DETECTIVE'S RUSE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 31 July 1914, Page 2

DETECTIVE'S RUSE.

HOW A THIEF WAS TRAPPED

Some years ago a famous detective outgeneralled a criminal whose craft _ and cunning the former realised were in normal circumstances probably superior to his. The scene (says the "New York Tribune") was one of the larger cities in Pennsylvania. A bank had been robbed systematically for over i a period of four months, and after i a week spent secretly on the case the detective was pretty sure that the succession of robberies was to be laid at the cashier's door. Proof positive, however, was lacking, and the detective, although his mind was made up as to the cashier's guilt, appreciated that he ! had absolutely nothing in the way of concrete evidence wherewith to lodge even an indirect . charge against the suspected man. It was essential that the cashier be given no hint , that the robberies had been noticed, and especially no hint that he was under suspicion. Posing as a banker from the West, the detective came into contact with the cashier. Tho latter was a man of good habits and fine physique. He lived a moderate life; he drank and smoked little ;he went to bed early and got up early. What he had done with the stolen money no one know. After a day or two the " banker from the West" apparently left town, and the affairs at the bank— at loast so far as the casl lor noticed—continued to go on as usual. The cashier, who was a bachelor, lived in a superior sort of bourd-tng-!\ouse in one. of the city's best streets, which was owned by a relative of the bank president. Through the latter arrangements were soon made for the detective to occupy the room next to that occupied by the cashier, and without the cashier or other boarders being aware of the fact. THE PLOT HATCHED. This was very simple, inasmuch as the room, which had very thin walls, was occupied by the man and his wife who operated the boardinghouse. The latter were told what was under way, gave their promise of silence and assistance, and helped to carry out the detective's scheme in every detail. \ Each night the man and his wife would go into their room, and would be noticed with a "good-night" by the cashier. And, so far as the cashier knew, they retired immediately, as usual. After the cashier's door was closed, however, the detective, who had been given a key to the house, sneaked upstairs. The man and his wife now went into a small adjoining room. All this took not more than fifteen minutes, a period so brief that the cashier could not possibly fall asleep —if, indeed, he could finish his preparations for bed—before the detective got to work. Once the lights were out and the house settled for the night, the detective proceeded against the sagacious criminal brain in the next room, with persistent scrapings against the plaster, suggestive of a rat moving between the thin partitions, loud snoring when the rat scratchings ceased, a.nd frequent walking about on the carpetless rlo'.;r. The morning after the first sleepless night the cashier said nothing, not wishing to be ungentle to his supposed neighbours. About two o'clock of the second night, however, unable to sleep or rest because of the monotonous snoring, the cashier was heard to stir, open the door to his room, and come to the door of the other. Guessing what was coming, the detective awakened the landlady, told her what to do—and when the cashier rapped he was assured that she would see that her husband slept on hi^s-side, in which position he never snored. FORCED INTO CONFESSION. For three successive nights the scratchings, walking*, and other night-time noises continued, and at the end of that time the cashier stated at the breakfast table that he was completely worn "out, and was going to a hotel that night. At eleven o'clock that morning, when trying to keep his sleepymind applied to his books, the cashier was suddenly tapped on the shoulder by the detective. ••Where are the forty thousand dollars you stole ?" literally screamed the detective at him. The cashier rose and tried to , smile. "What do you mean.?" he asked with a feeble attempt to be surprised. The detective yelled out his question even louder than the first time. Again the : cashier, his senses dormant, tried to assume a puzzled look. " Come on !" shouted the detective in a voice that could be heard all over the bank. " Where's the •money ? The police are waiting in the next room to take you !" And in exactly five minutes the cashier, his mind dulled and weakened by loss of sleep, his craftiness and diplomatic cunning gone, his senses confused by the sudden charge of the detective, who to him was still the "banker from the West," confessed. The detective brain had triumphed over a stronger criminal brain by making the latter brain weaker before the real battle of wits began. At an exhibition of pets at Clacton-on-Sea, the exhibits numbered more than one hundred, ranging from a donkey to a toad. The latter took the prize for the oddest pet.