A DESPERATE RAID.
Nick was dragged to the square of light in front of the open doorway.
He appeared to be still under the influence of liquor.
The men regarded him with rage and dismay, holding him fast in the
meantime.
“This is not the man we want,” one of them shouted.
“Who are you?” demanded another.
Sounds of advancing footsteps were now heard from the direction of the
private staircase.
“Quick!” cried one of the men, seizing Nick by the throat. “Is there
any way out of this cursed hole? The cops are after us.”
“They brought me here to rob me,” faltered the detective, “and I can’t
find the way out.”
“Some cheap sport,” cried one of the gang. “Come on, boys!”
But Nick had no idea of permitting the men to escape.
He had no way of knowing how many members of the gang had been taken by
the police, but he was determined that these three should not get away.
He knew that in such dens as he then found himself there were often
double doors, the second one of metal and sliding down from the upper
casing.
The Dominion had for years been the resort of thieves and murderers,
and it would not be strange if something of the kind should exist in
the room where, he had no doubt, many persons had been shot from the
secret panel from which he had been threatened.
In fact, the very presence of the secret panel convinced him that the
room was not protected by only a wooden door.
If anything of the sort existed, there should be a push button on the
outer casing.
He was already in the doorway, where he had been thrust by the gang
for close inspection, and before they could move out he made a quick
examination.
The button was there, and he stepped outside and pressed it. As he
expected, a metal door slid from above and covered the opening. The
women had been too sure of him to use the door, and had been too
excited to think of it when the gang arrived.
As the metal door shot down, Nick saw Chick in the room behind him, but
he disappeared in an instant, much to the amazement of the detective.
Then a familiar voice came from beyond the door:
“Throw up your hands in there! I have you covered!”
Then Nick remembered that Chick had informed him that he was thoroughly
posted regarding the Dominion. The means used to trap victims was now
being used in the interest of the law.
Chick was there at the secret panel. Nick wondered if the outlaws were
obeying orders.
He looked about for some way of reaching Chick, and saw a door at the
left of the metal one. Opening this, the detective found himself in
a narrow hallway, at the end of which stood his assistant, with two
revolvers pointing through the little opening.
“You’re a brick,” cried Nick. “What are they doing?”
“Holding up their hands,” was the grim reply.
“Hold them a moment,” said Nick.
He stepped back to the room where he had left the women.
“Where are the police?” asked the detective.
“Sending crooks in by wagon loads,” was the reply.
“Oh, you are detectives, are you?” said one of the women. Then she
turned to Nick.
“I would have killed you had I known,” she said angrily.
“By the way,” said Nick, addressing the woman, “you may as well tell us
where you have hidden Hughart.”
“I know nothing about any such man,” came the scornful reply. “The boys
will be back here soon, and then you will get what’s coming to you.”
“The police are in charge of the place.”
“But they didn’t get here in time,” sneered the woman.
This meant, if it meant anything, that Hughart had gotten away before
the raid, or while it was in progress.
“Don’t be too sure of that,” was his reply.
“The police would never have thought of coming here,” stormed the
woman. “It remained for you to come sneaking in like a man ashamed of
himself.”
Nick had learned what he wanted to know. The police were in charge
of the front part of the building, and were not likely to come there
unless sent for. The crooks were scattered or under arrest, and the
crooks had made themselves scarce, at least those who remained at
liberty had.
There was now no danger of his being disturbed in carrying out the
plans he had decided upon. Taking a position at the panel, he asked:
“Now who has the top hand?”
The crooks swore volubly, and Nick laughed.
“I’m coming in there now to disarm you,” said Nick, “but I leave a
chap here who can do pretty good shooting. The man who resists will be
killed.” Then, turning to Chick, he asked:
“How many pair of handcuffs have you?”
“Two, but——”
“Never mind that,” interrupted Nick. “You stay here and shoot if one of
them lifts a finger. I’ll lock the women in a closet.”
This plan was adopted, and in five minutes the three crooks were
disarmed and handcuffed.
“I don’t believe you’re a New York policeman,” said one of the men,
glaring at Nick. “They don’t do things in this way. We have been
operating here quite a time, and this is our first experience of this
kind.”
“You are not discreet,” smiled Nick as he handcuffed them.
The sound of angry words now came from the room where Chick had been
left in charge of the two prisoners and the women.
Nick opened the door and looked out. A heavily built man with a
mustache dyed black and an evil face was shaking a huge fist at the
women.
“You’ve robbed me,” he was saying, “and I now give you in charge of
these officers. You saw your chance when things were getting mixed,
and took every dollar from the safe. You’re nice people, you are.”
The women looked the man over scornfully and maintained a discreet
silence.
The tough turned to Nick.
“I remember you,” he said. “You came into the place to-night just
before the raid, and you made for this room when the row started. That
man there,” pointing to Chick, “hired out as a waiter early in the
evening. You are detectives, I suppose?”
“You have guessed it,” replied Chick.
“Well, I want you to arrest these women. They have robbed the safe of
ten thousand dollars. I will appear against them.”
“When was this money taken?” asked Nick.
“Some time during the evening.”
“But the women have been here ever since the row started.”
“Then they took the money before that time. They might have taken it
during the afternoon, for all I know. They had chances enough if they
knew the combination, and they must have learned that, or they could
not have taken it at all, for the safe was locked.”
“Where is the safe?” asked Nick.
“In a little room at the back end of the saloon.”
“Near the private staircase?”
“Close to it.”
“Is your name Jim?” asked the detective.
“Not for a minute,” was the reply. “Jim is the bartender.”
Nick glanced at the women. They threw him an appealing glance and
turned their eyes away.
“Perhaps he took the money,” suggested Nick.
“He wasn’t here until just before the row began,” was the reply.
“Where is he now?” asked Nick.
“I don’t know. The police closed the place.”
As the fellow spoke he glared angrily at the prisoners. It was evident
that he knew something of the cause of the raid.
“These men came here,” said Nick, “looking for a man named Hughart.
Where is Hughart?”
“I don’t know anything about him,” was the angry reply. “What I want
now is my money, and I want these women and these rooms searched.”
“Search them, then,” said Nick. “You know the rooms better than we do.”
“We can look through the rooms later, after the women are taken away,”
said the proprietor, “but I want the women searched now. I believe they
have my money on their persons.”
“They will be searched at headquarters,” replied the detective.
“Well,” continued the enraged owner of the place, “if you have done
your work here, I want you to get out. I must get things in shape
again.”
The women flushed painfully when they heard the mention of police
headquarters.
“I never took his money,” one of them said. “I don’t believe he ever
had the sum he mentions.”
“I am willing to be searched now,” said the other.
“Speaking of this Hughart,” said the proprietor, “Molly, that woman
there,” pointing to the one Nick desired to question closely in time;
“that woman Molly is the one who had the scheme on with him. She knows
where he is if any one does.”
“Where was she last night?” asked Nick.
“I don’t know where she was. She was not seen about the place.”
“I was in my room,” replied Molly.
“I know better,” declared the proprietor. “You were out all evening.
Come, now, you dig down and produce that money, or I’ll send you over
the road.”
“I haven’t got your money,” declared Molly. “And when it comes to talk
about sending me over the road, that is a game two can play at. You had
better be careful what you say and do, Ben Hall. If you accuse me of
taking your money, I’ll get even with you, and you may depend upon it.”
Angry as he was over his loss, Hall hesitated.
“I may be mistaken,” he said finally, turning to Nick. “I think I was
a little hasty. If you’ll give me a chance to talk with Molly alone, I
think we can fix it up.”
“Not at present,” was Nick’s reply. Then he added: “You do not accuse
the other woman?”
“Carrie? No. Carrie’s all right. I don’t know as Molly took the money,
but it looks suspicious.”
“Then there is nothing to hold Carrie for?”
“Not a thing, and you may as well release Molly, too. We can square our
little matter between ourselves.”
“I’ll have to hold Molly,” said Nick.
Molly looked disappointed. In a moment she turned and whispered to
Carrie, taking good care that not a word should be overheard. She spoke
rapidly, and Carrie nodded now and then to show that she understood.
“What is all this talk about?” demanded Hall.
“I’m sending her after a lawyer and a bondsman, and after my laundry,”
replied Molly, with warmth. “You don’t think I’m going to remain in
jail, do you?”
“Oh, I’ll attend to that,” said Hall.
“Indeed you won’t,” said the woman. “You’ve got your foot in it now,
and you’ll kindly let me alone. I’ll attend to you later.”
“What have I said?” asked Hall.
“You said I was mixed up in the scheme to throw down the chief. I
wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were,” roared Hall; “and the boys think you are trying to
throw them down. You can’t square yourself with them very easily, I can
tell you that.”
“I don’t care what the boys think,” said Molly.
“Where were you this afternoon, Molly?” asked Nick.
“Right here.”
“All the time?”
“I never left the place. I have been here all day.”
Nick turned to his assistant.
“Take the men away,” he said. “Be careful how you handle them, for they
are a bad lot. See them locked up at headquarters, and then return.”
“That looks like you wanted these rooms for an office,” grunted Hall.
“And when you get to the street,” continued Nick, turning to Chick,
“send two policemen here to guard these rooms. Station them at the
outer door there.”
Hall turned away with an oath and went back to his wrecked barroom.
After a short talk with his chief, which was not heard by the others,
Chick went away with the prisoners.
Nick waited until the policeman arrived; then, leaving Carrie in charge
of one of them, he called Molly aside.
“Where is Hall’s money?” he asked.
The angry woman refused to answer. Nor would she tell anything about
the whereabouts of Hughart.