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Ep. 19 - The Clue in the Classified Column · True Tales of The Secret Service

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Chapter nineteen, the clue in the classified column, Quinn tossed his evening paper
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aside with a gesture in which disgust was mingled in equal proportion with annoyance.
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Why is it, he inquired testily, that some fools never learn anything.
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Possibly that's because they're fools, I suggested, what's the trouble? Now?
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Look at that? And the former secret Service operative recovered the paper long enough
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to indicate a short news item near the bottom of the first page, an
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item which bore the headline new fifty dollars counterfeit discovered. Yes, I agreed,
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there always are people foolish enough to change bills without examining them any too
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closely. But possibly this one is very cleverly faked fools not to examine them,
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echoed Quinn, That isn't the direction in which the idiocy lies. The
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fools are the people who think they can counterfeit Uncle Sam's currency and get away
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with it. Barnum must have been right. There's a sucker born every minute,
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and those that don't try to beat the ponies or buck the stock market
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turned to counterfeiting for a living. They get it too. In Leavenworth or
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Atlanta or some other place that maintains a federal penitentiary. They never seem to
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learn anything by others experience either. You'd think after the Thorne case it would
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be perfectly apparent that no one could beat the counterfeiting game for long. The
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Thorne case, I don't seem to remember that the name is unusual. But
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yes, and that wasn't the only part of the affair that was out of
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the ordinary, Quinn at him, Spencer Graham also contributed some work that was
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well off the beaten path, not forgetting the assistance rendered by a certain young
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woman. Probably the most remarkable portion of the case, continued Quinn, was
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the fact that Graham didn't get in on it until Threeine had been arrested.
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Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for his work in breaking through an ironclad alibi,
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the government might have been left high and dry with a trunk full of
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suspicions and mighty little else. Somewhere around the latter part of August, the
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New York branch of the Secret Service informed Washington that a remarkably clever counterfeit fifty
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dollar bill had turned up in Albany, a bill in which the engraving was
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practically perfect, and the only thing missing from the paper was the silk fiber.
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This, however, was placed by tiny red and blue lines drawn in
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indelible ink. The finished product was so exceptionally good that if it had not
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been for the linxlike eyes of a paying teller, plus the highly developed sense
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of touch which bank officials accumulate, the note would have been changed without a
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moment's hesitation. The man who presented it, who happened to be well known
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to the bank officials, was informed that the bill was counterfeit, and the
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matter was reported through the usual channels. A few days later, another bill,
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evidently from the same batch, was picked up in Syracuse, and from
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that time on it reigned counterfeits so hard that every teller in the state through
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a fit whenever a fifty dollar bill came in, either for deposit or for
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change. Hardly had the flow of upstate counterfeits lessened than the bill began to
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make their appearance in and around New York, sometimes in banks, but more
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often in the resorts patronized by bookmakers from Jamaica and the other nearby race tracks.
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The significance of this fact didn't strike the Secret Service men assigned to the
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case until the horses had moved southward. The instant one of the bills was
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reported in Baltimore, two operatives were ordered to haunt the paramutual booths at Pimlico,
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with instructions to pay particular attention to the windows where the larger wagers were
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laid. An expert in counterfeits also took up his position inside the cage to
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signal the men outside as soon as a phony bill was presented. It was
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during the rush of the betting, after the two year olds had gone to
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the post for the first race, that the signal came indicating that a man
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about forty five years of age, a well dressed and well groomed, had
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exchanged two of the counterfeits for a one hundred dollar ticket on the favorite Hollister,
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and she and the secret servicemen took no chances with their prey, neither
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did they run the risk of arresting him prematurely, figuring that it was well
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within the realms of possibility that he had received the bills in exchange for other
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money, and that he was therefore ignorant of the fact that they were spurious.
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They contented themselves with keeping close to him during the race and the interval
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which followed. When the favorite one, the man they were watching, cashed
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his bet and stowed his winnings away in a trousers pocket. Then, after
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a prolonged examination of the jockeys, the past performances, and the weights of
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the various horses, he made his way back to the window to place another
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bet. Again the signal, and this time Hollister and she enclosed in in
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their man, notifying him that he was under arrest and advising him to come
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along without creating any disturbance. Arrest for what he demanded, passing counterfeit money,
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replied Hollister, flashing his badge. Then, as the man started a
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protest, she encounseled him to reserve his arguments until later, and the trio
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made their way out of the enclosure in silence. When searched in Baltimore,
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two sums of money were found upon the suspect, one roll in his left
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hand trousers pocket being made up of genuine currency, including that which he had
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received for picking the winner of the first race, and the one in the
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right hand pocket being entirely of counterfeit fifty dollars bills forty eight in number.
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When questioned, the prisoner claimed that his name was Robert J. Thorene of
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New Haven, and added that there were plenty of people in the Connecticut city
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who would vouch for his respectability. Then why, inquired the chief of the
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Secret Service, who had come over from Washington to take charge of the case.
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Do you happen to have two thousand, four hundred dollars in counterfeit money
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on you? At that moment, Thorne dropped his bomb, or rather one
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of the many, which rendered the case far from monotonous. If you'll search
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my room at the Belvedere, he suggested, you'll find some five thousand dollars
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more. What demanded the chief, do you admit that you deliberately brought seven
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thousand, five hundred dollars of counterfeit money here and tried to pass it?
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I had meant nothing, corrected the arrested man. You stated that the fifty
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dollars bills which you found upon me when I was searched against my will were
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faults. I'll take your word for that, but if they are counterfeit,
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I'm merely telling you that there are a hundred more like them in my room
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at the hotel. Of course, you're willing to state where they came from,
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suggested the chief, who was beginning to sense the fact that something underlay
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Thorne's apparent sincerity. Certainly I found them old stuff, sneered one of the
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operatives standing nearby. Not only an old alibi, but one which you'll have
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a pretty hard time proving. Do you happen to have a copy of yesterday's
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news, handy, Thorne asked. When the paper was produced, He turned
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rapidly to the lost and Found column and pointed to an advertisement which appeared there
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found an envelope containing a sum of money. Owner may recover same by notifying
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Robert J. Thereene Belvedere Hotel and proving property there. He continued, after
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reading the advertisement aloud, that is the notice which I inserted after finding the
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money, which you say is counterfeit. Where did you find it? In
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the Pennsylvania station night before last, I had just come in from New York
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and chanced to see the envelope lying under one of the rows of seats in
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the center of the waiting room. It attracted my attention, but when I
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examined it, I was amazed to find that it contained one hundred and fifty
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fifty dollars bills, all apparently brand new, naturally, and cared a part
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with the money unless I was certain that I was giving it up to the
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rightful owner. So I carried it with me to the hotel and advertised the
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loss at once. The next afternoon I went out to the track and found,
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when it was too late, that the only money I had with me
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was that contained in the envelope. I used a couple of the bills one
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and being superstitious, decided to continue betting with that money. That's the reason
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I used it this afternoon. Come to think of it, you won't find
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the original five thousand dollars in my room. Part of it is the money
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which I received at the track, and which I replaced in order to make
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up the sum I found. But most of the bills are there, you
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said, remarked the chief, striking another tack. That your name is Threene,
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and that you of a New Haven. What business are you in Stationary?
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You'll find that my rating in brad Streets is excellent, even though my
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capital may not be large. What's more, and here the man's voice became
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almost aggressive. Any bank in New Haven and any member of the Chamber of
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Commerce will vouch for me. I've a record of ten years there and some
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ten in Lowell, mass which will bear the closest possible inspection. And he
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was right at that. In the first place, a search of his room
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at the hotel brought to light a large official envelope containing just the sum of
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money he had mentioned, counterfeit bills and real ones. Secondly, a wire
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to New Haven elicited the information that Robert J. Thereene, answering to description
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and he received, has operated a successful stationary store here for the past ten
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years, financial standing, excellent, wide circle of friends, all of whom
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vouch for his character and integrity. When this wire was forwarded to Washington,
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the Chief having returned to headquarters, Spencer Graham received a hurry up call to
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report in the main office. There, he was informed that he was to
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take charge of the Thorne case and see what he could find out. I
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don't have to tell you, added the Chief, that it's rather a delicate
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matter. Either the man is the victim of circumstances, in which case we'll
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have to release him with profound apologies and begin all over again, or he's
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a mighty clever crook. We can't afford to take any chances. The case
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as it finally stands, will have to be presented in court, and therefore
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must be proof against the acid test of shrewd lawyers for the defense lawyers who
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will rely upon the newspaper advertisement and thorene spotless record as indications of his innocence.
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That being the case, chief, why take any chances right now?
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The case hasn't gotten into the papers, So why not release Thorene and keep
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him under constant surveillance. Matt wouldn't be a bad idea. The moment he
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started to leave the country, we could nab him, and meanwhile we would
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have plenty of time to look into the matter. Of course, there's always
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the danger of suicide, but that's proof of guilt and it would save the
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Service a lot of work in the long run. Good idea will do it.
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So it was Robert J. Thereene of New Haven was released from custody
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with the apologies of the Secret Service, who retained the counterfeit money but returned
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the real bills. While Spencer Graham went to work on the Baltimore end of
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the case, four operatives took up the job of trailing the stationer, and
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Rita Clark found that she had important business to transact in Connecticut. Anyone who
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didn't know Rita would never have suspected that back of her brown eyes lay a
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fund of information upon a score of subjects, including stenography, the best methods
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of filing, cost accounting, and many other points which rendered her invaluable around
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an office. Even if they found this out, there was something else which
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she kept strictly to herself, the fact that she was engaged to a certain
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operative in the United State Secret Service, someone known as Number thirty three and
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sometimes as Spencer Graham. In reply to Spencer's often repeated requests that she set
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a day for the wedding, Miss Clark would answer and lose the chance to
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figure in any more cases. Not so that you would notice it. As
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long as i'm single, you find that you can use me every now and
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then. But if I were married, I'd have too many domestic cares.
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No, Spencer, let's wait until we get one more big case, and
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then well, we'll say one month from the day it's finished. Which was
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the reason that Graham and his fiancee had a double reason for wanting to bring
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threeen to earth. The first place that Graham went to in Baltimore was the
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Pennsylvania Station, where he made a number of extended inquiries of certain employees.
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There After that, he went to the newspaper office, where he conferred with
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the clerk whose business it was to receive the lost and found advertisements, finally
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securing a copy of the original notice in Thorne's handwriting, also some other information,
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which he jotted down in a notebook reserved for that purpose. Several days
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spent in Baltimore failed to turn up any additional leads, and Graham returned to
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Washington with the request for a list of the various places where counterfeit fifty dollar
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bills had been reported during the past month. The record sounded like a megaphonic
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call of a train leaving Grand Central Station, New York, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie,
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Syracuse, Troy, and points north, with a few other cities thrown
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in for good measure. Spencer informed the chief that he would make his headquarters
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in New York for the next ten days or so, wired rider to the
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same effect, and left Washington on the midnight train in New York. He'd
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discovered only what he had already known, plus one other very significant bit of
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evidence, something which would have warranted him in placing Thorine again under arrest had
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he not been waiting for word from Rita. He knew that it would take
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her at least a month to work up her end of the case, so
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Graham put in the intervening time in weaving his net a little stronger, for
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he had determined that the next time the New Haven stationer was taken into custody
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would be the last that the government would have a case which all the lawyers
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on earth couldn't break. Early in December, he received a wire from Rita,
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a telegram which contained the single word come. But that was enough.
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He was in New Haven that night, and in a quiet corner of the
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taft Grille, the girl gave him an account of what she had found.
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Getting into Thorine's store was the easiest part of the whole job, she admitted.
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It took me less than a day to spot one of the girls who
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wanted to get married, bribe her to leave, and then arrive bright and
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early the following morning in response to the stenographer wanted advertisement. Thorines had a
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lot of practice writing ads lately, remarked Graham with a smile, what do
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you mean nothing? Tell you later, what did you find in the store?
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Not a thing until day before yesterday. I thought it best to move
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slowly and let matters take their own course as far as possible, So I
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contented myself with doing the work which had been handled by the girl whose place
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I took, dictation, typing and the rest. Then I found that the
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correspondence files were in shocking shape. I grabbed the opportunity to do a little
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night work by offering to bring them up to date. Certainly, said the
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boss, and then took good care to be on hand when I arrived after
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dinner that night. The very way he hung around and watched every movement I
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made convinced me that the stuff was somewhere on the premises. But where,
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That's what I couldn't figure out. Having demonstrated my ability by three hours of
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stiff work on the files, I suggested a few days later that I had
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a first hand knowledge of cost accounting and that I would be glad to help
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get his books in shape the holiday business. The old man who usually attends
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to this being sick again. Thorine assented, and again he blew in to
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explain any entries which might prove troublesome. I'll say this for him, though
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there isn't a single incriminating entry on the books. Every purchase is accounted for
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down to the last paper of pins. Then, when I felt that I
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had wormed myself sufficiently well into his good graces, I hinted that I might
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be able to help out by supervising the system in the engraving department, checking
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up the purchases, watching the disbursements, keeping an eye on the stock,
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and so on. Rather, to my surprise, he didn't offer any objection,
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said that my work had been of so much help elsewhere that he would
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be glad to have me watch the engraver's work. It was there that I
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got my first real lead, at least I hope it's a lead. Back
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of the engraving department is a small room, locked and padlocked, where the
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boss is supposed to ride his personal hobby of amateur photography. I asked one
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of the men the reason for guarding a dark room so carefully, and he
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replied that Thorne claimed to be on the verge of making a great discovery in
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color photography, but that the process took a long time, and he didn't
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want to run the risk of having it disturbed. I'm to have a look
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at his color process tonight, what cried Graham. He's going to show you
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what is in the double locked room. That's what he's promised to do.
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I haven't the least hope of seeing anything incriminating. All the evidence will probably
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be well hidden. But this morning I expressed a casual interest in photography and
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remarked that I understood he was working on a new color process. I did
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it mainly to see how he would react, but he never batted an eyelid.
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I've been making some interesting experiments recently, he said, and they ought
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to reach a climax tonight. If you'd care to see how they turn out,
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Suppose you meet me here at nine o'clock and we'll examine them together.
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But Rita Graham protested, you don't mean to say that you're going to put
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yourself entirely in this man's power. The girl's first answer was a laugh.
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And then, what do you mean put myself in his power? She mocked,
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You talk like the hero of a melodrama. This isn't the first time
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that I've been alone in the store with him after dark. Besides, he
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doesn't suspect a thing, and it's too good a chance to miss. Meet
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me here the first thing in the morning, around eight thirty, and I'll
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give you the details of Thorne's secret chamber, provided it contains anything interesting.
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Rita, I can't, Graham started to argue, but the girl cut in
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with you can't stop me, No, you can't. What's more, I'll
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have to hurry. It's ten minutes to nine. Now, see you in
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the morning. The next thing, Graham knew, she had slipped away from
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the table and was on her way out of the grill. When Rita reached
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the Thorine Establishment promptly at nine, she found the proprietor waiting for her on
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time as usual, he laughed. Now you'd better keep your hat and code
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on. There's no heat in the dark room, and I don't want you
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to catch hold The plates ought to be ready by this time. We'll go
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right down and take a look at them. Guided by the light from the
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lantern, which the stationer held high in the air, the girl started down
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the steps leading to the basement where the engraving department was located. She heard
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Thorene close the door behind him, but failed to hear him slip the bolt,
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which, as they afterward found, had been well oiled. In fact,
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it was not until they had reached the center of the large room,
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in one corner of which was the door to the private photographic laboratory, that
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she knew anything was wrong. Then it was too late. Before she could
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move, thoren leaned forward and seized her, one arm about her waist,
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the other over her mouth. Struggle as she might, Rita was unable to
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move slowly relentlessly. Thorene turned her around until she faced him, and then,
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with a sudden movement of the arm that encircled her waist, secured a
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wad of cotton waiste, which he had evidently prepared for just such an emergency.
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When he had crammed this in the girl's mouth and tied her hand securely,
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he moved forward to open the door to the dark room. Thought I
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was easy, didn't you, he sneered. Didn't think I'd see through your
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scheme to get a position here, and your infernal cleverness with the books and
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the accounts. Want to see something of my color process? Ah, well,
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you'll have an opportunity to discover it at your leisure, for it'll be
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twelve good hours before anyone comes down here, and by that time I'll be
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where the rest of your crowd can't touch me. Come along in with you.
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At that moment, there was a crash of glass from somewhere near the
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ceiling, and something leaped into the room, something that took only two strides
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to reach Thoren and back him up against the wall, with the muzzle of
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a very businesslike automatic pressed into the pit of his stomach. The whole thing
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happened so quickly that by the time Rita recovered her balance and turned around,
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she only saw the stationer with his hands well above his head and Spencer Graham
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hers Spencer holding him up at the point of a gun. Take this snapped
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the operative, producing a pen knife, and cut that girl's hands loose.
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No false moves now or unlikely to get nervous. A moment later, Rita
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was free and Thoren had resumed his position against the wall. Frisk him,
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ordered Graham, and then when the girl had produced a miscellaneous collection of money,
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keys, and jewelry from the man's pockets, Spencer allowed him to drop
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his arms long enough to snap a pair of handcuffs in place this time,
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announced the secret service man. You won't be released merely because of a fake
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ad and the testimony of your friends. Pretty clever scheme that inserting a found
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advertisement to cover your possession of counterfeit money in case you were caught, But
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you overlooked a couple of points. The station in Baltimore was thoroughly swept just
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five minutes before your train arrived from New York, and every man on duty
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there is ready to swear that he wouldn't have overlooked anything as large as the
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envelope containing that phony money. Then too, the clerk in the news office
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received your advertisement shortly afternoon the next day, so you didn't advertise it at
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once, as you said you did. But your biggest mistake was in playing
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the game too often. Here, producing a page from the classified section of
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a New York newspaper is the duplicate of your Baltimore ad, inserted to cover
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your tracks in case they caught you at Jamaica. I've got the original in
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your handwriting in my pocket. But how'd you happen to arrive here at the
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right moment? Exclaimed Rita. I wasn't any too well convinced that you'd fooled
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our friend here, Graham replied, So I trailed you, and, attracted
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by the light from Thorne's lantern, managed to break in that window at the
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time you needed me. There's only one thing that puzzles me, the operative
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continued, turning to threen. What made you take up counterfeiting? Your business
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record was clear enough before that, and of course, being an engraver,
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it wasn't hard for you to find the opportunity. What was the motive?
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For a full sixty seconds, the man was silent, and then from between
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his clenched teeth came two words, Wall Street. I might have guessed that,
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replied Graham. I'll see you safely in jail first, and then have
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a look through your room. Want to come along, reader, No,
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thanks, Spencer, I've had enough for one evening. Let's see, this
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is the sixth of December. Suppose we plan a certain event for the sixth
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of January, and so they were married and lived happily of her after,
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I added, as Quinn paused, and so they were married, he amended.
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I can't say as to the rest of it, though I'm inclined to
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believe that they were happy Anyhow, Rita knew when she had enough, and
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that's all you can really ask for in a wife. End of chapter nineteen,