The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-16

prominent bank entered-huge sum
taken!" were the headlines in a Paris
paper
| In following up this extraordinary
case the mystery deepened. unheard
Of crimes were unearthed and thrill
ing situations occurred which baffled
even the celebrated detective, Lecoq.
1t appeared that upon opening the
safe one morning, the cashier startled
The clerks by crying out, II have been
robbed" They gathered about, but
strangely enough upon inspection, the
safe showed only a scratch, but no
| sign Of having been broken open, al
though $4,000 francs were missing
that the cashier said he had placed
there the day before, in order to pay
Count Louis de Clameran, friend who
had been left legacy by his brother
CASTOR. M. Fauvel, the president of
the bank, and NJ. Prosper Bertomy,
the cashier, were the only persons who
possessed keys to the door and were
credited with the knowledge Of word
which made up the combination. AL
though their relations had been like
those of father and son, each now &C.
cused the other Of taking the money.
The clerks were interviewed by the
police, and search was made Of the
/ apartment over the bank, occupied by
! the president, his wife and beautiful
niece. Madeleine, whose engagement
to the cashier had been mysteriously
broken Oft was suspected she pre-
ferred Nine. Valentine Fauvels hand
some nephew, Raoul Layers. The
presidents record was good, but sus-
picion was directed toward the cash
ier, as he had been living extravaganza
ly. His arrest followed, although he
protested his innocence. During the
inspection of the bank and the appre-
bending Of the cashier, he was seen
to scribble line hurriedly and throw
it to clerk. The latter was shadow
ed to the cashiers apartment and the
note procured. 1t was addressed to
Nine. Gypsy, informing her Of his ar.
rest and advising her to hide. During
the examination at court, Prosper re-
membered that he had been indiscreet
the previous night in saying to Gypsy,
when perhaps he might have been
overheard by the Count and Raoul,
that he had reason for constantly
thinking of her at his work. when she
accused him of not thinking of her
any longer. The word Gypsy opened
the safe. For lack of sufficient evil
dence Prosper was released and the
case filed in No. 113.
On Prosper's return to his apart
ment, Gypsy had gone, but a note ad-
dressed in small printed letters was
delivered to him containing money.
The clever Lecoq, now living With
Prosper, under the disguise of an old
friend of his fathers, revealed that
the printed letters had been cut from
a prayer-book. Surely there was a
-
prayer-book was discovered hidden in
per and think him innocent and in
need of money? Yet soon after that,
TO the surprise Of everyone. her en-
gagement was announced to the old
Count de Clameran. The reason for
this was that Madeleine, by chance,
overheard a conversation between the
Count and her aunt. The old Count
threatened to tell of the family skele-
ton If she did not consent to the mar
riage. Madeleine appeared and said
she would marry him to keep the Sc
cret and the honor of the family name.
On learning of Medicines engage
ment, Prosper, who really had always
loved her, became very angry, and
thinking there must be a sinister mo-
tive for Nine. Fauvel's allowing it.,
wrote an anonymous letter to M. Eau
vel, telling him to watch his wife.
Lecoq noticed that the good-looking
Raoul still continued his frequent
visits to the house. Did it mean that
he was perhaps not the nephew, but
the lover of Nine. Fauvel? Disguised,
the great detective attended a mas.
querade ball and made insinuating re-
marks to Nine. Fauvel concerning
Raoul which caused her to faint, and
when he spoke of money matters,
Count Louis turned pale. Returning
home that night the detective was fol-
lowed by two men and stabbed, but
fortunately, not killed. Lecoq. think
ing he recognized the Count and Raoul
decided that they realized that the
police suspected them Of robbing the
bank, and also that there must be an
even greater mystery to unravel that
had caused them to become would-be
assassins. Records were looked up
and an amazing story came to light.
Lecoq discovered that years ago
Nine. Fauvel, then Valentine de Yer
berie, had been engaged to the Counts
brother, CASTOR. In defending her
name at a country inn, CASTOR had
killed a man and fed to America, al
though he was thought to have been
drowned while escaping. A son was
born to Valentine and given away by
her mother. Later she had married
Fauvel. who was told nothing.
The story was never unearthed un-
til Count Louis had squandered the
family money and by mere chance had
heard of the child's existence from
an old nurse. He made inquiries. Not
long after this, the Count introduced
a young man to Nine. Fauvel as her
son, to serve his own ends and to
extract hush-money. This young man
was called her nephew and proved to
be Raoul Layers.
The situation became even more
complicated. CASTOR returned from
America immensely rich. not knowing
of the existence of his son, but de-
termined to see his old love Valentine
cnce more. Louis, however, realized
| that for his own ends, CASTOR and