Evening star., 1932-11-13

known to disappear during it's journey
as completely as if it were message
written in invisible ink. First it is there;
then it is not; and nobody can tell when
it ceased to be-"
For instance?'
Mr.. Rose searched his memory for a
moment. Then his face lit up. Here's
the case, he said, aof mysterious dis
appearance We were making regular
collections from several units in chain
system, stopping every day at each
branch to pick up bag of cash and
take it to the bank The bags in which
we carry money are the same as those
used by the Federal Reserve. They are
of heavy canvas" He took one out of a
desk drawer and demonstrated it.
Around the top we wrap strong cord
twice-like this. Both ends Of the cord
20 through lead seal. The cords are
drawn tight-so tight that nothing can
possibly leak out of the bag, and then
the lead seal is flattened. There is now
no possible way to open the bag except
or the string.
INA/HEN we receive one Of these bags
w to deliver we also receive state
ment that it contains certain amount
of money. Our job is to deliver the bag,
intact and unopened, to its destination.
If we do that, and it doesn't, when ex-
amined, have as much money as the
sender declared was in it, the response
bility lies with the sender. But If, on
reaching it's destination, the bag proves
to have been opened or damaged, or the
seal tampered with, it is our response
bility il the count Is short; our insurance
company must make good.
Zone day, when a canvas bag from
one of these chain stores reached the
bank, there was a small slit in the bot
tom of it, and about $l00 was missing.
Nobody had the faintest idea how the
slit got there The three men who had
been on the truck were men I'm whom
we had the utmost confidence, but We
them While we were still investigating
the same thing happened again. bag
from the same chain store reached the
bank with a slit and about $50 missing.
This time there had been three entirely
different men on the truck, for we make
it point to shift routes and crews con-
tipuslly.
again we could discover nothing. We
gave that car still another crew and put
on, in addition, special inspector, who
sat, during the entire trip, with his eyes
glued to the bag from that particular
store, never removing his gaze once.
Will you believe me when tell you that
to be carried into the bank, it was found
to be slit, and, of course, some money
was missing! That was certainly 'mys-
terious disappearance
was on the edge of my chair. did
you ever solve it?" asked breathlessly.
Mr.. Rose smiled at my eagerness. "YeS,
we did. I went into the silenceS and
tried to think out what possible ex-
planation would fit the circumstances.
Finally I thought up what I felt sure
was the correct solution, because it was
the only possible solution. 1t turned
out to be right"
"What was it?"
Really very simple. The thief was
the cashier who filled the bag and gave
us the statement of the amount in cash.
Every little while he would short-change
a sack-put in $100 or so less than he
was supposed to. Before he did this he
would make cut on the inside of the
bag with a razor blade-not deep
enough to go through, but deep enough
to weaken the fabric so that it was
practically sure to break, during the
trip, from the weight of the silver and
4ha instlinr Of the ear No money had