St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 20 text:

Bnuhlv Glrnmivh morris chairs of the Fortieth Ave. Club, 't ES, I agree with you, remarked Michael f 65 I O'Toole, for twenty years a member of lv,-:SSW the United States Secret Service, as he F. 9 settled back into one of the luxurious giver ' 13 .x 11 L fll men have put over some pretty big jobs lately, but when it comes to real clever work, work that requires brains as well as daring, you have to hand it to the female of the species. Been tricked by some feminine opium smugglerb' queried Harry Rogers of the Times,', always anxious to hear a good story. Not exactly, replied l .J'Toole, but I have had occa- sion to admire the ability of a certain little woman, who, only a few weeks ago, made the entire 'Service' lool-2 foolish. Let's have itfy chipped in Rogers. Nothing would suit me better than to hear the story of your friend, the 'female Sherlock' O'Toole extricated a fragrant Havana from his vest pocket, lit it, puffed silently for a few mo' ments, and then began. One morning, about two months ago, I dropped into headquarters to see if the chief had a case for me to work on. I had scarcely closed the outer door. when he grabbed me by the arm. and half dragged me into his private office. I-Iaving' worked under him for ive vears, I immediately knew that there was something' doing, for on only two or three occasions before had he ghgyyn Sugh excitement. As soon as I was seated he began. 'Sometime between twelve o'clock yesterday and eight to-day a set of plates for printing' the Tictorv Liberty Loan Bonds was stolenf I i 'XVliat.' I fairly shouted, 'the bonds plates stolen? 'Yes,' he replied, 'and it means some job for us,

Page 19 text:

lm- an fred lag, .ned that but roof Inge m..-3, 4 z.,i 1' V. W. Hallinan J. J. Lister J. L. Martinelli M. I. Cronin D. W. Daly G. J. Casey

Page 21 text:

I' Ui l xllflllgl '-tlllliq ,H in hp luv .. - Llungv .M il .1 . .i:u. it till. ii ,z .i '- it .ii ii tw in wil flllll ill . ij V. Clif , il i 'fi' nil ra. in t-zglil Liberty' nf' IMI' U5- .t. 1 -ae, DOUBLE CKOSSED 10 So far we have no clues, The plates must be recovered before the drive starts in Aprilf The chief emphasized the last sentence by bringing his list down upon the desk with a resounding thud. 'You have had twenty years of experiencef he con- tinued, 'and I am sure you know the game. I am going to allow you to work where you choose, and in your own way. XVire me every day, and if you run across a clue tip me off' He turned his attention to some papers on his desk, and concluding from this that he had no more to say, I left. Outside. I sat down and redected on what I had just learned. Think what it meant! With a set of the plates anyone could skip out of the Lv. S., run off bonds to his heart's content, and Hood the country with them. If it got into the papers that the plates were missing, the whole Victory Loan would be crabbed. This was certainly one of the biggest things that had been attempted in years, so big in fact, that I doubted if our men would be able to break it up. During the next few days I learned from wires from headquarters that the entire country was being combed by the 'Service' Every port was being watched with hawk-like vigilance to prevent the plates being smuggled away on a foreign-bound vessel. From Maine to California, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, agents of the department were searching everywhere for the prize. So far there was but one suspect, a young man who had been employed for but a few months in the engraving department at VVashington. Circurnstantial evidence seemed to weave a web around him, but his record was so satisfactory, and his family so highly esteemed in ofhcial circles, that nothing had been done be- yond questioning him. After considering the case carefully, I decided that the plates were somewhere on the Atlantic coast. I knew that anyone who had enough brains to get away with them in the Erst place, would never be foolish enough to travel all over the country with them. And therefore, arguing from what my actions would be in a