Chapter V: A Strange Disappearance

(By telegraph to the New York Hemisphere.)

“Raymond, Vt., June 1.—A startling sequel to the murder of
Cashier Hathaway and the robbery of the Raymond National and
Wild River Savings Banks was developed to-day in the mysterious
disappearance of Miss Helen Hathaway, the younger daughter of
the dead banker, and Derrick Ames, a well-known young man of
Raymond.

“Ames is about 27 years old, and occupied a responsible and
lucrative position in the local office of the Vermont Life
Insurance Company. While not possessing a positive reputation
for evil, Ames was regarded askance by the more staid and
conservative residents of the town, and his position socially
was somewhat anomalous. He had resided in Raymond some five or
six years and was known to have been a warm admirer of Miss
Hathaway. But it was equally apparent to the gossip-loving
townspeople that Deacon Hathaway regarded the young insurance
clerk with distinct disfavor, and had forbidden his daughter’s
continuing the intimacy. It was likewise well known that the
missing girl had frequently met Ames clandestinely.

“Neither Miss Hathaway nor Derrick Ames was seen after the
discovery of the bank tragedy. Ames was at his boarding house at
noon on the day of the murder, but did not return to supper. His
room, with all his effects, was left as usual and gave no
indication that he contemplated a hasty departure. Even at the
office where he was employed he left some personal effects and
half a month’s salary was to his credit.

“In the case of Miss Hathaway, also, there are absolutely no
indications of premeditated departure. Her sister states that
she has taken not even a wrap, only the clothes she wore that
afternoon as she left the house. Neither man nor maiden was seen
by any person to leave Raymond. No vehicle was secured for
either of them, and no one answering their description boarded
the train at the Raymond Station. They have disappeared as
completely, as suddenly and as mysteriously as did the murderer
of Cashier Hathaway.

“The knowledge of these circumstances has intensified the
excitement occasioned by the murder and robbery. The
coincidence, if it be but a coincidence, of the unpremeditated
elopement of Helen Hathaway upon the very day, nay, perhaps the
very hour, that her aged father was stricken by the bullet of
the assassin, is sufficiently startling of itself to cause the
most intense excitement.

“Is there any connection between the disappearance of Derrick
Ames and Helen Hathaway and the shooting of Cashier Hathaway and
the subsequent looting of the bank vault? Why did the couple, if
they simply ran away to get married without the parental
sanction, do so manifestly on the spur of the moment, without
any prearranged plans, without notification to even their
intimate friends? And why, if they went innocently away, have
they failed to acquaint any one with their present whereabouts,
when they must be aware of the cruel murder of Miss Hathaway’s
good father, the details of which have been published far and
wide, not only in the provincial newspapers, but throughout the
metropolitan press?

“There is not a resident of Raymond who will hint at even the
possibility of any guilty knowledge of the taking-off of her
father by Helen Hathaway, before or during her hurried flight.
For although regarded as unusually high-spirited and impetuous,
she was loving and lovable to a degree and the idol of her
sister. The only indiscretion that can be attributed to the
missing girl was her occasional meetings with Derrick Ames
without the sanction of her father.

“Her companion in flight, on the other hand, was not especially
favorably known in Raymond. While he came to the town with
excellent credentials, he was not a favorite in any particular
set or society. Handsome in face and figure, an athlete of
considerable local repute, with alternate moods of extreme
depression and satirical good humor, he was such a one as might
be expected to turn the head of a romantic young girl like the
absent Miss Hathaway. Ames was free with his money, and while
not a drinking man, in the sense of the term in this part of the
country, he occasionally wooed the wine cup with great energy
and originality. He had enemies in plenty and but a week before
the tragedy had abruptly resigned the lieutenancy of the Raymond
Rifles because of a trifling disagreement with the captain. It
must be stated, however, that no mean or ignoble act or petty
crime had ever been attributed to him, the chief cause of his
unpopularity proceeding from his reserve, the sharpness of his
tongue and the irascibility of his temper.

“Had Derrick Ames disappeared alone, on the evening of the
murder, there would have been but one opinion as to his guilt or
innocence. But the unaccountable flight of Miss Hathaway—this is
the one flaw in the chain of circumstantial evidence. Some
people will explain this away on the universal theory for every
inexplicable action of the human mind—hypnotism. It is said that
Ames placed Miss Hathaway within the spell of his own powerful
will, and unknowingly, unwittingly, blindly obedient, beautiful
Helen Hathaway accompanied the cold-blooded slayer of her own
father in his flight from the scene of his crime.

“Did Ames and Miss Hathaway leave Raymond together? While there
is no evidence that they did, the presumption is so strong as to
compel the inference. In any event Raymond has practically
convicted Derrick Ames of complicity, if not actual
participation, in the murder of Roger Hathaway.

“It is possible that the murder was not premeditated, as was
intimated in these dispatches yesterday. Ames may have called
upon the cashier at the bank, to plead again his suit for the
hand of Helen Hathaway. A blunt refusal, hasty words, a bitter
quarrel, Ames’ temper, quick and ungovernable, a brief struggle,
the fatal shot and the older man lay dead upon the floor. What
more natural than that the young murderer, fully appreciating
his terrible situation, and cognizant of the large amount of
ready money in the safe, should wrench the familiar bunch of
keys from the pocket of the dead cashier and possess himself of
the treasure? It requires something of a stretch of the
imagination to fancy the assassin, his hand yet reeking with the
blood of her father, inducing the young girl to accompany him in
his flight for life and liberty, yet it is not impossible—and in
the belief of many it is just what Derrick Ames did do.

“There is but the faintest possible clew as yet to connect any
one else with the crime. Besides a few hotel arrivals—commercial
men comparatively well known—one stranger, and one only, is
believed to have been in Raymond on the day of the murder. No
one saw him come, no one saw him leave the town. Inquiry was
made at the depot, the telegraph operator states, shortly after
8 o’clock, as to the time of departure of the next train south.
The operator did not notice the questioner particularly,
although he is positive he was a stranger in Raymond.

“The theory of a prearranged plot to rob the bank on the night
the cashier was shot has been assiduously worked by the local
authorities. It was known that there would be a large amount of
money in the bank on the night preceding the paying off of the
matured county bonds. Was it not worth while for an organized
gang of bank robbers to plan a descent on the Raymond
institution? Was it not possible that they did so plan; that
they had already secured access to the banking-room while the
populace was watching the parade in the afternoon; that they
were awaiting the cover of darkness to begin work upon the safe,
when all unexpectedly the cashier arrived and entered the bank;
that the robbers retreated to the dark closet; that here they
remained hidden while Mr. Hathaway performed some pressing work
upon the books, meanwhile sending the note requesting the
presence of the president; that while he stepped to the front
door to secure a messenger for the letter the robbers may have
conceived the daring scheme of seizing the cash drawer from the
vault; that the cashier returned while they were in the very act
of executing their design; that he rushed to his desk and had
already possessed himself of his revolver, when he was seized by
the robbers and shot dead before he could succeed in making use
of his own weapon, which was subsequently picked up and carried
off by the robbers?

“More careful investigations of the scene of the murder
developed the fact that the struggle between the cashier and his
assailant, or assailants, must have been not only a severe one,
but of several minutes’ duration. There were marks of violence
on the body of the dead banker, the physicians report, which
must have been made by an exceptionally strong man. The right
wrist showed quite severe abrasions, as if it had been grasped
fiercely by a strong hand, and on the other side of the wrist
was a purple mark that was evidently made by a seal ring pressed
into the flesh by the tremendous force with which the hand had
been seized. The snow-white and abundant hair of Mr. Hathaway
was also disheveled, when the body was first discovered, and the
chain to which his bunch of keys had been attached was snapped
off, only about two inches remaining upon his person. No signs
of a weapon or any burglarious tools were discovered in or about
the bank premises, but evidence of the extreme coolness and
sang-froid of the murderer is afforded by the fact that,
apparently in searching for suitable paper in which to wrap the
big package of bills two or three full pages of the big bank
ledger were torn out and used for the purpose.

“Nothing was missing from the person of the dead man, except,
singularly enough, a curiously fashioned locket which Mr.
Hathaway wore as a watch charm. It contained miniatures of his
two daughters, Louise and Helen. No reason for its being carried
off is apparent. The link which held it to the watch-chain was
broken as if the locket had been violently removed.

“The exact amount of money stolen cannot as yet be stated.
President Felton alleges that, until the trial balance is drawn
off, it will be impossible to give figures. Certainly not less
than $40,000 in greenbacks was secured, and probably half as
much more in securities, which, however, are not negotiable and
are therefore worthless to the robbers. The bank is perfectly
solvent, President Felton states, and will resume business at an
early date.

“Mr. Felton is well-nigh prostrated by the shock of his awful
discovery on the evening of Memorial Day and has aged visibly in
the last two days. He does not attach so much importance to the
dual disappearance of Derrick Ames and Helen Hathaway as do most
of the citizens, and expresses the opinion that it is a simple
elopement and that the couple will return shortly.

“The directors of the savings and national banks, at a meeting
this morning, authorized the offer of a reward of $4,000 for the
capture and conviction of the murderer or murderers, in addition
to the purse of $1,000 ‘hung up’ by the town.

“The coroner’s inquest will be begun to-morrow.”

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