The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-10-31
Copyright by W. G. Chapman

firm OF John Bolland Il Co. OF ST
Louis, who owned a large jewelry
store In that city, called upon me in
my Office in the Chemical building.
I'VE are in trouble. Mr.. Furlong."
he began. and want to have your as.
%sistance. You know that our firm does
q large business in this city. A guam.
tity Of valuable goods has disap-
peared in a mysterious manner. and
Is still disappearing. and we cannot
lay our hands upon the culprit. Mr..
Bolland has asked me to call and put
the case before you. and tomorrow he
VIII come in person for a conference"
On the following day, when Mr..
Bolland called, he stated that it was
more than two years since goods be.
a to disappear from the store, and
that these losses were growing to
alarming proportions. In the endeavor
To clear up the mystery he had Sc
cured the services OF another local
private detective agency, at a consid.
cradle expense, but without being able
to fasten the guilt upon anyone. He
added that he would like to have me
make an investigation and a%pprehend
the guilty person or persons, il 1t
could be done.
I'm view of the large amount that
i have already spent in order to de-
tect the thief, | do not feel like spend
ing a large sum" continued Mr.. Boil
land, but see what you can do with
out mourning any heavy expenses. 1t
is necessary to me to have this mat
ter cleared up, but the police depart
ment is unable to help me, and | do
not know where to turn"
1T is evident to me, Mr.. Bolland,"
said, that you believe all your en-
ployes to be honest or else you would
not have them in your employment"
you need not spend any time in
looking after Clarence White, Fred
Erfert. or myself" answered Mr.. Boil
land, but you may use your judgment
as to the other employees, although
want you to understand that | have
the utmost confidence in all Of them"
The employe named Erfert was well
known to me. He had been in the
service Of the company since his boy
hood. He was then about twenty-five
or twenty-three years of age. had be-
come a trusted employe, and carried
the keys of the establishment. He
was the first man to open the store in
the morning and the last man out at
night. closing and locking the store
himself. Clarence White was an older
man. and of blameless reputation.
A short time before this interview
took place, according to Mr.. Bolland's
further statement, the company had
purchased a large stock of jewelry at
a bankrupt sale. The most desirable
parts Of the stock had been sorted out
and removed 10 the company's store,
from which they had culled out stock
OF their own which was growing
stale, and this they had placed with
the residue Of their purchase. They
then started to auction off the surplus
stock. Erfert was placed In charge
OF this auction store, with a profess
sional auctioneer and a number Of
clerks. This auction was running at
the time Of the interview between my
self and the store owner.
Goods are also being missed from
the auction store" Mr.. Bolland con
tinued. Evidently the thief has ac-
cess to both places"
! instructed one Of my operatives
to observe carefully all that he could
about the auction store. from the time
1t opened in the morning until it was
closed at night, which was duly done.
At the end of the first days watch
the operative reported that he had
noticed a number Of what appeared to
be Irregularities on the part Of Erfert,
the manager. He reported that on the
evening before he had seen Erfert
and the other clerks leave the store.
Erfert, being the last man out, locked
the door and put the key in his pocket,
and the whole party walked to the
corner OF Sixth and Olive streets,
where they separated, presumably for
their homes. He said that Erfert,
however, did not take a car, but
walked west a block on Olive street
to Seventh, then north on Seventh to
Locust street, and east on Locust
street to the side entrance of the auc-
ton store, where he unlocked the
door. He entered and almost imme-
diately returned to the sidewalk. car
ryfng q couple Of large, heavy pack
ages, which were fastened with shawl
straps. He then went back by the
same route to Sixth and Locust
streets where he boarded a car, car
rying these two heavy packages. one
In either hand, to his home In South
st. Louis. where he resided with his
widowed mother and sister.
On learning these details in
structed my operative to repeat his
watch on the following day. telling
him that, In case Erfert doubled back
on that evening also. he vas to ap-
proach him and say that Mr.. Furlong
was in his ONCE In the Chemical build
ine and wanted to see him q once.
ana to bring him up without delay.
remained n the once that evening,