SEEKING CLEWS
“Come on, let’s go around this way,” proposed Ned in a low voice to his
chums, as a little later, he pointed to a side alley that apparently
led to the rear of the bank.
“Go ahead,” urged Bob, who had his small pocket camera ready. There
were but few persons near the alley, and our chums were just entering
it quietly, when a voice called out:
“Hey! Where you fellers goin’?”
“Oh, just up here,” replied Jerry, in non-committal tones.
“Well, you’ll have to keep out. I got orders not to allow any strangers
in there, and--why hello! If it isn’t the motor boys from Cresville!
Why, how are you?” and the man, evidently a watchman, or a policeman in
plain clothes, extended his hand toward Jerry, a smile illuminating his
face. “How’d you come here?” went on the man.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Thompson!” exclaimed Jerry in amazement. “How in
the world did you get here?”
“Sort of a mutual surprise party,” murmured Ned. “Hello, Mr. Thompson.”
“All three of you, eh?” went on the guard. “Jerry, Ned and Bob. Well,
I’m glad to see you,” and he shook hands with each of them in turn. Mr.
Thompson had lived in Cresville for many years and had done some work
for Mrs. Hopkins at odd times. The boys knew him very well, but of late
years had not seen him, for he had moved away from their town.
“How comes it that you are here?” asked Jerry. “Do you work in the
bank?”
“No, I’m one of the Harmolet police force. I’ve been on about two years
now. I knocked about the country after leaving Cresville, and finally
settled down here. I’m a regular officer now, and if I catch you boys
cutting up I’ll run you in!” and the man laughed at his joke.
“Where’s your uniform?” asked Bob.
“Didn’t have time to put it on. Soon as this robbery was discovered the
chief sent for all the reserve men. I was home sleeping, after my night
on duty, but I had to get up. We’ve got all the men we can spare on
this job.”
“What for?” asked Jerry. “Especially after the money is gone--fifty
thousand dollars of it?”
“Sixty thousand would be nearer the figure,” declared Mr. Thompson.
“It does seem sort of like locking the stable door after the horse is
stolen, but orders from the chief are orders. Besides, it takes quite a
few of us to keep the crowd back, and the rest are looking for clews.”
“Inside the bank?” Ned wanted to know.
“Inside and outside. The robbers made a neat job of it, and the funny
part of it is that we can’t seem to find out how they got in and
got out again. However they got the money all right--a clean sixty
thousand. But what are you boys doing here?”
“We took part in the airship meet at Colton,” said Jerry; and they told
Officer Thompson about it, of how they had seen the crowd, and stopped
off the car to learn the cause of the excitement.
“I wanted to get a picture of the wrecked safe,” put in Bob, “but I----”
“Say now, I’m glad I met you,” interrupted Mr. Thompson. “It’s a little
against orders, but I guess I can let you in, especially as no one is
looking. Slip around in back of me, and go to the rear door. Wait there
for me, and as soon as I can get some one to take my place I’ll bring
you in, and show you the way they did it. It’s worth seeing.”
They had not been waiting at the rear door of the bank more than a few
minutes, and had seen, through the windows, a number of men hurrying
here and there, when their friend came up.
“It’s all right,” said Mr. Thompson. “Come on, I’ll take you in.”
Piloted by the former Cresville resident, our friends entered the bank.
A scene of confusion greeted them. The officers and clerks of the
institution were hurrying to and fro with books and papers, and from
the president’s room came the murmur of voices.
“The directors are having a meeting to decide what to do,” explained
Mr. Thompson. “Likely they’ll offer a big reward. I’d like to pull it
down myself, but the detectives will probably get this job. They ought
to offer at least five thousand for the recovery of the sixty thousand.”
“Sixty thousand? They got more than that!” exclaimed a policeman in
uniform who nodded to Mr. Thompson and the boys in a friendly fashion.
“More than that?” repeated our heroes’ friend in surprise.
“Sure. The sixty was mostly in paper money--bills of big denomination,
and a lot of double eagles--they left the silver scattered around.
Probably it was too heavy to carry, though there was plenty of it.
But they took a hundred and fifty thousand dollars more in negotiable
securities--stocks, bonds and so on.”
“A hundred and fifty thousand!” gasped Bob.
“Two hundred and ten thousand dollars in all!” half-whispered Ned.
“That _was_ a haul!”
“Come on over this way, and I’ll show you where they took it from,”
proceeded Mr. Thompson, and the boys followed. They halted in front of
a massive safe, built into the wall in the form of a vault, and a scene
of ruin met their eyes.
The big doors were shattered and twisted, and one had been completely
torn from the hinges and lay on the floor. The inner doors, of less
weight, had also been blown open. Even yet books and papers, and many
silver coins, lay scattered about, the clerks not yet having had time
to pick them up.
“It was a good job all right,” explained the former Cresville
man;--“that is, good from a burglar’s standpoint, though they used more
juice than they needed to.”
“Juice?” queried Bob.
“Yes, nitro-glycerine you know. They carry it in a bottle, drill a
hole in the door, pour it in, tamp it with soap, and set it off with a
fuse. They must have blown the doors when a train was going past so as
to deaden the noise, for no one heard it.”
“Where was the watchman?” asked Jerry.
“The bank didn’t keep one, but I guess they will after this,” replied
Mr. Thompson grimly. “They’d have saved money if they had had a man on
guard. Here you can see where they started to drill a hole in the door,
and changed their minds. Probably it wasn’t in the right place.”
He pointed to a small hole, neatly made in the hard steel.
“Took a pretty good drill for that,” was Jerry’s opinion.
“Yes, it was a power-drill,” said the policeman. “Oh, these were
up-to-date crooks all right, and they made a good get-away.”
“How’d they get in?” asked Ned.
“I don’t believe they’ve found out yet. You see this is the first time
we’ve had a big robbery like this, and it’s sort of upset the force.
It’s a mystery how they got in.”
“The detectives have about solved it though,” put in an officer in
uniform.
“How?” inquired Mr. Thompson.
“Through the roof scuttle. One of ’em--Blake I think it was--just
discovered some finger marks in the dust around the scuttle, and it was
found unhooked, so he’s pretty sure they came in from the roof.”
“How’d they get on the roof?” asked Jerry.
“That’s what they’ve got to find out,” went on the policeman.
“I wonder if I could take these friends of mine up and have a look?”
ventured Mr. Thompson.
“Sure,” assented the other. “There’s not much to see though. I guess
the best clews will be found down here.”
Bob wanted to take several snap shots of the wrecked safe, and Ned and
Jerry waited for him. Meanwhile two or three detectives were observed
poking about in the ruins, and the litter of paper for possible clews.
“Come on, Chunky, you’ve got pictures enough,” called Ned finally.
“Let’s take a look at the roof, and you can make a snap shot there,
and then we’ll get over to the store, buy the cylinder, and fix up our
motorship.”
“All right,” assented the stout lad, closing his camera; and then Mr.
Thompson led the boys up to the roof of the bank.