As we hurried down to Wall Street, Kennedy took occasion to remark, "Science seems to have safe-guarded 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 cashier or clerk with greater opportunity for speculation, and the banks, as many authorities will agree, have not made enough use of the machinery available to put a stop to embezzlement.This case is evidently one of the results.
The careless fellows at the top, like this man Carroll whom we are going to see, generally put forward as excuse the statement that the science of banking and of business is so complex that a rascal with ingenuity enough to falsify the books is almost impossible of detection.Yet when the cat is out of the bag as in several recent cases the methods used are often of the baldest and most transparent sort, fictitious names, dummies, and all sorts of juggling and kiting of checks.But I hardly think this is going to prove one of those simple cases."John Carroll Was a haggard and unkempt sort of man.He looked to me as if the defalcations had preyed on his mind until they had become a veritable obsession.It was literally true that they were all that he could talk about, all that he was thinking about.He was paying now a heavy penalty for having been a dummy and honorary officer.
"This thing has become a matter of life and death with me," he began eagerly, scarcely waiting for us to introduce ourselves, as he fixed his unnaturally bright eyes on us anxiously."I've simply got to find the man who has so nearly wrecked the By-Products Bank and Company.Find him or not, I suppose I am a ruined man, myself, but I hope I may still prove myself honest."He sighed and his eyes wandered vacantly out of the window as if he were seeking rest and could not find it.
"I understand that the cashier, Bolton Brown, has been arrested,"prompted Kennedy.
"Yes, Bolton Brown, arrested," he repeated slowly, "and since he has been out on bail he, too, seems to have disappeared.Now let me tell you about what I think of that, Kennedy.I know it looks bad for Brown.Perhaps he's the man.The Surety Company says so, anyway.But we must look at this thing calmly."He was himself quite excited, as he went on, "You understand, Isuppose, just how much Brown must have been reasonably responsible for passing the checks through the bank? He saw personally about as many of them as - as I did, which was none until the exposure came.They were deposited in other banks by people whom we can't identify but who must have opened accounts for the purpose of finally putting through a few bad checks.Then they came back to our bank in the regular channels and were accepted.By various kinds of juggling they were covered up.Why, some of them looked so good that they were even certified by our bank before they were deposited in the other banks.Now, as Brown claims, he never saw checks unless there was something special about them and there seemed at the time to be nothing wrong about these.
"But in the public mind I know there is prejudice against any bank official who speculates or leads a fast life, and of course it is warranted.Still, if Brown should clear himself finally the thing will come back to Dawson and even if he is guilty, it will make me the - er - the ultimate goat.The upshot of it all will be that Ishall have to stand the blame, if not the guilt, and the only way I can atone for my laxity in the past is by activity in catching the real offender and perhaps by restoring to the company and the bank whatever can yet be recovered.""But," asked Kennedy sympathetically, "what makes you think that you will find your man, whoever he proves to be, in New York?"I admit that it is only a very slight clue that I have," he replied confidentially."It is just a hint Dawson dropped once to one of the men with whom he was confidential in the company.This clerk told me that a long=20time ago Dawson said he had always wanted to go to South America and that perhaps on his honeymoon he might get a chance.This is the way I figured it out.You see, he is clever and some of these South American countries have no extradition treaties with us by which we could reach him, once he got there.""Perhaps he has already arrived in one of them with his wife.What makes you think he hasn't sailed yet?
"No, I don't think he has.You see, she wanted to spend a part of the honeymoon at Atlantic City.I learned that indirectly from her folks, who profess to know no better than we do where the couple are.
That was an additional reason why I wanted to see if by coming to New York I might not pick up some trace of them, either here or in Atlantic City.""And have you?
"Yes, I think I have." He handed us a lettergram which he had just received from Chicago.It read: "Two more checks have come in to-day from Atlantic City and New York.They seem to be in payment of bills, as they are for odd amounts.One is from the Lorraine at Atlantic City and the other from the Hotel Amsterdam of New York.
They were dated the 19th and 20th."
"You see," he resumed as we finished reading, "it is now the 23rd, so that there is a difference of three days.He was here on the 20th.
Now the next ship that he could take after the 20th sails from Brooklyn on the 25th.If he's clever he won't board that ship except in a disguise, for he will know that by that time some one must be watching.Now I want you to help me penetrate that disguise.Of course we can't arrest the whole shipload of passengers, but if you, with your scientific knowledge, could pick him out, then we could hold him and have breathing space to find out whether he is guilty alone or has been working with Bolton Brown."Carroll was now pacing the office with excitement as he unfolded his scheme which meant so much for himself.
