The Washington times., 1919-09-07
CHAPTER M
The Case of the g Senor .
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Continued from Last Sunday
k( HIS is the Senior Gutierrez, of BuenOs AyreSi he
wishes to see number Of newest models
in dinner and evening frocks. You win be
very attentive to him, please
In quest Of thrills or drama one hardly would think
Of looking into the busy ases Of the great modern de-
partment store where everything seems to be business
built upon buying and selling and bargaining IN pennies
and dollars But nowadays thrills and drama are every
where-even where least expected This introductory
speech quoted above and uttered by the vcepresdent
and general manager Of one Of the fashionable New York
stores really was the opening incident Of drama IN
which many thrills were soon to be injected
Last week on this page told the story Of the costly
fur coat one Of the outstanding Incidents IN the successful
operations Of the and his band Of shop
ters The week before the extremely clever plot against
Mrs Colgate was described In both Of these the
schsmers escaped with their loot To-day in The Case
of the Senor Il win be seen that slowly but surely the
agencies operating against the master criminal and ell
shopifters are making their trade extremely unsafe.
The senOr Gutierrez was daPper susye little man.
markedly Spanish and apparently very prosperous The
vicepresiden thought him Of sufficient importance 30
personally conduct him into the gowns" department and
present him there 70 the superintendent Of that depart
ment Consequently the superintendent showed him the
utmost Difference and assigned 20 him the most capable
Of the saleswomen himself lowering in the background
ready to be Of instant service should Senor Gutierrez de-
II seemed TO be Just an ordinary transaction
chance buyer Of expensive gowns who indicated that he
intended TO purchase rather heavily for South American
market and preferred TO buy in fashionable retail store
where he could be guided in his purchases by being able
to make his selections from stock Of gowns which an ex
elusive New York store had prepared for It's trade
In fact Senior Gutierrez had explained tnst ts was ms
reason for coming that store and the vepredent had
felt that this South American especially Shrewd
prospective customer
OF course there was no way Of knowing that SenOr
hoH fod
number Of prosperous South American stores really was
an expert shopter who had been selected to carry out
q daring plan originated in the shrewd mind OF the
mysterious unknown master criminal for whom the Pohce
departments Of almost every city in the United States
nOW are busly seeking
One after another, dozens Of beautiful dresses
shown the South American purchaserths occurred just
few weeks ago. Among these gowns were dainty geOrg-
cites for street wear wonderfully draped Chons for
dinner occasions and marvellous shmmerng velVets for
the opera and formal evening functions The prices
ranged from 500 for the simplest Designs TO $35Ohe
usual limit Of price in the readyo.vear stores Senior
Gutierrez very crticahis taste well developed
The saleswoman gradually felt pride in pleasing him
and IN matching her tastes against his The supentend-
6ed
After several hours Of examination Of an endless
eay Of oeks the Senior had made selection Of twelve
an dozen. These, he said twas fair represeR-
$stion Of what he wished-he would return tomorrow
and look further-Feally You know he wanted to buy
almost hundred gowns at least"
It seemed TO the vice-president, when Senior Gutter
ez dropped into the executive offices pay his respects
before leaving the store and to his satisfaction
with such gmpses Of the stores stock Of gowns as ne
had had that afternoon that this valuable customer rep
Tesentatve Of market IN foreign country, should
be presented TO the president hmse-hat great, auto
cratic merchant chiefain who ordinarily keeps well alOof
from even the most prodigal Of his stores customers
The senior was delighted And the president quite
charmed with the personality and business knowledge Of
CHS new customer from South America "Where was he
stopping In New York;" Oh-at hotel; quite without
social friends in your big, strange New York"
The president suggested that the put up at his
eIub-One Of the most exclusive Of New YOrk's great