Evening star., 1924-12-15
Copyright. 1924, by Harper 4 Brother,

| fair a robbery" the inspector said,
| what with money being left to cover
| the loss and damage to the stores.
| But how the place was broken into
without the completely Of at least two
! Of our patrolmen, we don't know, and
| We didn't like the idea. After the
news came out about the Wall street
! affair. these two men came back with
! a confession that they'd been asleep,
! but we had a suspicion that they had
rniy seized on the chance to clear
! themselves. 1t did seem Il bit far
! fetched that the gang that doped the
! folk aound Wall street, and got away
with that haul. would bother to raid
| New Jersey provision store and leave
money to pay for what they took. But
if the old man didn't know about
Wall street before he admitted he'd
/ fallen asleep the chances are that he 5
telling the truth
There was no watchman at Schom-
| berg's Stores"
mo. the place is shut up at night
nobody left on the premises"
Gould we see the two patrolmen in
| question:" asked Dan.
! Easy" said the inspector They
sleep at the station. and are sort of con-
/ fined to barracks
4 short interview with the two police
men convinced my friend and myself
that their story was true. They had
/ concealed the fact of having fallen
as.eep in fear of losing their jobs, ard
| it was only the news of Wall street that
| had given them the courage to tell the
| truth.
! Dan and | had heard as much as we
needed. and as we drove to the Cort-
/ landt street ferry at easy pace my
scientific friend weighed the thing UP.
Il Jimmy q
/ said
I'm sure they do | agreed.
! They link up. so far. only through
| the use of the anesthetic.' he went on.
! But | can find no sane connection in
the things stolen. Two and half mil
! lions in gold, a hundred kf}os of pro-
visions and 5000 liters of gasoline. It's
a mad thing, however you look at it,
It's crazy" l admitted "Jackdaw
crazy"
! If We could find out what they want
| ed with such a queer collection" said
! Dam wed be on the track of what they
! are"
Suppose" said I, that it's a gang
with headquarters in the country some
where. a regular band of raiders operat-
! ing on 2 large scale. They have a fleet
of trucks, each equipped with the latest
appliances for bank-breaking. They
I ~
/ and the provisions for feeding the
! gaug-
"A concentration of that ssrt would
! Immediately arouse suspicion in the
| country. Jimmy"
| Il don't know much about that,
| Dan. 1t might be quite an Innocent
! looking factory. or foundry, with accom-
modations for the men--"
Yes, asking folks to notice it by
never dealing with the local stores
''Shucks. Danny - said !. Look at
! my own experimental shops Right on a
/ lonely strip of beach and two or three
! kilometerS from the nearest village. EN-
! cept for a Government inspector or two
once in a while. nobody ever comes
near me--and half my men live on the
premises
| Yes. but your experimental shops
| don't come under the factory laws. None
| of your men belong to a trade union,
| you've told me-"
That's right
| We'll, if any gang of crooks got up
a stunt such as you imagine, it would
| be difficult to escape detection in the
ordinary routine Of factory inspection" g."
/ But, listen, Dan. IF | wanted to go
| in for bank robbery it would be easy
Great snakes, Jimmy" Dan eX-
| claimed You're on the business for
sure. Could you land that new bus of
yours in Broadway"
! I'll bet you $4,000 I do-with wheels
| instead of fleatS-''
What would your new bus carry"