Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-23
Yesterdny's Mystery Solution


xYApyEY HUNT believed that in the
II ,,so of the whisky Bandits the
,,,.,d;ts,' had not been bandits at all.
bp, mere purchasers in an Illicit sale OF
wnlsha' wngh sh,,per OF the consignment, as
II "a the driver and his guard, ex 4.
w.nt.d VIZ the truck to be held up and
lp,o,en Hunt noted that the shipper
I'D suffered no apparent loss but that
ns ns tbc lio,ior. The truck was found later
~. ;n,ect. The permit for the legal sale OF
,ho truckload in Manwauxit allowed
him lin 10 get the LIQUOR out OF ms ware e.,
,,sa mn ,egally, II the truck was held up
houSe ~ ,'b;k srb;sky stolen, could he help It?
~, and VI, ,.s The attitude Harvey Hunt fig
lnls ho would take. In the meantime
uIeSS uISod not lost the legal sale. 1t would
nc onsr mn enough for him to get permit
ne I'D through another truckload.
M. hold .up and the fight which fol-
ny nu rore fakes. Of course. Harvey
,t 3Wea se,t sure of this for two reasons.
rho first was that though several
.,nre OF shots were fired az Close
.ne. none OF the participants IN the
,nttie were injured, not even the truck
Sr;yer and his guard, running ACROSS
he open field under the fire OF the pan
dts. 49,. .,-.
,,od beeu time for an oil day search for
,ss stolen truck, which clearly had NOT
hss, s taken far from Creweisnd los IL
,'on,d have been abandoned at some dis !,
,ont "Ta point), the police had failed 70 hnd
:. until Il was empty and apanooneo'
put then. as Harvey Hunt had r.
,"srked, the police were not respohs,o,e
for the enforcement OF the 'o'''eau "'''
xxxIv
Can you solve this mystery
ot--
The Denial
rrARyEY HUNT sat In the, Office Of
1.-The customs collector. The criminal
;nvestiaptor had called to obtain infor
,nation in connection with case on
which he was working. As the two bae
been acouaintances for years, be kne"
me price he would have tot pay and PC
he composed himself to listen to the
regular dissertation on the efficiency
q! thc chiefs organization.
Hunt freely admitted that the chiet
claims we're perfectly true. He wa'
himself a great admirer Of that organi
cation. But he had listened to III
praises SO many times that he had faller
into the habit Of hoping that some do!
hr might catch the chief and his sub
ordinates in a mistake.
How about Isador Bsnborg' h
';cd finally, in an attempt to switcl
the old man from his favorite topic
Definite cases are always more inter,
rsting than general panegyrics, ant
Harvey Hunts casual curiosity hat
been aroused by a half page advertise
men. which the gem broker had inserted
in one Of the large dailies that morning
The advertisement had consisted of
vigorous denial that Banborg, a.
rharged by certain persons,' wa:
dealing in smuggled gems, and threat
oning suit for libel against the ma
licious rumor mongers.
Nothing to it at ALL" said the chief
I'VE never had the slightest reason u
suspect Banborg of anything under
hand. In fact he imports very littl
stuff at all. No charges have ever bee,
made against him in this ONCE. Never
thcless, as you know Hunt. we dom
MISC any chances in this Office, and a
soon as that advertisement appeared
We sot busy at once and made thor
ough investigation of his affairs. Ais
got In touch with Scotland Yard ant
the police Of the other European coun
tries at once. No gems have been un
accounted for lately. No reason to sus
meet anybody Of smuggling. None a
all. Banborg's just gotten himsel
heated up over some trihing remarl
somebody made. That's all. We drop
ped the thing right away
What did you find out about himI'
persisted the criminal investigator. tn
customs collector appeared little sur
prised at the question, but answered !:
"Well, we found he associates wit
nillionaires a great deal, but that's
privilege, not a crime. Plays golf wit
them a lot. Also he's an enthusiastic
gardener, but a very poor one. Live
IN the suburbs and works his garde
himself always tearing out old plant
Al IN M