud. NOtwithstand- NHTX
ing, the officer went into court to MA
contest the claim for insurance and 9&Z
to prosecute the insured The case k%/
went slowly along until the defend VIZ
ants put in their claim mostly for VIZ
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
not only of an incendiary origin, but that
there nothing of value in the building
The owners of the furniture had described
number of brass beds elaborate brass-fnished
furniture, dressers, wardrobes, trunks tables
lamps and other metal-bound articles. The de-
tective showed that there net a trace of
metal in the ash-no hinges knobs or brass bed
fralnes-nohing in fact but several hundred nails,
such as come from packing cases. While it was
impossible to prove arson, the insurance
never paid, the insured fed the same night.
Rancher Robbery Victim.
Only few weeks ago a Lankerslliin rancher
saved $2700 and sent dishonest broker to Jail
for long term by breaking up the elaborate story
of the accused. The rancher drew the money from
a local bank for the purpose of purchasing an adj
ditional piece of ground He went to his home to
worked about windmill in the yard. Becoming
warm with the exertion of tightening up a@number
of rods and replacing a number of iron pipes the
rancher removed his coat and hung it 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 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 a telephone he notified the
police and sherifs office of the theft and of his
suspicion of the broker .
But while waiting 10 hear from the officers the
rancher surprised to observe the broker COM
ing down the road in entirely different car
thar the one he usually rode. The rancher for
mally welcomed the broker, made 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 deputy sheriff
appeared
The rancher positive in his Identified
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
sums of currency that totaled little more than
$2,700 The broker fell back the plea that
there could be identification of money unless
it was marked or unless the numbers the bills
were produced Nevertheless after l consulta-
ton between the rancher and a deputy district
attorney a warrant issued. The money in
the brokers' safe seized, placed in an en-
velope and marked evidence
AT the trial the rancher was unable to prove
much of a case on the broker The machine was
one of several million of the model He
could not swear whether the broker was in the
machine and he acknowledged that ne did not
have the numbers of the lost currency: Then the
broker was placed on the witness stand and en-
deavored to show that he was at Il certain office
at the very time of the robbery. Then by rea-
tves 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
cured 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 evidence
and holding it in front of the prisoner, demanded
if there was 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. Eyes. there is
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-
tablish ownership.
Remember the rancher had not viewed the cur
II
district attorney The deputy then called on the
to identify the money.
IF the bills in that package are 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 l could, put the money In
,oat pocket. letting the damp edges project out
10 they would dry. That is how this man (point-
ng TO the prisoner) came to see the money.
The bills were examined and each one was
ound to have the teIltale red mark along the
,dge More than that. three witnesses came for
ward to testify that they had observed traces OF
ed on the brokers' hands the day of his arrest =
md the broker declared that he must have cut,
lis hand"
He Forgot the Rain.
In prepared story meant to deceive, quite as
likely as not the imposter Will overdo his part
md thus lead to exposure youth with serious
harge hanging over his head managed to quite
DO the isSIa of the case by cleyerly prepared