Richard Connell

“ The banker and the district attorney had slumped nervelessly in their chairs.
"As little a thing as that," muttered Yeager, half to himself. "As little a thing as that!"
"Yes," said the editor. "I don't think any of us, smart as we may be, would have thought that so small thing could betray us. Well, I must go; we're getting out an extra about Rae's arrest." He hurried away.
"Well, Bain," remarked the district attorney, "all we can do is say we're sorry and call it quits. It's a lesson to me. Crime is nothing for an honest man to play with." ”

“ It's no secret that their monthly pay roll is in excess of $300,000. For the past nine years their method of getting the cash to meet the pay roll hasn't varied in the slightest degree. That is because Alec Rae, the cashier of the Pioneer Mills, is a precise, methodical man, very set in his ways.
"This is what happens. At 3 in the afternoon on the last day of every month Alec Rae comes to the side door of the Clintonia Trust Company, carrying an old black walrus bag. He always comes from the mills by trolley car. He wouldn't think of spending the money for a taxi to bring him to the bank. ”

“ He carries his old one, which does not work."
"Are you sure of that?" demanded Yeager.
"Positive," replied the banker. "Our crook would have an easy time silencing Alec Rae."
"But, even though Rae is near-sighted, he could, perhaps, see the man sufficiently well to identify him afterward." suggested the district attorney.
Bain smiled grimly.
"Our super-crook would take no chances," he said. "The Rushing river tells no tales. The unconscious man would be thrown from the bridge into the rapids. ”

“ Our super-crook then heads his machine down Market street at a good pace and turns up Church street, headed for the Pioneer Mills. But he does not turn along Lincoln avenue. Instead, he shoots past the cemetery and on to the covered bridge across the Rushing river. This was a short cut to the mills, but recently the bridge has been condemned and there is no traffic on it at all. ”

“ That meant, of course, that Rae wouldn't come down for the pay-roll cash until later, and that I'd have a chance to put him on his guard about the crime I had planned, and you had stolen."
"You're wrong, dead wrong, Bain," broke in Yeager, heatedly. "I did not——"
"Hear me out, as I heard you," interrupted Bain, sternly. "I left the bank at half past two and went to the Pioneer Mills. But when I had reached them, Alec Rae had already left for the bank. He had sent me no telephone message. It was a fake. That's why I wasn't at the bank when the crime was committed. ”

“ He robs a safe and leaves his hat and thumb-prints. He uses enough nitro to blow up a courthouse, and rouses the whole town. Most crimes are committed by men like that, and planned with an equal amount of intelligence. ”