While Larry Dexter is on his way to the Consolidated National Bank, to use his wits in order to get the story of the robbery, which it seemed that the bank officials did not want made public as yet, I will take a few moments to tell my new readers something of the youth who is to be the hero of this book.
Many of you have met Larry before. I first introduced him to you in the initial volume of this series, entitled, “Larry Dexter at the Big Flood,” and in that I told how Larry, with his mother, his sisters Lucy and Mary, and his brother James, had come to New York, after the death of Mr. Dexter, and the selling of the old farm.
Larry had always had an ambition to become a reporter on a big metropolitan paper, and, after hard work, he succeeded. He began as a boy who carried copy, or the articles which the reporters write for the paper, from the editors’ desks to the tubes where it was shot to the composing room, where the printers set it up.
Larry soon proved that he had a “nose for news,” and he was made a reporter. From then on his rise was rapid. In the second book, called “Larry Dexter and the Land Swindlers,” I related some of the adventures in the great city, and how he got on the trail of a band of unscrupulous men, and foiled their plans.
Larry soon had almost developed into what is called a “star” reporter. That is, one to whom comes the honor of working up the big stories of the day. Instead of covering routine work he would be given difficult tasks to do, and special articles to write, for that is the test of a good reporter.
One of the most difficult tasks to which Larry was ever assigned was to find a certain rich man who had disappeared. In the third volume of the series, called “Larry Dexter and the Missing Millionaire,” I gave the details of his hunt for the missing millionaire.
Mr. Hampton Potter, the millionaire, was one day reported as missing. It seemed a complete mystery, but Larry found out all about, and even located Mr. Potter himself. The millionaire had disappeared for business reasons, and in order to perfect certain deals involving large sums, and, though at first his wife, and his daughter Grace, were much worried, they finally received a note from Mr. Potter, stating that he was safe.
But this only served to make matters more complicated, and Larry was more baffled than ever. During the time the young reporter worked on the case he became quite well acquainted with Miss Grace Potter, who was an exceedingly pretty girl. Finally, as I have said, Mr. Potter was located, and his enemies, who sought to do him harm, were vanquished. Of course Larry got an exclusive story out of it, in addition to rendering the Potter family a big service.
“But I guess I’m going to have my own troubles on this bank mystery robbery,” mused Larry, as he journeyed toward the financial institution, which was one of the largest in New York city. “If they’re keeping it quiet, that means there’s something back of it, and the officials won’t want to give out the story. But I’ve got to get it, somehow.
“Let’s see, do I know anybody in the Consolidated National?” and Larry went hastily over his rather lengthy list of acquaintances. For it is through friends and acquaintances that a reporter often gets his best news. “No, I can’t recall anybody down there,” Larry went on. “Hold on, though—why, yes! That’s the very thing! Mr. Hampton Potter is one of the biggest depositors there. His name ought to have some weight. If I can’t get at the president, or cashier, in any other way, Mr. Potter may help me. If the bank has been looted, he’ll know about it as soon as anybody.