The bookkeeper of the S & M mine had worked for an hour after the
miners had quit work, balancing his books for the day. All of the other
clerks had left the office. He had closed the big ledger and had drawn
a sigh of relief. Just then the office door opened and a tall athletic
young man entered. He approached the bookkeeper and extended his hand.
"My name is King."
"My name is Watson. Are you stopping in the camp, Mr. King?"
"I expect to be here but a short time. How is the mining business?"
"Not much activity just now in this section. Some of the old mines
are shut down and there is but little prospecting being done. Are you
interested in the mining business?"
"No, not particularly."
"There is a small mine near here that could be purchased at a bargain.
A couple of crooks got the old man who owns it in debt to them and took
a mortgage on the mine. The old man is very illiterate and did not
understand the contracts that he had with these men. He is forced to
sell to save himself. If he loses all that he has in this mine it is
quite likely that he will be ruined for life, as he is too old to come
back. I would be very sorry to see anything like that happen."
"It's a shame that there are individuals who will stoop to crookedness
to beat men who are along in years out of the savings of a lifetime."
"Back in my home town----"
"What is your home town?" asked Watson, interrupting King.
"Wilford Springs. I was going to tell you about a man by the name of
Babcock who used to own the controlling interest in a bank at Zala.
(Watson gave a start and his face whitened.) This man Babcock was in
some sort of a deal with a banker in Wilford Springs. One night the
Wilford Springs banker, whose name is Jim Stover, went to Zala and had
a conference with Babcock. The next day Babcock turned the bank over
to him. That afternoon Babcock was injured in an automobile accident,
and that night his cashier disappeared." (The bookkeeper became very
nervous. He got up, poked the fire and then came back to his desk and
sat down. He clasped his hands together to hold them from shaking.)
"Did Babcock recover from the accident?"
"Not fully. He suffers a great deal from a pain in his head at times,
and he has no memory of anything that happened before the accident in
which he was injured."
"You say he can't remember anything that happened before he was
injured?"
"No, not a thing."
"Can he remember things that have happened since he was hurt?"
"Yes, that is the strange part about his condition. He can remember
everything that has transpired since he was injured as well as the
average person."
"Very strange indeed," Watson commented.
"When his daughter Ruth inquired about the business Stover informed her
that he had purchased her father's bank stock. When she asked about the
money she was told by Stover that her father had owed him an amount of
money equal to the stock and he had taken it to help her father out."
"This Stover claimed that Babcock was indebted to him?"
"Yes. Babcock has been trying to remember what became of his money. He
thinks that he has recalled the combination to the safe and that the
man to whom he showed the combination robbed him."
"I must be going. My wife will be waiting supper for me. I would like
to talk longer with you. Could you come back to the office later in the
evening?"
"Yes, I can come any time."
"How will eight o'clock be?"
"That will be all right."
When Watson reached his little cottage at the edge of the mining
camp, his wife, a slender, blue-eyed girl scarcely twenty years of
age, met him on the porch. "Dick, you are late tonight. I have been
waiting dinner for twenty minutes. Why, what is the matter?" she asked,
noticing that he had a worried look on his face. "Are you ill?"
"No, just worried," he replied.
"What has gone wrong?"
"I will tell you after a while."
"Come on in and get ready for dinner, then. Father is restless this
evening. I think this damp weather is affecting him. It seems like he
always breathes harder when the weather is damp."
The evening meal passed in silence except that John Hinds, Mrs.
Watson's father, who was a consumptive, talked about the damp
atmosphere and its unpleasant effects on his breathing apparatus and
expressed thanks that there were but few damp days in Arizona. Watson
answered his father-in-law in an absent-minded way. Mrs. Watson was
worried because her husband could not eat, consequently she had no
appetite.
After the meal was over John Hinds went into the living room, leaving
Watson and his wife alone in the dining room. An hour later when Watson
left the house his wife's eyes were red with crying. "It's awful," she
said, "but I suppose it must be done."
When he reached the mine office he found King waiting for him at the
door.
"Waiting for me! Am I late?"
"I think I am a little ahead of time.
"It's a little damp and chilly," Harold remarked, when they had entered
the office and he had removed his top coat.
"Yes, and damp weather is rather unusual in this country."
"So I have been told."
The bookkeeper took a seat at his desk and Harold King seated himself
opposite.
"I was much interested in the story you were telling me about that Zala
banker," Watson began. "You say that Stover claimed that Babcock owed
him and that he took the bank stock to settle the debt?"
"Yes."
Watson took a box of cigarettes from his pocket and offered the box to
Harold.
"No, thank you, I do not use them."
"This is one of my bad habits," Watson explained, as he took a
cigarette from the box and lighted it. "I usually smoke a package a
day, and some days, when anything worries me, I use two packages. You
spoke of the cashier's leaving the night of the same day that Babcock
was injured. What is your opinion? Do you think that this cashier
robbed Babcock or was an accomplice in robbing him?"
"No, I don't think that; but I think that this cashier can give some
valuable information."
"Well, you are right. I am that cashier."
"I knew that. I came here on purpose to see you."
"You did! How did you locate me?"
"I located you by means of the eye of the Invisible Empire."
"What! You located me through the Ku Klux Klan?"
"Yes, I had three million secret service men looking for you."
"I have heard that there are some Klansmen here, but I do not know any
of them."
"One never knows when the Invisible Eye is on him. Your employer, or
fellow employee, may be a Knight of the Ku Klux Klan and you never
suspect it."
"You have located me all right, what do you want?"
"I want the inside information of how Babcock was robbed."
Watson threw away the stub of his cigarette and lighted another, at
which he took several strong pulls before he replied.
"I am going to tell you the whole story. I shall keep back nothing.
I was employed in the Zala bank only a short time. I bought out my
predecessor. I purchased his three thousand dollars' worth of stock in
order to secure the job. I did not have quite enough money, and he gave
me time on four hundred dollars. Mr. Babcock and I got on splendidly
together. In eight months I had paid off the indebtedness on my stock.
"Mr. Babcock was the leader of one political faction in Zala. The
faction of which he was leader was victorious in the city election.
Babcock was elected city treasurer. As treasurer he became the
custodian of fifty thousand dollars, which he deposited in his own
bank. The opposing political faction started a second bank and made
plans to put Babcock out of business. They circulated the report that
his bank was in a failing condition.
"When Mr. Babcock heard the report that was being circulated he
attempted to counteract it. Every evening after banking hours he would
get in his car and drive until nine or ten o'clock, talking with
farmers, telling them that the report that his bank was in a failing
condition was a malicious attack started on him by his political
enemies. However, there was considerable alarm among many of the
farmers who had money in his bank.
"Friday afternoon he said to me, 'I fear that the farmers will make a
run on the bank tomorrow. There are always a lot of country folk in
town on Saturday. There are some of these farmers who are alarmed--fear
spreads rapidly in a crowd. I must be prepared. You take my car and
drive to Wilford Springs and borrow thirty thousand dollars from Jim
Stover to tide us over.'
"I took plenty of collateral and did as directed. Stover pumped me as
to the condition of the bank and elicited from me the information that
Babcock had fifty thousand dollars of the city funds in his own bank
unsecured in any way.
"After hearing my request for a loan, he said, 'I will go down with
you this evening and fix Babcock up all right.' That evening he
loaded fifty thousand dollars into his car and we drove to Zala. The
conference lasted until a late hour, at the home of Babcock. Stover
impressed on his mind again and again that with the small amount of
cash that Babcock had on hand, if there were a run on his bank the
following day, the bank would fail and with the city funds in his own
bank it would be very embarrassing for him and might result in criminal
charges being brought against him. Mr. Babcock was extremely nervous.
'What would you advise me to do?' he asked. 'Make an assignment to me.
If a run is made on the bank I can show them that I have bought you out
and placed all of my resources back of it,' Stover advised. Babcock
agreed to this, and the next morning Babcock transferred his stock to
Stover with the understanding that it should be reassigned to him when
the danger of a run had passed."
"Were you present when the transfer of stock was made?" King asked.
"Yes."
"Was anything said about Stover's taking the stock in payment of money
due him from Babcock?"
"Not a word. I am sure Babcock never owed Stover one cent. After the
assignment of the stock Babcock showed Stover the combination to the
safe."
"Do you remember the combination to the safe?"
"No, I don't believe I do now. I haven't had any occasion to recall it."
"Mr. Babcock tried so hard to recall the combination to some safe and
finally said he had recalled it."
"Do you know the combination as he recalled it?" asked Watson.
"Yes. Two turns to the right, to the left to forty, then to the right
to thirty-two."
"I believe that was it. I am pretty sure it was. Wait a minute, I have
it in an old bank pass book. He opened a drawer and took out a pass
book and read, two turns to the right, to the left to forty, then to
the right to thirty-two. By George, he had it right!"
"Yes, and he had it right about the one to whom he taught this
combination robbing him," commented Harold.
"After showing Stover the combination Babcock left the bank. A run was
made on the bank and several thousand dollars were drawn out. Stover
convinced the depositors by the display of the fifty thousand and the
statement that he had purchased the bank that there was no occasion
for alarm. The run was stopped and most of the money that had been
withdrawn was returned.
"When I returned to the bank after eating my noon lunch I found a
stranger there looking through the accounts. Mr. Stover introduced him
as Charles Finch, the new bank examiner. I had just read a few days
before of Mr. Finch's appointment.
"This bank examiner found a note for thirty-five hundred dollars made
by a prominent farmer that was sixty days past due. He called the
farmer up and asked him to come to the bank at once and take care of
it. When the farmer came he declared that he had never given the note.
That evening Stover and Finch called me into the directors' room. Finch
showed me that there was a shortage of thirty-five hundred dollars. The
note that was, according to the farmer, a forgery was shown me. Babcock
and myself both loaned money. It was our custom when making a loan to
put our initials on the margin to show who was responsible for making
the loan. On the lower left hand margin were the initials D.W. I told
Stover and Finch that I would swear before God that I had never seen
the note before, but the strange part was that the note was written in
my hand writing and the initials were exactly as I make them. The bank
examiner showed me the entry of the three thousand dollar loan on the
books; where the entry in the bills receivable book and the credit on
the cash book were both in my hand writing. After this forged note had
been made the books still showed a shortage of five hundred dollars.
"Again and again I told them that I knew nothing of these things."
"'You'd have a hard time convincing a jury of that,' the bank examiner
told me.
"I was forced to admit that the evidence looked strong against me.
Finally, when I was almost crazy, Stover said, 'Young man, I will give
you one chance. You pay the five hundred dollars that the books show
the cash is still short, assign your stock over to me and I will take
care of the three thousand dollar note. You leave the country tonight
and never return.'
"I told him that that was impossible, as I did not have the five
hundred dollars. Finally he told me how sorry he felt for me and how
anxious he was to keep me out of the penitentiary and that he would pay
the other five hundred and give me two hundred dollars to leave on. He
then gave me some good advice as to my future conduct. I was perfectly
innocent, but I had no friend in the West, except Mr. Babcock, and he
had been injured in an auto accident that afternoon and his life was
despaired of. In my excited imagination I saw the cold stern walls of
the penitentiary loom before me. I accepted Stover's offer. (During
this recital Harold listened intently and occasionally made notes.)
"That night I left Zala on the midnight train. I went to Trinidad,
Colorado, and remained there for two months. I did not find a job that
suited me there and decided to come farther west. I had not been on the
train long when I noticed a pretty girl a few seats behind me. After
several hours of loneliness I changed my seat directly across the aisle
from her and engaged her in conversation. She told me that her name
was Irene Hinds. She was from Indiana. She was on her way here to join
her father. She told me that her father was tubercular and had come to
Arizona for his health, two months previous. Before that he had spent
several months in the Middle West but had not improved much.
"I became much interested in Irene and decided to change my destination
and try to find employment here, where she was to make her home with
her father. I secured employment the day I landed, as bookkeeper in
this office. After I had been here a few days I asked permission
to call on Miss Hinds. Imagine the shock which I received when she
introduced me to her father, whom I recognized at once as Finch, the
bank examiner. I was sure he recognized me, but he said nothing about
our having met before. I was alarmed and at the same time curious
as to why he was here passing under the name of Hinds. I was sure
there was something wrong in his life or he would have forbidden his
daughter to associate with me, whom he knew as a defaulter. Finally
he did object when it became evident to him that Irene and I were in
love. After a short courtship we were married against his wishes.
The night we were married he was very much agitated during the early
part of the evening. When the minister and our young friends had left
he made a confession to us. He said he had been for several months a
guest in the Stover home at the time Babcock made the transfer of stock
to Stover and Stover took charge of the Ranchmen's Bank at Zala. My
father-in-law, John Hinds, is a cousin of Jim Stover. He was for many
years a bookkeeper for a firm in Indianapolis. He is a professional
penman. For several years he fought against tuberculosis but continued
to work. Finally the doctors told him that if he expected to live any
length of time he must go West. He went to Stover at Wilford Springs.
After several months there the doctors told him that he should come to
Arizona. He was without funds.
"The day that Stover took charge of the Ranchmen's Bank in Zala he
'phoned to his cousin to come down. When he arrived Stover told him
if he would do a little job for him he would give him a thousand
dollars with which to go to Arizona to recover his health. After much
persuasion and the painting of several graveyard scenes by Stover he
consented. He impersonated the bank examiner, forged the note, and made
the false entries in the books, imitating my writing.
"On our wedding night he insisted that he go back and expose his cousin
so that I could clear my name and recover the value of my bank stock
out of which Stover had defrauded me. As I thought I was the only one
wronged, Irene and myself refused to allow him to do so. I am sure that
he would never have done what he did, Mr. King, if he had not thought
it was to save his life.
"I never knew until you told me this evening that Stover had robbed
Babcock. I talked the matter over with Irene, and while of course it is
a hard thing for a woman to consent to her father's taking a course of
action which will send him to the penitentiary, and I never would have
brought this anguish to her on my own account, yet she agreed with me
it must be done."
"Have you talked to your father-in-law?"
"No. He wasn't so well as usual today, and we thought we would wait
until the sun is shining when he is sure to be feeling better."
"Will he be willing to waive extradition?"
"I am sure he will. He has always told Irene and myself that he must
go sometime and do what he could to right the wrong he had committed
against me.
"I never intended to permit him to do it, but now that we need his
confession in order to assist Babcock he must go even though it sends
him to the penitentiary."
When the matter was presented to John Hinds the following day, he
assured Harold that he would waive extradition and come to Wilford
Springs whenever he was needed.