Uncle Sam Detective

with the world and when unaroused by any call of the present. He had reached the rolls and coffee stage of his meal in a spirit of detachment that took no acc

, it automatically picked up an incident that flashed a ligh

f way on its journey the hand which held it had twitched violently and spilled most of the contents. T

was this morning not himself and apprehensive lest the fact be noticed. For Alexander was of the class of men of whom it was his business to know. He was cashi

riend of a United States Senator, cashier and active head of one of the most powerful financial institutions in the community. He was a man of very great energy, but one who led a norma

us and, granting him that privilege,

y Gard went to Wheeling that very night and was no

et in the West Virginia town. "Poor but honest and not trying to borro

tand it," said Allen. "Couldn't you change your peacock

e all things possible for me. You are to convert me from a dweller in

to the cashier, he finds out what a really good fellow I am, we become friends. He gives me a letter of introduction to the man I want to meet. I return to the city and thrust myse

most likely to be used for deception, and so the special agent was taking a lot of trouble to make the right opportunity for getting friendly with Charley. That mild little man was therefore favorably impressed when he was handed a letter from his former asso

epositor needed was a little money. So he proposed that he draw checks against the bank and that the bookkeeper charge them temporarily to other accounts. The depositor would cash the checks at other banks and, when th

books of the people making them and put the money in his pocket. There was no record of it except

It is pretty safe to charge anything to the inactive account of an estate or an endowed institution. These are not often l

ecessary number of leaves out of the loose-leaf ledger to counterbalance

to be done?" abruptly

at the question. Then he said he had heard of its being done. The

d to this in such a way that the bookkeeper would seem to have begun these discussions. Then he would talk freely. He would tell so many stories that the timid Sloan would want to relate a few in furnishing his part of the en

thousand dollars, drawn on a New York bank where he has no money. At the same time he sends the New York bank a check for the same amount, drawn on you. This causes the New York bank to honor the chec

eck to a friendly bank around the corner. The messenger gets the whole amount in cash. It appears as an asset of the bank. It will be two or three days before the check will come back through the clearing house and

e had here been told a chapter out of the experience of the S

of these same directors called by a minority which was dissatisfied with certain features of its management. Director Hinton, a sprightly and quick-tempered little man, was the leader of th

to the McGrath Construction Company. It has been three years now that we have been pouring out our money to these p

tedly argued a second disaffected director. "I have been reliably inform

ponsible for the bank," said M

t where I insist on a new management. I would like t

h and intellectual brow and clear-cut features gave him a distinction that always made an impression. But the firm mouth and the damp curls were tho

lation to the Oldman Mercantile Company and had sifted them to their depths and had found them without basis in fact. However, he had just called in a block of their notes. He painted a rosy picture of the condition of the bank and the prospects of the future. He reminded the directors that they

er Allen to come to his assistance. The two of them had conferred the night before an

r to see him although he appeared not to be aware of it. It was also in accordance with the cards played by the men of the Government service that Special Agent Gard, still a bit seedy in his hand-me-down suit, was loafing on the

ssenger to another bank two blocks away and there saw him present a check. Gard crowded in on the pretense of getting a bill changed and saw blocks of bills of large denominations being taken from the vault. The messenger hu

e out of the bank for lunch, Gard should be waiting for him. It w

Take care of this package for me. It is a large photograph, rolle

ons justified for in the roll were a number of leaves from the bank's individual ledger. Gard was appalled at the a

day. Examiner Allen had called in the afternoon and had carefully looked over the balances. All appeared to be in

d National and asked to see the cashier. He had become known there as an associate of Slo

off of which were to be found the offices of the officials of the bank. He walked in and wandered down the row until he found that of the cashier. This he entered and found ent

cognized as a well-known issue of industrial bonds which the examiner had listed as one of the chief assets of the bank. It should h

rt of the bank. He was visibly startled to find some one pre

al agent very humbly. "Sloan is a friend

ou to-night. Come

come to-morro

ays," Alexander said finally. "I c

nd that he was taking a package of the bank's most valuable securities with him. He was goi

about closing time. He had asked to see the transactions of the day. Among these was found the record of the ch

of the Federal Governm

Gard. "Were they intact when yo

as in order,"

he industrials. W

00," replied

$125,000 in cash with him. The time has come for his arrest. Particularly m

g a run for Cana

" was Gard's deduction. "I am for the station and will follow him if he

lled up beside his, waited a minute, two minutes. He could see the driver from where that individual sat not six feet away and just opposite his window. Presently this ch

rth side station. We have already missed the 6:15. If you head i

edge and into motion. And there was in it a familiar note that puzzled the detective for a m

him to produce credentials to get through. He was barely able to swing into the vestibule of a sleeper as the train was getting under way. It was particularly hazardous from the standpoint of accomplishing the end he had in mind, for he did not even know if Alex

chase, or if he had cornered this fugitive master-crook, with a traveling bag containing half a million dollars of other peoples' money. He pictured the man he was after-the suave, confident, stealthy cashier, who had stolen his hundreds of thousands and had, by the very force of him, compelled his subordinates to hide hi

around the corner for a dozen eggs: 'Do be careful to bring back the change,

making sure that he saw every passenger, looking each over with sufficient scrutiny that a disguise would not have escaped him, making sure that the man

as running light and now the sleepers were practically deserted but for the nodding porters. Through one after another of these the special

t, a lounging figure by the door drew itself taut. Instinctively it put its h

t down the car and went imme

exander," he said,

t he was being followed. He sprang forward in his chair but

er, recovering himself. "The bookkee

rtment of Justice," said G

cial agent with gun drawn and the retreat cut off. Yet, like a flash, the cashier turned the knob of the door that led out upon the rear platform of the obse

mself from the train, to end all in suicide. He saw the traveling bag getting beyond his reach. It was

freedom. Only the special agent stood in his way. If he could but drop this youngster over the rail, suicide would be un

gh the darkness at seventy miles an hour made the ordinary strategy of battle uncertain. Beyond the narrow rail that skirted this platform upon which their fight was staged death

The larger man was determined that he would thrust the smaller over the rail and fling him from the train. He fought his way to the edge

shier. His arms had found an iron lock beneath his antagonist's coat and about his waist. He felt that this hold co

where it could not immediately resist a strong pressure. Already he had felt a give in the body muscles that meant the first approach of weakness. Like a flash his head was in the tall man's chest, all his strength

s around his antagonist, and was able to get the wrestler's "scissors" about his waist, thus applying p

near its end. For the flash of a moment the cashier rallied and acted. In that moment his hands se

overboard, and had waited for the coming of daylight to search for it. In the gray da

d my satchel," said

n, "but you will have to be after tellin'

illion dollars," said the spe

far as Billy Gard knows, never spoke again. He was still dumb