his conclusion that Brian Kent
was dead, were, first of all, the man's general character, temperament,
habits, and ambitions,--aside from his thefts from the bank,--prior to
the time of his exposure and flight, and his known mental and physical
condition at the time he disappeared from the hotel in the little river
town of Borden.

The detective reasoned (and there are thousands of cases that could
be cited to support his contention) that by such a man as Brian
Kent,--knowing, as he must have known, the comparative certainty of
his ultimate arrest and conviction, and being in a mental and nervous
condition bordering on insanity, as a result of his constant brooding
over his crime and the excessive drinking to which he had resorted for
relief,--by such a man, death would almost inevitably be chosen rather
than a life of humiliation and disgrace and imprisonment.

Acting upon the supposition, however, that the man had gone down the
river in that missing boat, and that the appearance of suicide
was planned by the fugitive to trick his pursuers, the detectives
ascertained that he had provided no supplies for a trip down the river.
The man would be compelled to seek food. The mountain country through
which he must pass was sparsely settled, and for a distance that would
have taken a boat many days to cover, the officers visited every house
and cabin and camp on either side of the river without finding a trace
of the hunted man. The river had been watched night and day. The net set
by the Burns operatives touched every settlement and village for many
miles around. And, finally, the battered and broken wreck of the lost
boat had been found some two miles below Elbow Rock.

". . . And so, my dear Auntie Sue," Banker Ward wrote, in conclusion,
"you may rest in peace, secure in the certainty that my thieving bank
clerk is not lurking anywhere in your beautiful Ozarks to pounce down
upon you unawares in your little house beside the river. The man is
safely dead. There is no doubt about it. I regret, more than I can
express, that you have been in any way disturbed by the affair. Please
think no more about it.

"By the way, you made a great impression upon detective Ross. He was
more than enthusiastic over your graciousness and your beauty. I
never heard him talk so much before in all the years I have known him.
Needless to say, I indorsed everything he said about the dearest
old lady in the world, and then we celebrated by din