und empty, and near by was
a hatchet usually kept in the basement, and with which the box had been
pried open.

The news of the robbery caused intense excitement in the community. The
village policeman together with the county sheriff and his deputies met
in conference at the Clark Estate office; knots of people gathered upon
the streets in earnest discussion; the village press was busy turning
out handbills announcing the robbery and offering a large reward for the
apprehension of the thief; the telegraph wires hummed with messages to
the police of the state and nation. Next morning Pinkerton detectives
arrived under the leadership of George S. Dougherty, afterward deputy
police commissioner of the city of New York.

The clues discovered by the detectives were not encouraging. In the
office nothing appeared beyond the fact that the box of jewels had been
removed from the safe. In the basement the discarded tin box that had
contained the casket of jewels lay upon the floor not far from the
hatchet with which it had been opened, and the only remarkable
circumstance was that the floor all about the empty box was bespattered
with blood. The detectives said also that they noticed the frequent
appearance of a woman's footprints which were well defined and seemed to
encircle the spot where the empty jewel-box lay.

The blood-stains appeared to offer the most serviceable clue, and to
account for them three theories were suggested. First: The robber had
been caught in the act by someone who had disappeared in pursuit, after
one or the other had been wounded in the struggle. Second: There was
more than one robber, and there had been a bloody quarrel over the
division of the booty. Third: In opening the tin box containing the
jewels the robber had cut himself either with the hatchet or with the
jagged tin. Since the Bishop, who had been in the building during the
robbery, heard no sound of any struggle, the first two theories were
abandoned, and the third alone seemed probable. Advices were accordingly
telegraphed to the police of various cities to look out for a man with a
bandaged hand. For several days thereafter suspicious-looking men in
remote parts of the country who had had the misfortune to injure a hand
suffered the added misfortune of being detained by the police; but
nothing came of it.

In order to aid in the recovery of the property, and to make it
difficult for the thief to dispose of it, a description of the st