TRUE DETECTIVE STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 160, 8 July 1922, Page 19

TRUE DETECTIVE STORIES.

REMARKABLE CRIMES RECALLED.

XIiV.—WEST HEADS SOUTH.

MOO, by the Wheeler Syndicate Inc.). C. D. West. Chief of the Prosecution Department of the National Association of Credit Men. and one of the most able bnt least known detectives in the United States, sat at his big mahogany desk high up In a New York skyscraper. In front of him was a letter from a wholesale house In Chicago, apparently adding another link of mystery to the chain of strange figures which had keen dotting the south for some months previous.

months ago," read the letter, " we received an order from a man named J. D. Germaine. residing In Thurforten. N.C., ordering several thousand dollars , worth of goods. Germaine gave as reference the Lee Trust Company of Thnrforten, and, upon writing to them, we received a letter of recommendation, coupled with the information that Germaine had a balance of more than 13,000 dols. in the bank. Accordingly the order was filled. The Mil was paid within the discount period.

"About a month later we received another order. This time for a larger amount Again the goods were shipped and the bill paid. Then came an 8000 dol. order, and since then we have not been able to get any trace of Germaine whatever. This Is the third case of the kind In the North Carolina-Tennessee mountains within the past few months. Will you kindly investigate ? "

"The third case," muttered West. " It'a the fifth that I know of, and there may be more. Someone is running a well organised ' disappearance syndicate,' and if we don't put a stop to It pretty soon the figures will run np Into the hundreds of thousands."

It was about two weeks later that the little mountain village of Thurforten had another resident added to its roster—a clergyman by the name of Abner Blake. Forced by threatened tuberculosis to seek a more healthful climate, the Rev. Mr. Blake had selected the Tennessee Mountains as being more suited to his pocketbook than Arizona or the better known resorts of the West, and had determined to stay In the Alleghanies until his lungs healed.

"I Just want • place to stay," he told the proprietor of the ramshackle hotel. " I'm not going to do «ny work of any kind. Jnst rest up and take long tramps through the woods. Not many snakes around, are there ? "

" Snakes ain't half as dangerous as some of th , humans yo , all mar ran Into," was the drawling reply. "Some Bays there's a heap o' moon-shinln' goin' on In these yere mountains, an' revenue officers Is far from welcome. Better be aure to wear that minister's get-np all th , time, less'n you be taken for one of 'em."

With a smile, and the statement that he didn't think any of the natives would mistake him for a revenue official, the Rev. Sir. Blake settled down Into the doll routine of the southern town. Little by little he increased the scope of his observations, becoming more and more familiar with the mountain trails, and making friends with the inhabitants of the outlying country. In spite of all his careful inquiries, however, there were two phases of the case which puzzled him. No one admitted having heard of a man named Germaine. and he could find no trace of the bank ; known as the Lee Trust Company.

" Guess I'll have to do a little regular sleuthing," said the Rev. Mr. Blake to his other self, C. D. West. "While I'm killing time here that gang may be getting , away with half a dozen other frauds."

It was a few nights later that the Reverend Blake started off on one of bis [ prolonged rambles cross-country. Very cautiously he followed a half-concealed path leading up the mountain-side until he caught the faint sound of voices above him. There were evidently some men in the party, so the pseudo-minister was extremely careful «s he parted the bushes which screened the meeting-place. One by one he identified the men, but he was barely able to suppress a start as one of them turned toward nlm. It was Aaron Lefkowitz, one of the shrewdest commercial schemers in the country, and a man who had previously been successful In keeping Just outside the law.

West remained In Ma hiding place long enough to grasp the details of the plan by which the big mail-order wholesale bouses were being defrauded, .and then made his way down the mountain as silently as he had come. The idea was simplicity itself. Lefkowitz, knowing all the ramifications o£ the credit game, had figured that a recommendation from a bank would insure the receipt of goods, even If they were ordered by someone who was non-existent. So, with the aid of stationery specially printed for the purpose, he had literally "treated" a bank out of thin air. The Lee Trust Company had no existence whatever, outside a few sheets of paper.

One of the members of the gang. operating under an alias, would make application for a Mil of goods. The Lee Trust Company wonld state that he had several thousand dollars on deposit, and, sooner or later, the shipment would disappear—possibly after one or two bills had been promptly paid In order to bolster the credit rating established by the first purchase. The plan was a clever one, but like most organisations of its kind, the Lefkowitz gang insisted on trying it too 'often.

' The following morning the Rev. Mr. Blake left Thurforten, after receiving a wire calling him home on urgent business. and the next Saturday night Lefkowitz and his fellow-workers met again to divide the epolls of" the previous week. Just as they were counting out the money, there was a rustle in the bushes from the side of the clearing toward the road. In a flash each man reached for his revolver. But it was too late. They faced a solid ring of government agents whose rifles formed a bristling deadly circle. Morning found every member of one of the moat spectacular bankruptcy syndicates in the history of commercial crime safely lodged in gaols many miles away, and subject to the Jurisdiction of a federal court on a charge of using the mails to defraud. So complete was the evidence that they were convicted without the necessity of securing the testimony of the Rev. Mr. Blake. "And that," as C. D. West later said in commenting upon the case, "was most desirable, because there is no telling when my friend the minister will have to resume his sojourn in the mountains. He—and I— enjoyed our first trip very much, though it wasn't exactly easy on the nerves."