The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-08-31
True 4
Detective Stories
ALL EVIDENCE

Association OF Credit Men,
leaned back in his chair and placed
the tips OF the fingers OF his LETT hand
precisely against the tips Of the tn
gers Of his right, q habit that was sec
ond.nature to him during the consid.
GRAFTON Of q difficult problem.
"Why d earth, Edwards, didn't you
come to me with this story beforef
It's too late to help you now. Your
stocks gone, your credit ruined. and
they've MIXED you dry. "A word To
the association In time would have
saved you money and Us time"
Il didn't dare to come out Ia the
open groaned the man on the 9th
er side of the desk. They had the
goods on me, too, remember. I did
hire d private detective agency,
but !" ~&%$ = y. ! 7
Private detectiYest" snorted West
Detectives DE any kind are practical
" useless IN cases connected with COM
mercial crimes. ""There's nothing that
can be done i'm this case, but there is
q way In which you can assist the law,
land the men who feecedsyou, and pos
sibly make q grubstake for yourself.
Listen ~. s
Less than six months later, Abe Elm
stein, who called himself q acredit
manager, wandered into the Office Of
Henry w. Easton, lawyer, and after
seeing that all the doors were ARE
fully closed, inquired IL Easton re-
membered Edwards, the shoe dealer.
whom they had nicked some. time be-
fore.
1.-THE names familiar" replied the
lawyer, 2"but + don't recall the de-
tails. ,s4&s y p & l. =
ooh, 1t was the same old game
grunted Einstein. II got him to CONS
up and talk to ~you--you suggested
that he ship the bulk Of his stock out
of town to me-Pd sell 1t, and we'd
split with him after the usual fees
had been deducted"
II remember now. Then, when he
came back here and timidly asked for
his part OF the rake-off, + told him he
was lucky not to be In jail for VIC
lating six o. eight different statutes.
Our fees as I carefully explained to
him, more than ate up the proceeds
Of his stock at a forced sale, and he
really owed us money! You should
have seen his face then. But what's
the trouble? Has he made a peep to
the police? d. !
"No, nothing like that" Einstein re-
piled. But I happened to be pass
ing through Wilkesbarre the other day.
and who should / run into but Ed
wards. Prosperous, too. / knew him
in q minute, and wondered where he'd
gotten his money. Followed him down
the street aways, and found that he'd
opened another store. Flashy, but
good-looking. Somebody's evidently
staked him, and he's trying his luck,
but-and here's the part that concerns
us-he's nearly on the rocks againi"
"What7 On the verge OF bank-
ruptcy2"
Exactly !; only this time he evident
Iy intends to work the game all his
own. You can't blame him for that,
after he's been burned once" =
But" protested Easton, she can't
handle 1t by himself Az
That's what I figured" said Fin
stein. ''But, naturally, I didn't put the
matter up to him. Things have been
pretty dull around here for q while.
Why don't you run up and see Ed
wards2 Admit that we didn't do an
well for him the first time as we might
have, and make hirn~a guarantee Of
$3.50 on a 1890 split.
Right !" snapped the lawyer. sTu
take a run up there tomorrow"
The following afternoon. in the, pri-
vate office Of his store, Edwards and
Easton thrashed out the details oE
their former arrangement the lawyer
stating that he had come to pay over
$1,000, which had been Unexpectedly
saved from the wreck. =
Incidentally" he added, u under
stand that you wont be here much
longer. Going to try the same game
yourseIf?" n Z
Possibly" replied the shoe dealer,
""Why not7'
You can't do it without an organi-
zatf6n." insisted the lawyer. aYou
need us, and we need you.
Then while Edwards nervously
played with some papers on his desk,
Easton outlined his plan-how the
goods were TO be shipped, how Hin
stein would handle them, and the g.
500 guarantee which would be< paid
the shoe dealer for his part In the
fraudulent bankruptcy proceedings j
Terms were finally agreed up, and
the whole court proceedings went for
ward without d hitch. s
The day after he had been declared
bankrupt, Edwards accompanied East,
on to the bank, and there received TIA
$500 which had been promised him.
Az the lawyer handed him over the
money, he heard a voice behind him
say: @
Nab him, boysi"
Turning, he came face to face With 1
rather small, DIeasant-faced mar III
about ifty--the man who was tn
terror Of commercial criminals.
Vest cried the lawyer. 2sWhaf
do you want?nn
b. You and Einstein," was the reply.
"We'ye got the goods on you this tima
AL the evidence The dictagraph
in Edwards Office, under the papers nv
his desk, attended to that for Us. This
ought to land you In the pen Tor abort
six years