The Poisoned Pen(Fiscle Part-3) - Arthur B. Reeve (best detective novels of all time TXT) 📗

Who Could

Not Foresee Arrest And The Death House At Sing Sing In His

Horoscope."

 

 

 

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 85

 

We Were Lunching With Stevenson Williams,  A Friend Of Kennedy's,

At The Insurance Club,  One Of The Many New Downtown Luncheon

Clubs,  Where The Noon Hour Is So Conveniently Combined With

Business.

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 86

"There Isn't Much That You Can't Insure Against Nowadays,"

Remarked Williams When The Luncheon Had Progressed Far Enough To

Warrant A Tentative Reference To The Obvious Fact That He Had Had

A Purpose In Inviting Us To The Club. "Take My Own Company,  For

Example,  The Continental Surety. We Have Lately Undertaken To

Write Forgery Insurance."

 

"Forgery Insurance?" Repeated Kennedy. "Well,  I Should Think You'd

Be Doing A Ripping Business--Putting Up The Premium Rate About

Every Day In This Epidemic Of Forgery That Seems To Be Sweeping

Over The Country."

 

Williams,  Who Was One Of The Officers Of The Company,  Smiled

Somewhat Wearily,  I Thought. "We Are," He Replied Drily. "That Was

Precisely What I Wanted To See You About."

 

"What? The Premiums Or The Epidemic?"

 

"Well--Er--Both,  Perhaps. I Needn't Say Much About The Epidemic,

As You Call It. To You I Can Admit It; To The Newspapers,  Never.

Still,  I Suppose You Know That It Is Variously Estimated That The

Forgers Of The Country Are Getting Away With From Ten To Fifteen

Million Dollars A Year. It Is Just One Case That I Was Thinking

About--One On Which The Regular Detective Agencies We Employ Seem

To Have Failed Utterly So Far. It Involves Pretty Nearly One Of

Those Fifteen Millions."

 

"What? One Case? A Million Dollars?" Gasped Kennedy,  Gazing

Fixedly At Williams As If He Found It Difficult To Believe.

 

"Exactly," Replied Williams Imperturbably,  "Though It Was Not Done

All At One Fell Swoop,  Of Course,  But Gradually,  Covering A Period

Of Some Months. You Have Doubtless Heard Of The By-Products

Company Of Chicago?"

 

Craig Nodded.

 

"Well,  It Is Their Case," Pursued Williams,  Losing His Quiet

Manner And Now Hurrying Ahead Almost Breathlessly. "You Know They

Own A Bank Out There Also,  Called The By-Products Bank. That's How

We Come To Figure In The Case,  By Having Insured Their Bank

Against Forgery. Of Course Our Liability Runs Up Only To $50,000.

But The Loss To The Company As Well As To Its Bank Through This

Affair Will Reach The Figure I Have Named. They Will Have To Stand

The Balance Beyond Our Liability And,  Well,  Fifty Thousand Is Not

A Small Sum For Us To Lose,  Either. We Can't Afford To Lose It

Without A Fight."

 

"Of Course Not. But You Must Have Some Suspicions,  Some Clues. You

Must Have Taken Some Action In Tracing The Thing Out,  Whatever Is

Back Of It."

 

"Surely. For Instance,  Only The Other Day We Had The Cashier Of

The Bank,  Bolton Brown,  Arrested,  Though He Is Out On Bail Now. We

Haven't Anything Directly Against Him,  But He Is Suspected Of

Complicity On The Inside,  And I May Say That The Thing Is So

Gigantic That There Must Have Been Some One On The Inside

Concerned With It. Among Other Things We Have Found That Bolton

Brown Has Been Leading A Rather Fast Life,  Quite Unknown To His

Fellow-Officials. We Know That He Has Been Speculating Secretly In

The Wheat Corner That Went To Pieces,  But The Most Significant

Thing Is That He Has Been Altogether Too Intimate With An

Adventuress,  Adele De-Mott,  Who Has Had Some Success As A Woman Of

High Finance In Various Cities Here And In Europe And Even In

South America. It Looks Bad For Him From The Commonsense

Standpoint,  Though Of Course I'm Not Competent To Speak Of The

Legal Side Of The Matter. But,  At Any Rate,  We Know That The

Insider Must Have Been Some One Pretty Close To The Head Of The

By-Products Company Or The By-Products Bank."

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 87

 

"What Was The Character Of The Forgeries?" Asked Kennedy.

 

"They Seem To Have Been Of Two Kinds. As Far As We Are Concerned

It Is The Check Forgeries Only That Interest The Surety Company.

For Some Time,  Apparently,  Checks Have Been Coming Into The Bank

For Sums All The Way From A Hundred Dollars To Five Thousand. They

Have Been So Well Executed That Some Of Them Have Been Certified

By The Bank,  All Of Them Have Been Accepted When They Came Back

From Other Banks,  And Even The Officers Of The Company Don't Seem

To Be Able To Pick Any Flaws In Them Except As To The Payee And

The Amounts For Which They Were Drawn. They Have The Correct

Safety Tint On The Paper And Are Stamped With Rubber Stamps That

Are Almost Precisely Like Those Used By The By-Products Company.

 

"You Know That Banking Customs Often Make Some Kinds Of Fraud

Comparatively Easy. For Instance No Bank Will Pay Out A Hundred

Dollars Or Often Even A Dollar Without Identification,  But They

Will Certify A Check For Almost Any Office Boy Who Comes In With

It. The Common Method Of Forgers Lately Has Been To Take Such A

Certified Forged Check,  Deposit It In Another Bank,  Then Gradually

Withdraw It In A Few Days Before There Is Time To Discover The

Forgery. In This Case They Must Have Had The Additional Advantage

That The Insider In The Company Or Bank Could Give Information And

Tip The Forger Off If The Forgery Happened To Be Discovered."

 

"Who Is The Treasurer Of The Company?" Asked Craig Quickly.

 

"John Carroll--Merely A Figurehead,  I Understand. He's In New York

Now,  Working With Us,  As I Shall Tell You Presently. If There Is

Any One Else Besides Brown In It,  It Might Be Michael Dawson,  The

Nominal Assistant But Really The Active Treasurer. There You Have

Another Man Whom We Suspect,  And,  Strangely Enough,  Can't Find.

Dawson Was The Assistant Treasurer Of The Company,  You Understand,

Not Of The Bank."

 

"You Can't Find Him? Why?" Asked Kennedy,  Considerably Puzzled.

 

"No,  We Can't Find Him. He Was Married A Few Days Ago,  Married A

Pretty Prominent Society Girl In The City,  Miss Sibyl Sanderson.

It Seems They Kept The Itinerary Of Their Honeymoon Secret,  More

As A Joke On Their Friends Than Anything Else,  They Said,  For Miss

Sanderson Was A Well-Known Beauty And The Newspapers Bothered The

Couple A Good Deal With Publicity That Was Distasteful. At Least

That Was His Story. No One Knows Where They Are Or Whether They'll

Ever Turn Up Again.

 

"You See,  This Getting Married Had Something To Do With The

Exposure In The First Place. For The Major Part Of The Forgeries

Consists Not So Much In The Checks,  Which Interest My Company,  But

In Fraudulently Issued Stock Certificates Of The By-Products

Company. About A Million Of The Common Stock Was Held As Treasury

Stock--Was Never Issued.

 

"Some One Has Issued A Large Amount Of It,  All Properly Signed And

Sealed. Whoever It Was Had A Little Office In Chicago From Which

The Stock Was Sold Quietly By A Confederate,  Probably A Woman,  For

Women Seem To Rope In The Suckers Best In These Get-Rich-Quick

Schemes. And,  Well,  If It Was Dawson The Honeymoon Has Given Him A

Splendid Chance To Make His Get-Away,  Though It Also Resulted In

The Exposure Of The Forgeries. Carroll Had To Take Up More Or Less

Active Duty,  With The Result That A New Man Unearthed The--But,

Say,  Are You Really Interested In This Case?"

 

Williams Was Leaning Forward,  Looking Anxiously At Kennedy And It

Would Not Have Taken A Clairvoyant To Guess What Answer He Wanted

To His Abrupt Question.

 

"Indeed I Am," Replied Craig,  "Especially As There Seems To Be A

Doubt About The Guilty Person On The Inside."

 

Part 3 Chapter 8 (The Forger) Pg 88

"There Is Doubt Enough,  All Right," Rejoined Williams,  "At Least I

Think So,  Though Our Detectives In Chicago Who Have Gone Over The

Thing Pretty Thoroughly Have Been Sure Of Fixing Something On

Bolton Brown,  The Cashier. You See The Blank Stock Certificates

Were Kept In The Company's Vault In The Bank To Which,  Of Course,

Brown Had Access. But Then,  As Carroll Argues,  Dawson Had Access

To Them,  Too,  Which Is Very True--More So For Dawson Than For

Brown,  Who Was In The Bank And Not In The Company. I'm All At Sea.

Perhaps If You're Interested You'd Better See Carroll. He's Here

In The City And I'm Sure I Could Get You A Good Fee Out Of The

Case If You Cared To Take It Up. Shall I See If I Can Get Him On

The Wire?"

 

We Had Finished Luncheon And,  As Craig Nodded,  Williams Dived Into

A Telephone Booth Outside The Dining-Room And In A Few Moments

Emerged,  Perspiring From The Closeness. He Announced That Carroll

Requested That We Call On Him At An Office In Wall Street,  A Few

Blocks Away,  Where He Made His Headquarters When He Was In New

York. The Whole Thing Was Done With Such Despatch That I Could Not

Help Feeling That Carroll Had Been Waiting To Hear From His Friend

In The Insurance Company. The Look Of Relief On Williams's Face

When Kennedy Said He Would Go Immediately Showed Plainly That The

Insurance Man Considered The Cost Of The Luncheon,  Which Had Been

No Slight Affair,  In The Light Of A Good Investment In The

Interest Of His Company,  Which Was "In Bad" For The Largest

Forgery Insurance Loss Since They Had Begun To Write That Sort Of

Business.

 

As We Hurried Down To Wall Street,  Kennedy Took Occasion To

Remark,  "Science Seems To Have Safeguarded Banks And Other

Institutions Pretty Well Against Outside Robbery. But Protection

Against Employees Who Can Manipulate Books And Records Does Not

Seem To Have Advanced As Rapidly. Sometimes I Think It May Have

Lessened. Greater Temptations Assail The