Part 35

But here was a complication. The nephew must be saved if possible, and Mr. Perkins could not bear the exposure which would involve his niece in disgrace, and we were nonplussed what to do.

We arranged, finally, that since the inmates of the house did not _know_ for certainty that this teacher was the villain, that we would let it go abroad that we had all been out, together with the teacher, watching the villains; that the teacher had suffered a severe fall when getting over a high fence, and that we had come home with him--all this upon the condition that the avails of all his robberies should be restored to the rightful parties, and that he should allow Mr. Perkins to go and draw, on his order, all his money in a certain bank in Cincinnati, where he said he had at the time twenty-eight hundred dollars, which we found to be true; and that he should in the end accompany me to Pittsburg, Pa., which he declared to be the theatre of his first essays in crime, and where he said he was willing to deliver himself up to the authorities for old offences; for he was as penitent a man, in appearance, as I ever saw, and said he would rather go to State's Prison for life, than be longer pursued by terrible temptations to crime.

One of our party was left with him that night, armed, and bidden to shoot him if he attempted to escape; and the rest went forth. We found the place of deposit under the barn, removed everything therefrom to a safe place, and next morning Mr. Perkins called on the young farmer, took him out to the barn, and showed him my bull's-eye watch.

"Did you ever see that, sir."

"No," said the young man.

"No lies sir," said Mr. P----; "we are going to do you no harm. The villain" (the music teacher) "has told us all about it. We have removed the things from down there" (pointing to the place of deposit), "and you are caught, beyond hope of escape."

The young man turned pale, fell over upon Mr. Perkins's breast, and groaned out, "O God, that villain, as you call him, has ruined me! I could not resist him; he dragged me along against my will. I have suffered tortures of conscience. I cannot resist him! O, spare me!"

"Yes, yes," said P----, affected to tears by the young man's sufferings, "I believe you. You have been under a spell. We will see what can be done for you. As for myself, I forgive you."

That day there was a private conference of the discovering parties at Mr. Perkins's house. The whole matter was discussed, and it was concluded that the villain should suffer his just punishment in Pennsylvania rather than in Ohio; that he should leave with "Dr. Hudson," and be no more heard of there; that the young farmer should be allowed to repent; and that so many of his relations, the committee-man with the rest, should not be put to the disgrace of his public punishment. He was sent for, and came; and a more harrowing case of an accusing conscience than was his, imagination, in its wildest flights, could hardly depict. I felt for him to the bottom of my soul. The teacher, who was so watched that he could by no means escape, was sent for too, and when he came, the poor young farmer looked at him with bewildering horror. The whole matter was discussed before him, his order duly made on the bank, and Mr. Perkins departed next day to draw the money. Meanwhile it was arranged that the other property should all be brought and deposited in Mr. Perkins's barn at night, with a note accompanying it, that the robbers, having no use for it, wished it distributed to those to whom it belonged; which, becoming known to the villagers, there was a throng for hours at the barn next day, --one recognizing and claiming this silver spoon,--some old watch--this watch chain--that silver snuff-box (with the snuff and the veritable "bean" in it), as the owner said, and so on and so on, together with a few valuable books, all small articles, and many of them ladies' ornaments. How they came to the barn, is, I suppose, a mystery still to the villagers.

Mr. Perkins returned with the money, was paid back all that had been robbed from him, and the teacher insisted that he should take a hundred dollars more. The teacher paid his bills in town, being all the time closely watched by some two of us, and the residue of the money was put into my hands. A strict oath of eternal secrecy was taken by Perkins and the other four gentlemen, on account of the penitent young farmer. (I wish I dare to tell what has become of him, but it might lead to his identification. Suffice it that he was, when I last heard about him, only a year and a half ago, regarded as the finest and best young man anywhere to be found. He had married a niece of Mr. Perkins, by the way. And here, perhaps, I ought to say that "Perkins" is not the proper name of my friend, but one I have used for convenience; for it would be a wretched thing to do to give any clew to the young farmer's identification.)

Finally, all being settled, the music teacher consenting to the suggestion of the committee that I should be paid out of his funds one thousand dollars, then and there, and I keeping the rest of his money, we bade our friends good by, and started on our way to Pittsburg. I had no trouble with the teacher on my way to Cincinnati (it was given out, by the by, that he was going to study medicine with "Dr. Hudson"); but when we arrived in Cincinnati I took him aside, told him he was my prisoner, and that I would give him a disguise, so that he need not be subject to shame in case we encountered, on our way, anybody he might know; but that he must submit to be manacled in travelling with me farther, for I feared he would escape. He consented to this.

I started with him from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, and arriving there, placed him in charge of parties at the hotel where I stopped. He wanted to write some letters, he said, and I let him do so. One of them was to the lady he had left behind, Mr. Perkins's niece. The letters could not go till the morning's mail, and I could not, of course, let those to others than the young lady go without reading them myself, for they might mean mischief. Intending to take proper legal proceedings the next day, I had him placed in a small room leading out from my sleeping-room, and without a door except that into my room, and with no avenue for light, save a small window at the top, divested him of his clothes, which I put back of my bed, and caused my door to be guarded outside all night. I suppose I slept with unusual soundness, for I heard not the slightest noise from his room. On awaking in the morning I called to him. There was no answer; and I jumped out of bed, and went into his room, only to find him hanging, cold and dead, from a clothes peg in the side of the wall in the room! He had somehow managed to strip a piece from a sheet without awakening me, rolled it into a small rope, and hung himself by this peg. He proved himself a young man of spirit in his last act; for his legs were bent up to keep his feet from the floor--the rope being too long, or having stretched evidently.

Such was the end of the music teacher; and not the least interesting fact touching him was, that he was from one of the first New England families, well educated, expelled college in his second year for some "romantic conduct" which bordered on crime, and was shunned by his high-toned Puritanic relations,--mercilessly treated, in short,--and to this fact, I conceive, may be attributed his downfall in part. Mercy and forgiveness, bestowed at the proper time, are among the best preventives of a course of crime once entered upon.

The music teacher's letters were never sent to their intended destinations. That to the young lady was very kindly, telling her that his love for her was an infatuation, from which he had broken away; that they were not suited to live together after all; that she would probably never hear from him again, for years at least (!), and that he hoped her every joy. I did not think it best to forward it to her. She married, in a year or two after his "desertion," to a fine man, so "Mr. Perkins," when I last saw him, told me, and was very happy, and still in blissful ignorance of the fate of the "heartless" but brilliant music teacher, and finally brave (?) suicide.

THE COOL-BLOODED GOLD ROBBER, AND THE WAY HE WAS TRACKED.

A SUDDEN CALL--GREAT CONSTERNATION AT THE ---- BANK IN WALL STREET--TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN GOLD STOLEN--A HARD, INSOLUBLE CASE--"TRY," THE SOUL OF SUCCESS--BANKS COMPELLED TO GREATEST CAUTIOUSNESS--NO ESPRIT DE CORPS AMONG MONEY-CHANGERS--THE WAY I "CREATED" DETECTIVES--RAG-PICKERS MADE USEFUL ABOVE THEIR CALLING--AN UP-TOWN CARRIAGE HOUSE, AND ITS TREASURES--A LAUGHING COACHMAN--A PRESENT--COMPLICATED EVIDENCE UNRAVELLED--AN OLD OFFICE-WOMAN INVOLVED IN THE MYSTERY--A BIT OF FUN FURNISHES THE DESIRED "KEY"--"SMOUCHING," AND WHAT CAME OF IT--EXTENDING MY ACQUAINTANCESHIP--THE THIEF FOUND--A WALL STREET BROKER--STUDYING HIM--HIS CLERK WILED AWAY--GOOD USE OF THEATRE TICKETS--THE SCHEME OF IDENTIFICATION; A PLOT WITHIN A PLOT--THE BROKER WORSTED--HE STRUGGLES WITHIN HIMSELF; GROWS PALE--HOW HE EXECUTED THE ROBBERY--THE TERRIBLE "FORCE OF EXAMPLE" SOMETIMES--THE THIEF BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE COMMON COUNCIL--A SALUTARY WARNING TO OTHER THIEVES.

"Sir, can you come right down at once to the ---- Bank?" (It was and is in Wall Street.) "Mr. ---- (the president) wants to see you if possible," exclaimed a messenger, one day, less than ten years ago, as he bolted into my office in great haste; and this was the opening to me of a case in which I did, perhaps, more hard work than I ever performed in working out any other case.

"No, I can't go now; don't think I can get there to-day. I've too much to do; but what's the trouble?"

"O, dear, I can't tell you that. I only, know that Mr. ----, the president, is greatly excited, and he told me to be sure to bring you now; to hunt after you if you were not here, and bring you at any rate."

"Well, if it is so urgent a matter, I must run down there for a minute--say that I'll be there in a half hour, if possible; if not, in an hour, say. I've documents here that _must_ be finished and sent off before I stir," said I; and an hour or so brought me to the bank, between four and five o'clock of the afternoon. It was closed, of course, for banking purposes, but the watching janitor hardly waited for ordinary ceremony before I was half-dragged into the entrance-way. The president at once took me to the private or directors' room, and told me that a half hour before sending for me they had missed a bag containing ten thousand dollars in gold, that every search had been made for it, and that one of the clerks thought he recollected something having been said by somebody that day about that bag. He even thought somebody had taken it up or out in his presence, but his impression was like a dim recollection of things passed twenty years ago, and this was all the president could say about it. The making up of the books, balancing accounts, etc., had kept the clerks after banking hours, as usual, and he had sent for me as soon as possible, thinking that I might devise some theory to account for the lost gold, and that promptness was the best course.

I asked if there had been much business done there that day, and I found that they had been unusually occupied. I learned the location of the bag in the big safe, and saw that no thief could have come slyly in and got to the safe without being detected, so numerous were the clerks, some of whom were constantly behind the desks, back of which the thief would have to go. There was no clerk whom the president dare suspect. They were all well tried young men, in whom every confidence had heretofore been reposed, and who had ever proved worthy of the trust placed in them. Besides, none of them, except at noon, when they had gone out to lunch, not singly, but two together at least, had been out of the bank since morning, and it was sure that the bag was in the safe that morning. In fact, it had then been brought there from the vault, with other moneys; so that to suspect any one, rendered it necessary to suspect another in concert with him. Moreover, if one had been in concert with a thief, who had come in to receive the bag, he could hardly have taken the bag out without some one's noticing him.

With these reflections and my examinations, I candidly told the president that it would cost too much to work up the case on any theory which I could conceive of; that his only hope was in waiting for something to be disclosed by accident, perhaps; but that he probably would never hear of the money, or know any more about the matter than he now knew, unless this suspicion of mine should happen to be correct (but how could we be sure of that?), namely, that the abstraction of this gold was the work of some bold thief, who, having studied the place, and giving himself a clerkly style, had suddenly dropped in when the bank was full of customers and the clerks much occupied, and passed himself off for one of them for a few seconds, taken the bag, and walked off with it as coolly as he came in.

But the president, and I too, after surveying matters again, conceived that an impossibility--"almost"--still there _was_ the barest possibility that such might have been the fact. But if it were, how get a clew to the thief? How ever identify one dollar, or rather a single one of the ten dollar pieces? (for it was all in ten dollar pieces, in rolls: a heavy bag to snatch and carry away unperceived). There was a serious difficulty in that.

Of course I made the minutest inquiry as to the style of the bag, and was shown three or four which were said to be exactly like it, and took down upon my diary a copy of the special marks upon these. But I kept thinking all the while that it was folly to do this; and I dismissed reasoning upon the subject, and thought I might as well "trust luck" as to refuse to, especially as the president, in his urgency, said if I would "scour the city thoroughly," he would pay me so much a day for my time, for a given number of days, and that if I found any of the money I might have half of it besides. I told him his offer was hardly acceptable professionally; that I had my certain charges for my work by the day, dependent in amount a little upon the nature of the case, and that that would satisfy me; and that although I had about as much confidence in finding out the thief, or discovering the money, as I would have in labelling a plank "Philadelphia," and throwing it into the bay at ebb tide, with the expectation it would float directly to the "City of Brotherly Love," and land itself duly; yet I would try.

"Well, that's all I can ask. 'Try' that's the word," said the president; "and allow me to say that I know that _means_ something with you, and I cannot say why I feel a confidence that you will succeed, for everything seems to be against us. Yet I _do_ feel that success in part, at least, will be yours. We shall hear where that money has gone to, even if we cannot secure a dollar of it. But there must nothing be said outside of the bank. I cautioned the clerks before you came; for in my whole life I have never been more ashamed of anything than of this loss, whether it is the theft of one person, clerk, or what not, or another: and if it should be the fact that this is only one of those bold robberies which have sometimes taken place, I should feel more chagrined than ever."

So I was to keep the matter a profound secret, at any rate; which is the reason why I may not at least introduce a name or two, which I should, for some reasons, be pleased to make public.

It is not a wise thing for a bank to make known to the public a loss of the kind. It looks like negligence in the conduct of its affairs. The public, too, would be disposed to think, even when the truth is told, that the statement is intended to cover the fact of a greater loss, or that a defalcation for example, instead of a robbery, has taken place. There is nothing like an _esprit de corps_ among banks. Each acts for itself,--mercilessly, as regards every other bank,--unless, perhaps, when some question of a proposed general tax, which may be thought too high, is mooted; and each must look out for its reputation for soundness with scrupulous care.

Time went on, and, engrossed in other affairs, I paid but little heed to this, comparatively, though I did "try." My first step was to visit several of the rag-gatherers and purchasers about the city, and offer a large reward to each of them should he chance to become possessed of a peculiarly marked bag (which I described), in such a manner as to be able to trace its history into his hands. In this way I made "detectives" of quite a number of persons. I suspected that the thief would, of course, destroy the bag, yet I thought it possible that, in the flush of his success, he might throw it by, and that with other things--old papers perhaps--it might get to the old rag and paper men's hands. Besides, I visited certain points where thieves resort, and certain gambling saloons, with the intent of seeing if anybody there was peculiarly "flush" with gold, and I secured the assistance of certain brethren of the profession to the same end. But I could learn of nobody who seemed to have had a "windfall" of late, and it was so long before I got the slightest report from any of the rag-men, that, when I did, I suspected that the money would be dissipated, or so "scattered to the four winds," even if it led to the fastening of suspicion upon somebody, that I had but little impulse to pursue the matter.

But finally, a dealer in rags sought me, saying that he had come across the bag in question, he thought, but that it was not in his possession, and he had not thought it best to try to get hold of it till I had seen it. It was in an up-town carriage-house, the latter belonging to one of the old aristocracy, and he suspected the bag belonged to the coachman. He had been called into the house, in the prosecution of his business, to buy several bags of old rags, paper, etc., and as the rags, old clothes, etc., were promiscuously thrown together into the bags, without reference to color or quality, it was difficult to put a price upon them; the white ones predominating, the housekeeper would not sell them for the price he would give for unassorted rags, and so the bags were taken to the carriage-house, to be assorted and weighed there. While engaged with the stable-man and one of the servant girls in running over the rags, his eye happened to light upon a bag tied with a string, and hanging on a peg, which he saw, by a peculiar mark, must be like the one I had described to him so long before; and he asked the stable-man what was kept in that bag hung up so nicely, and got the reply that it held some of the coachman's knickknacks; and he thought best, to make no further inquiries then; but, putting his hand upon it, he found it held several things which "felt hard, like iron;" and this was all he knew about it, save that he, at the time he felt of it, took occasion to examine the marks upon it further, and felt assured that it was just the bag in question. He was quite enthusiastic over his discovery, and wished me to go at once, and look for myself.

But I could not leave that day, and making an appointment with him for the next day, met him as agreed, and proceeded to the carriage house. Fortunately we got in, without being under the necessity of asking to have the gate opened, as we watched an opportunity when the carriage was about being driven out. My friend the rag-man engineered the _entree_ under my instructions, referring to his having assorted rags there a day or two before, and easily got on the good side of the coachman, while I looked after the bag, which my friend had told me where to find without trouble. I made up my mind instantly that that was the bag in question, and sitting down lazily on a box in the carriage-house, got into a good-natured talk with the coachman. It was easy to be seen that he was an innocent enough fellow, and could never have been guilty of the robbery, or of complicity therein. But I was at a loss to know how to approach him on the subject of the bag. At last I got up and walked about, and surveying the things,--various carriages, light buggies, harnesses, etc., in the barn, which the coachman was pleased enough to hear me compliment on their order and neatness, etc.,--I at length listlessly approached the bag, and taking hold of it, said, "Well, that's a funny mark--coat of arms, I 'spose?" giving the coachman a slight wink.

He laughed in his easy-going way, and said, "You're disposed to joke, I see. No, that's not _my_ coat of arms; I could not afford it--he! he! he!--but it's my bag, I confess."

"I've got one just like it at home," said I; "pretty good bag to wear. I wonder where a fellow could get another like it?"

"I don't know. I got that off a heap of rags, in a cart that was standing on the corner here one morning, two or three weeks ago,--gave the boy six cents for it. Don't know where you could get another."

"What will you take for it?"

"He! he! _hee!_" exclaimed the coachman, bursting with laughter, as if I had said a comical thing. "Why, do you take me for a rag-dealer? he! he! he! I wouldn't sell it for nothing; but do you want it much?"

"O, no, not much, but I should like it? want it badly enough to pay you for it--what you've a mind to ask."

"Wal, I'll give it to you. I thought that morning I wanted it to put screws and bolts in, but I've got a nice stand here since, and I can throw 'em in the drawer," as he pointed out the "stand," and proceeded to take down the bag and pour the bolts, etc., into the drawer, and handing the bag to me, said, "Here, I'll make you a present of this 'ere thing,--he! he! hee!" I took it, of course, and thanked him.

Having got the bag into my possession, I asked him if he ever saw the man before of whom he bought the bag.

"'Twasn't a man, but a boy, that goes by here, every few days, with a cart."

"Would you know him anywhere you might see him?"

"Yes, he's got a curious look about him that everybody would remember."

"You've seen him often?"

"Yes. I have seen him go by here ever so many times within a year."

"Well, I want to find him; and can I hire you to go with me to-day and pick him out? I'll take you among the rag-pickers, and I will pay you well."

"He! he! _hee!_ That's funny that you want to find that nasty-looking chap. Yes, I'll go with you now,--in ten minutes, if 'tain't too fur."

"We can go in an hour; but perhaps 'twon't be the best time to find him. He may be out, and we shall not know whom to inquire for; and if we get on track of anybody that we think is he, may be you'll have to go again to-morrow. They'll tell us when he'll be apt to be found at home."

"I'd know him by his dog, say nothing of himself," interposed the coachman. "Yes, I'll go;" and the coachman got ready, and we started off for Sixty-second Street, where there were then a number of low houses, occupied by rag-pickers. I thought I would go up instead of down in the city, as the coachman said the loaded cart of the rag-man was headed that way. We took a Fourth Avenue car, and had not gone more than half way to our point of destination, when the coachman, who was standing on the platform, having given his seat to a lady, violently pulled the bell, and called to me: "See here, mister" (for I had given him no name as yet), "here's the very fellow we're after;" and I got out with him, and he ran to catch the rag-man, whom we had just past, and I came up as he had stopped him.