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Ep. 2 - The Mint Mystery · True Tales of The Secret Service

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Chapter two, The Mint Mystery, Mister Drummond, Wire for mister Drummond,
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Mister Drummond, please. It was the monotonous, oft repeated call of a
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Western Union boy, according to my friend Bill Quinn, formerly of the United
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States Secret Service, that really was responsible for solving the mystery which surrounded the
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disappearance of a hundred and thirty thousand dollars in gold from the Philadelphia Mint.
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The boy himself didn't have a thing to do with the gold or the finding
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of it, admitted Quinn, but his persistence was responsible for locating Drummond of
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the Secret Service, just as he was about to start on a well earned
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vacation in the Main Woods, Uncle Sam. Sleuths don't get too much time
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off, you know, and a month or so in a part of the
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world where they don't know anything about international intrigues and don't care about counterfeiting is
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a blessing not to be despised. That's the reason the boy had to be
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persistent. When he was paging Drummond. The operative had a hunch that it
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was a summons to another case, and he was dog tired. But the
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boy kept singing out the name through the train and finally landed his man,
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thus being indirectly responsible for the solution of a mystery that might have remained unsolved
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for weeks, and incidentally saved the government nearly every cent of the one hundred
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and thirty thousand dollars. When Drummond opened the telegram, continued Quinn, He
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found that it was a summons to Philadelphia signed by Hamlin, Assistant Secretary of
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the Treasury. Preston needs you at once extremely important. Read the wire,
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and as Drummond was fully aware that Preston was Director of the United States Mint,
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it didn't take much deduction to figure that something had gone wrong in the
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big building on Spring Garden Street, where a large part of the country's money
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is coined. But even the lore of the chase, something you read a
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lot about in detective stories but find too seldom in the real hard work of
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tracing criminals, did not offset Drummond's disappointment in having to defer his vacation.
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Grumbling, he gathered his bags and cut across New York to the Pennsylvania station,
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where he was fortunate enough to be able to make a train on the
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point of leaving for Philadelphia. At the Mint, he found Director Preston and
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Superintendent Bosbyshell awaiting him. Mister Hamlin wired that he had instructed you to come
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up at once, said the director, But we had hardly hoped that you
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could make it so soon wire reached me on board a train that would have
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pulled out of Grand Central Station in another three man, growled Drummond. I
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was on my way to Maine to forget all about work for a month.
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But and his face broke into a smile, since they did find me,
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what's the trouble? Trouble enough, replied the director. Some hundred and thirty
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thousand dollars in gold is missing from the mint. What Even Drummond was shaken
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out of his professional calm not to mention his grouch. Robbery of the United
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States Treasury or one of the government mints was a favorite dream with criminals,
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But save for the memorable occasion when a gang was found trying to tunnel under
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Fifteenth Street in Washington, there had been no time when the scheme was more
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than visionary. Are you certain? Isn't there any chance for a mistake?
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The questions were a perfunctory rather than hopeful. Unfortunately, not the least continued
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Preston, somebody is made away with a hundred and thirty thousand dollars worth of
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the government's money. Seven hundred pounds of gold is missing, and there isn't
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a trace to show how or where it went. The vault doors haven't been
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tampered with, the combination of the grill inside the vault is intact. Everything
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apparently is as it should be. But fifty bars of gold are missing,
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and each bar, mused Drummond, weighs fourteen pounds cut in the Superintendent Drummond
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looked at him in surprise. I beg your pardon, said Preston. This
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is mister Bosbyshell, superintendent of the Mint. This thing has gotten on my
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nerves so that I didn't have the common decency to introduce you. Mister Bosbyshell
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was with me when we discovered that the gold was missing. When was that
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yesterday afternoon, replied the Director. Every now and then, at irregular intervals,
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we weigh all the gold in the mint to make sure that everything is
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as it should be. Nothing wrong was discovered until we reached Vault six.
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But there fifty bars were missing. There wasn't any chance of error. The
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records showed precisely how much should have been there, and the scale showed how
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much there was to the fraction of an ounce. But even if we had
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only counted the bars instead of weighing each one separately, the theft would have
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been instantly discovered, for the vault contains exactly fifty bars less than it should
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have. It was then that I wired Washington and asked for assistance from the
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Secret Service, thus spoiling my vacation, muttered Drummond. How many men know
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the combination to the vault door? Only two, replied, the Superintendent Cochrane,
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who is the official weyer, and myself. Cochrane is above suspicion.
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He's been here for the past thirty years and there hasn't been a single complaint
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against him in all that time. Drummond looked as if he would like to
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ask Preston if the same could be said for the Superintendent, but he contented
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himself with listening as Bosbyshell continued. But even if Cochrane or I MI,
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yes, I'm just as much to be suspected as he could have managed to
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open the vault door unseen, we could not have gotten inside the iron grill
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which guards the gold in the interior of the vault that is always kept locked
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with a combination known to two other men. Only there is too much gold
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in each one of these vaults to take any chance with which is the reason
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for this double protection. Two men, Cochrane and I, handle the combination
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to the vault door and open it whenever necessary. Two others, Jamison and
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Struble, are the only ones that know how to open the grilled door.
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One of them has to be present whenever the bars are put in or taken
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away, for the men who can get inside the vault cannot enter the grill,
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and the men who can manipulate the grilled door can't get into the vault.
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It certainly sounds like a burglar proof combination, commented Drummond. Is there
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any possibility for conspiracy between and he hesitated for the fraction of a second between
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Cochrane and either of the men who can open the grilled door. Apparently not
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the least in the world, replied Preston. So far as we know,
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they are all as honest as the day. But the fact remains. Drummond
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interrupted that the gold is missing exactly, but the grille door was sealed with
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the official government stamp when we entered the vault yesterday. That stamp is applied
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only in the presence of both men who know the combination. So the conspiracy,
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if there be any, must have included Cochrane, Struble and Jamieson instead
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of being a two man job. How much gold did you say was missing?
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Inquired the Treasury operative, taking another tack. Seven hundred pounds fifty bars
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of fourteen pounds each, answered Bosbichhall. That's another problem that defies explanation.
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How could one man carry away all that gold without being seen. He'd need
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a dray to cart it off. And we're very careful about what goes out
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of the mint. There's a guard at the front door all the time,
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and no one is allowed to leave with a package of any kind until it
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has been examined and passed. A grunt was Drummond's only comment, and those
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who knew the Secret Service man best would have interpreted the sound to mean studious
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digestion of facts, rather than admission of even temporary defeat. It was one
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of the government detective's pet theories that every crime, no matter how puzzling,
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could be solved by application of common sense principles and the rules of logic.
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The criminal with brains, he was fond of saying, will deliberately try to
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throw you off the scent. Then you've got to take your time and separate
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the wheat from the shaft. The faults leads from the true. But the
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man who commits a crime on the spur of the moment, or who flatters
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himself that he hasn't left a single clue behind, is the one who's easy
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to catch. The cleverest cook in the world can't enter a room without leaving
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his visiting card in some way or other. It's up to you to find
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that card and read the name on it. And common sense is the best
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reading glass. Requesting that his mission be kept secret, Drummond said that he
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would like to examine vault number six. Let Cochrane open the vault for me,
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and then have Jamison and Struble open the grill. He directed, unless
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mister Bosby shall open the vault door, Preston reminded him there's no one but
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Cochrane who could do it. It won't be necessary, however, to have
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either of the others open the grill. The door was taken from its hinges
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this morning in order the better to examine the place, and it hasn't yet
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been replaced. All right, agreed Drummond. Let's have Cochrane work the outer
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combination, then I'll have a look at the other two. Later, accompanied
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by the Director and the Superintendent, Drummond made his way to the basement,
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where they were joined by the official Weer, a man well over fifty,
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who was introduced by Preston to mister Drummond, a visitor who is desirous of
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seeing the vaults. I understand that you are the only man who can open
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them, said the detective. Suppose we look into this one. As he
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stopped, as if by accident, before vault number six. Cochrane, without
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a word, bent forward and commenced to twirl the combination a few spins to
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the right, a few to the left, back to the right, to
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the left once more, and he pulled at the heavy door expectantly, but
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it failed to budge. Again, he bent over the combination, spinning it
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rapidly. Still, the door refused to open. I'm afraid I'll have to
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ask you to help me with this, Superintendent Cochrane said. Finally, it
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doesn't seem to work somehow, But under Bosby Shell's manipulation, the door swung
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back almost instantly. Nothing wrong with the combination, commented Preston. Drummond smiled.
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Has the combination been changed recently, he asked, not for the past
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month. Bosby Shehell replied. We usually switch all of them six times a
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year, just as a general precaution, But this has been the same for
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the past few weeks, ever since the fifteenth of last month, to be
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precise. Inside the vault, Drummond found that, as Preston had stated,
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the door to the grill had been taken from its hinges to facilitate the work
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of the men who had weighed the gold, and had not been replaced.
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Where are the gold bars, asked the detective. The place looks like it
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had been well looted. They were all taken out this morning to be carefully
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weighed, was Preston's reply. I'd like to see some of them stacked up
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there along the side of the grill. If it isn't too much trouble,
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surely, said Bosbyshell, I'll have the men bring them in at once.
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As soon as the superintendent had left the room, Drummond requested that the door
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of the grill be placed in its usual position, and Cochrane set it up
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level with the floor, leaning against the supports at the side. Is that
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the way it always stays, inquired the secret serviceman, No, sir,
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but it's pretty heavy to handle, and I thought you just wanted to get
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a general idea of things. I'd like to see it in place. If
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you don't mind here, I'll help you with it. But we'd better slip
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our coats off, for it looks like a man sized job, and he
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removed his coat as he spoke. After Cochrane had followed his example, the
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two of them hung the heavy door from its hinges and stepped back to get
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the effect. But Drummond's eyes were fixed not upon the entrance to the grille,
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but on the middle of Cochrane's back, and when the opportunity offered an
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instant later, he shifted his gaze to the waist of the elder man's trousers.
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Thing that he saw there caused the shadow of a smile to flit across
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his face. Thanks, he said, that will do nicely, and he
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made a quick gesture to Preston that he would like to have Cochrane leave the
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vault very much obliged, mister Cochrane, said the director. We won't bother
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you any more. You might ask those men to hurry in with the bars,
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if you will. And the wayer, pausing only to secure his coat,
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left the vault. Why all the stage setting, inquired Preston, you
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don't suspect I don't suspect a thing, Drummond smiled, searching for his own
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coat, beyond the fact that the solution to the mystery is so simple as
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to be almost absurd. By the way, have you noticed those scratches on
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the bars of the grille about four feet from the floor. No, I
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hadn't, admitted the director. But what of them? These vaults aren't new,
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you know, and I dare say you'd find similar marks on the grill
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bars in any of the others. I hope not, Drummond replied grimly,
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for that would almost certain me in a shortage of golden other sections of the
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mint. Incidentally, has all the rest of the gold been weighed, every
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ounce of it? Nothing missing outside of the seven hundred pounds from this vault.
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Not a particle. Good, then I'll be willing to lay a small
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wager that you can't find the duplicates of these scratches anywhere else in the mint,
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and Drummond smiled at the director's perplexity. When the men arrived with a
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truck loaded with gold bars, they stacked them at the superintendent's direction, along
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the side of the grill nearest the vault entrance. Is that the way they
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are usually arranged, inquired Drummond. Yes. The grill bars are of tempered
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steel, and the openings between them are too small to permit anyone to put
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his hand through. Therefore, as we are somewhat pressed for space, we
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stack them up right along the outer wall of the grill and then work back.
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It saves time and labor in bringing them in. Is this the way
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the door of the grill ordinarily hangs? Bosby Shall inspected it a moment before
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he replied yes, He said, it appears to be all right. It
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was purposely made to swing clear of the floor and the ceiling so that it
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might not become jammed. The combination and the use of the seal prevents its
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being opened by anyone who has no business in the grill. And the seal
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was intact when you came in yesterday afternoon. It was thanks, said Drummond,
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that was all I wanted to know, and he made his way upstairs
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with a smile which seemed to say that his vacation in the main Woods had
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not been indefinitely postponed. Once back in the Director's office, the government operative
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asked permission to use the telephone, and, calling the Philadelphia office of the
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Secret Service, requested that the three agents be assigned to meet him downtown as
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soon as possible. Have you a record of the home address of the people
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employed in the mint, Drummond inquired of the director as he hung up the
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receiver. Surely, said Preston, producing a typewritten list from the drawer of
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his desk. I'll borrow this for a while if I may. I'll probably
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be back before three o'clock and bring some news with me too, And the
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operative was out of the room before Preston could frame a single question. As
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a matter of fact, the clock in the director's office pointed to two thirty
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when Drummond returned, accompanied by the three men who had been assigned to assist
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him. Have you discovered anything, Preston demanded. Let's have Cochrane up here
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first. Drummond smiled, I can't be positive until I've talked to him.
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You might have the superintendent in too, he'll be interested in developments. I
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think Bosby Shell was the first to arrive, and, at Drummond's request,
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took up a position on the far side of the room. As soon as
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he had entered, two of the other secret servicemen ranged themselves on the other
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side of the doorway, and the moment Cochrane came in closed the door behind
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him. Cochrane said, Drummond, what did you do with the seven hundred
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pounds of gold that you took from vault number six during the past few weeks?
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What? What? Stammered the weier. There's no use bluffing, continued
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the detective. We've got the goods on you. The only thing missing is
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the gold itself, and the sooner you turn it over, the more lenient
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the government will be with you. I know how you got the bars out
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of the grill. A piece of bent wire was sufficient to dislodge them from
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the top of the pile nearest the grill bars, and it was easy to
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slip them under the door. No wonder the seal was never tampered with.
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It wasn't necessary for you to go inside the grill at all. But more
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than that, I know how you carried the bars one at a time out
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of the mint. It took these three men less than an hour this afternoon
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to find the tailor who fixed the false pocket in the front of your trousers.
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The next time you try a job of this kind, you'd better attend
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to all these details yourself. And it needed only one look at your suspenders
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this morning to see that they were a good deal wider and heavier than necessary.
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That long coat you were in the habit of wearing is just the thing
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to cover up any suspicious bulge in your garments, and the guard at the
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door, knowing you, would never think of telling you to stop unless you
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carried a package or something else contrary to orders. The people in your neighborhood
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say that they've seen queer bluish lights in the basement of your house on Woodland
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Avenue. So I suspect you've been melting that gold up and hiding it somewhere,
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ready for a quick getaway. Yes, Cochrane, We've got the goods
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on you. And if you want to save half of a twenty years sentence,
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which at your age means life, come across with the information where is
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the gold in the old sewer pipe? Faltered the wear who appeared to have
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aged ten years while Drummond was speaking In the old sewer pipe that leads from
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my basement, good, exclaimed Drummond. I think mister Preston will use his
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influence with the court to see that your sentence isn't any heavier than necessary.
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It's worth that much to guard the mint against future losses of the same kind,
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isn't it, mister Director, It surely is, replied Preston. But
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how in the name of Heaven did you get the answer so quickly? Drummond
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delayed his answer until Cochrane, accompanied by the three secret servicemen, had left
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the room. Then nothing but common sense, he said. You remember those
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scratches I called your attention to the ones on the side of the grill bars.
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They were a clear indication of the way in which the gold had been
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taken from the grill, knocked down from the top of the pile with a
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piece of wire and pulled under the door of the grill. That eliminated Jamison
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and Struble immediately. They needn't have gone to that trouble. Even if it
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had been possible for them to get into the vault in the first place.
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But I had my suspicions of Cockman when he was unable to open the vault
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door. That pointed to nervousness, and nervousness indicated a guilty conscience. I
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made the hanging of the grill door an excuse to get him to shed his
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coat, though I did want to see whether the door came all the way
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down to the floor, and I noted that his suspenders were very broad and
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his trousers abnormally wide around the waist. He didn't want to take any chances
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with that extra fourteen pounds of gold. You know, it would never do
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to drop it in the street. The rest is merely corroborative. I found
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that bluish lights had been observed in the basement of Cochrane's house, and one
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of my men located the tailor who had enlarged his trousers. That's really all
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there was to it with that. Drummond started to the door, only to
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be stopped by Director Preston's inquiry as to where he was going on my vacation,
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which you interrupted this morning, replied the secret serviceman. It's a good
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thing I did. Preston called after him. If Cochrane had really gotten away
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with that gold, we might never have caught him, which, as Bill
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Quinn said when he finished his narrative, is the reason I claim that the
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telegraph boy who persisted in paging Drummond is the one who was really responsible for
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the saving of some hundred and thirty thousand dollars that belonged to Uncle Sam.
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But surely, I said that case was an exception in rapidity of action.
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I mean, don't government investigations usually take a long time, frequently, admitted
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Quinn. They drag on and on for months, sometimes years. But it
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seldom that Uncle Sam fails to land his man, even though the trail leads
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into the realms of royalty, as in the Iperanga case that happened before the
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World War opened. But it gave the State Department a mighty good line on
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what to expect from Germany. End of Chapter two.