Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

108 From this assortment of signatures, it didn’t take a handwriting expert long to pick out the cards which had been signed by the same person. Naturally the crook had used different names in each of the places he had visited, but the tell-tale slant and shape of certain typical letters gave him away. Facsimile copies of all these signatures were repro- duced in large quantities and were sent to the safe deposit departments of every bank in the United States and Canada, with instructions to watch for signatures similar in character. One thing that helped us most was that the robber, for obvious reasons, had always rented one of the largest boxes available, which was sufficiently unusual to attract attention. It wasn’t long before we picked up a hot scent. We received a wire from one of the largest banks in Salt Lake City, stating that a box had just been rented to a man whose signature was identical with one of those on the warning sheet. Evidently he had become so careless and cocksure that he would never be discov- ered, that he had even used the same alias as on one of the previous robberies. Without waitine even to pack a grip, Clancy and I boarded an oe which had been kept in readiness for just such a call, and hopped off to the land of the Latter Day Saints. We landed at Woodward Field at about two o ’clock in the afternoon and immediately went to the bank. Upon ‘presenting our credentials, we secured“ permis- sion to keep the vault open after the regular business hours. Under Clancy’s direction, two workmen made a few changes in the scenery. He selected one of the small private booths, located almost directly opposite the entrance of the vault, and had two concealed peep holes put in the door. At the further end of the vault there were. already two large mirrors. Clancy instructed the workmen to install four more mirrors on the portions of the walls not occupied by the doors of safe deposit compartments. When this was done he went into the “doctored” booth and looked through each of the peep holes, while I moved from one part of the vault to another. “OQ. K.,” he finally said. “I can see you now, no matter where you stand, as long as you're inside the vault.” He also had wires run from the booth to the clerk’s counter with a small signal light arranged in such a way that when the clerk pressed a button with his foot, the light would flash on inside the booth. This was to be our signal that the suspected person was about to enter the vault. : As soon as the bank’ opened on the following a ‘morn- ing, Clancy and I took our positions inside the booth, but it was not until about fifteen minutes before clos- ing time that the little light flashed on. Clancy and I immediately put our eyes to the -peep holes and waited. The man who accompanied the bank attendant into the vault was a tall, well-built, prosperous- -looking man of about thirty-five. After going through the cus- tomary routine of inserting each of the two keys, opening the door and drawing the tin box paft way _ out of the compartment, the bank seen ean _ and left Mr. Suspect alone in the vault. | which had been drawn right through the locked door ‘such a way ‘tha it | ~ shoulder and thi _ crumpled like a deflated balloon and sunk down ( his pocket a wicked-looking clasp knife, whi Pa with an ominous click. AMAZING STORIES He took his box to the table in the center of the vault and pretended to examine a few papers. In reality he was stealthily looking around to see if anyone else was at the counter preparing to enter the vault. Apparently satisfied that he would not be inter- rupted, he picked up his box and carried it to his compartment. It happened to be in a front corner, | out of sight of anyone standing in front of the vault’s entrance, but we could easily see his reflection in one of the mirrors. Placing his box on the floor, he reached in his Breast pocket and drew forth a peculiar-looking article resem- bling a physician’s forceps with two sets of handles. “The Hyper-Forceps!” I whispered to Clancy. le nodded to indicate that he had understood me. ITH both hands, the man manipulated the han-_ dles of the instrument until the jaws seemed to melt right into the thick steel walls of the vault. After a few seconds of probing, he withdrew the jaws of the Hyper-Forceps. Between them dangled a tin box of one of the safe deposit compartments. Working with nervous haste, he removed#the papers from the pilfered box and stuffed them into his own box. Then, by using the Hyper-Forceps again, he forced the empty. box right through the closed. door of the compartment into its place. Once again he returned to the table in the center and, | finding the space in front of the counter still unoccu- pied, he returned to the corner and started to per- form the same operation on another box. It was then that Clancy rose and signaled for me to follow him. “Have you got your gun? ?” I whispered. “Sure, but I won't need it with this bird.” out that his boast was a bit premature. Without making a sound, we opened the door and tiptoed into the vault, just as the thief was femoune the second box from its compartment. Clancy laid his hand on the crook’s shoulder ane pronounced the conventional formula: “You're under arrest,” The Hyper-Forceps, together with the safe deposit | box, clattered to the floor. With the oc. of a mae UES ‘the = ot : Tt turned Clancy passed out. Then the thug gurned to me. dealt me a terrific blow in the- pit of my stomach. of the stolen safe deposit box. Though the pain was frightful, I still retain sciousiess. I was horrified to see the thief tak