The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-03-02
The Indelible
Clue
Dc. 1899, By Ths wheeler syndioate.l


Landing the cOunterfelts is all well
and good, but where does it get us II
we don't know who made themT
The speaker, William J. Burns, then
connected with the United States
secret service, glanced up from his
examination Of large sofa which his
associates had stopped just as 1t was
on the point of being shipped from
New York to Costa Rica-a sofa which
was stuffed, not with wool or hair, but
with $2,0OO0O0 worth Of counterfeit
Costa Rlcan money, destined to finance
Latin-American revolution.
SO far as the men who had been
working on the case had been able TO
discover, there was no way In which
to trace the shipment. 1t had been
brought to the dock In an ordinary
dray which, having unloaded its bur-
den, had driven off, to be lost among
thousands of others of It's kind In the
streets Of New York. OF the men who
had shipped the sofa, the men re-
sponslble for counterfeiting the cur
rency of a friendly nation, there was
no indication whatever.
But Burns made careful, almost
microscopic, examination of the bur-
lap with which the furniture had been
wrapped. Down in one corner, half
obllterated, he discovered q peculiar
mark-the numerals ''2 XX 64'--which
the detective rightly presumed re-
ferred in some way to the manufac-
turers of the fabric.
Inquiry through trade channels
brought the information that burlap
Of that kind, bearing the "XX" mark,
was sold by only one concern In the
East. But even that discovery didn't
bring Burns much closer to his quarry,
for the books Of the firm in question
showed that more than 1000 dealers
had purchased Xxx" burap within the
past year. One by one these dealers
were eliminated, until only six re-
NAMED. Among these was furniture
house in Long Island City and when
that store opened for business on the
following morning a square-jawed.
stockily-built man Of medium height
entered and asked to see the manager.
my name is Burns he stated, flip
ping back the lapel Of his coat in such
a way as to afford glimpse of his
secret service badge. II would like
to have the opportunity of looking at
the stock of burlap which you have
on hand at the present time, in order
to assist the government in running
down q case Of considerable impOr-
tance."
But right there the man who solved
many mysteries ran into snag. None
Of the burlap bore the 20 Xxx GA" mark.
The Xxx" was there, but the numer'
ais were all different.
"When did you get this stock inT
asked the detective.
"About month ago." was the reply
"Have you any Of the former mate
rial on hand?"
The manager was inclined to thlnh
not, but a careful search of the ware.
house brought to light single piece
of the former supply and there, in the
corner, was the clue that Burns had
hoped to find-the indelible 80 Xxx a."
"Now," snapped the secret service
man, ''if you will let me see your
books for the past three or four
months, I won't bother you any
longer"
That same afternoon Burns and two
Of his associates rang the bell Of a
house In Brooklyn occupied by Mrs.
Loni, who was, according to the clerk
who had made the sale n Spanish
woman who insisted upon buying a
sofa of a certain kind, we'll padded
and heavily stuffed" The sofa an
swered the description of the one
which was being held at the wharf,
and the very fact that the purchaser
had been Spanish added the final con-
Meeting link. But, in order to avoid
any possible slipup, Burns located the
expressman who had taken the furni-
ture from the Loni house to the dock
"A feat which was far from difficult
once he had clue TO the location of
the home Of the counterfeiters.
AS he had expected, Mrs. Loni dis
claimed any knowledge of the ship
ment and fell back upon professed
lack of understanding of English to
bolster up her position. TO her amaze
ment, the detective replied in fluent
Spanish, informing her that he had all
the facts in the Case--the statement Of
the clerk who had sold the sofa, the
expressman who had carted 1t to the
dock and the fact that he had seen
with his own eyes S2,000,000 in coun-
terfelt bills taken from the piece of
furniture.
This house Is surrounded" con-
cluded Burns. "I've got my hand on
my gun and I'm going to stay right
here until land the men who made
that money II It takes me" but II
didn't take as long as he had expected,
for. as he spoke the woman's son-in-
law, Ricardo de Reauesans, stepped
into the room and admitted that he
and another Spaniard had been re-
D sponsible for making and planting the
counterfeits.