Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-11-17

stranger still, a number. Of gold pieces of
similar antiquity, were there found The
commissioner, anxious to see if the curious
coincidence would hold out, quietly took
memorandum of the number of pieces, and
oftheir date. At bank No. 3, the gold
pieces were there, and no where else, anu
the number and dates corresoonded. 1he
commissioner drew down his spectacles-
chuckled little to think how the bankers
had entrapped themselves, in attempting to
.outwitt him; but he kept his own counsel,
and went on his way. u At-theo other banks,
making m all sotne twenty or the
same qaantitysof .gold--the same number
of ancient coins, with dates corresponding
with the memorandum. were found, and of
course the commissioner had to pass on.
Inquiries were always made rs to the next
bank to be examined, andeMr. Comisslon-
er Feleh, proverbial for politeness, could
not refuse to answer. =. a..s A,....+ =
The commissioner was about closing his
inspection Of bank in remote county
and there remained but one more to visit
1t was late at night, and hewa anxious 10
get home, but the last bank being distant
and the roads bad, he concluded to wait un-
til morning. The Cashier thought this
much the best plan, and volunteered to
take him over in his buggy. In the NOR
ming, about the time the buggy was brought
out, the Commissioner stepped into the bank
and told the Cashier, then behind the coun-
ter, that he would like to have peep at
that gold' again. The Cashier colored
red, and the Teller and the Directors pres
ent looked blue, while the President OF the
bank looked as though he expected Sunday
to come more than one way. They tried
to laugh it off as a good joke. The Sprin-
cipes' and the 'regalias' were again pro-
duced, and a new champagne bottle was
uncorked. The Commissioner said that
he had smoked their proceedings, and he
wouldn't smoke any thing else; and as for
champagne, he didn't use the article, and
if he did, he felt too much real pain at the
exhibition Of rascality he had witnessed, to
make him want any other kind. The
bankers grew ,indignant-outrageou So.
Did Mr.. Felch come here to insult them!
They would not put up with such base IN
sinuations-that they wouldn't:-and the
President blowed ,out his cheeks and looked
ferce-,he Cashier cooked his hat on one
side and looked fiercer than the President,
the Directors and the Teller and the de-
pendents, looked like little dogs when two
big ones nre going to fight, ten time mercer
than the combatants.
! The commissioner was resolute. He
had seen bankers mad before, and he knew
that they were a kind OF dogs that never
injured body, unless q body got into their
clutches. He had taken strange fancy to
look at that gold again, and look at it he
would, or else he would stop the machine
from grinding out more promises. The
gold had gone off the previous night, anc
was then in another bank, and it could no
be shown; and despite the threats of the
President and the Cashier, and the big look:
of the lesser fry of bankers, the concern
was closed, and the assets paid, as usual
nothing on the dollar.
The speed with which the warning torch
of Roderick's henchman, traversed clar
Alpine. was scarce circumstance to the
speed of the bank commissioner, as he
traversed the road back again, in search o.
that lost gold He went to oil the banks
he had previously examined, but like fiet
that the Irishman thought he had got, wher
his hand was upon it, it wasn't there. The
vaults Of the banks were filled with promi
t ses, and snothing else." The gold wa'
Z then in the last bank, waiting to be counted
!. for the twentieth or thirtieth time, by th'
bank commissioner, while that functionar!
r was hunting for it in the vaults of bank
that never owned apenny of it.
Readers, (if of the masculine gender,
vou have often, when boys, amused your
selves by setting up bricks on end som
t inches apart, and then kicking down tn
h first, which falls against the second, an
d upsets its gravity, and in like manner
v keels over a third, &c. In just the sam
manner, you might have seen the Michigan
: banks topple and fall while the commission
!, er was in pursuit Of that gold. Every on
5 he entered blew up in short order, and i
o the course of two or three days, every ban
IS in that bank district was numbered anon
: the things that used to ,oas.' The golt
}. however, was found at last. In the fir
bank examined, there it was, safe and sount
e Word was conveyed to the last bank, {
e the trick played offby the bank commission
d er. and an express was sent off with tn
n cold. which arrived at the bank in Detroi
9 some fifteen minutes before the commission
i. er, and that bank saved its life for le
Is, days longer.
f Fierce and bitter were the threats let
10 against Mr.. Commissioner Felch, for Pla!!
s ing bankers so scurvy and ungentlemanl
e a trick, and there is no doubt that the BAN
in ers would have redeemed these promise
3. had not the object of their hate been SOC
us after transferred to the supreme bench
nd the State, where he aided in pronouncir
e. the whole law an infringement Of Il
tn constitution, and therefore null and vol
as- While yet on the bench, ne was nominate
for Governor, and before his time was OF
g. was elected by an overwhelming MAORI
he to the United States Senate.
Of 1t was the race after that gold, and t
a decision of the Supreme Court against t
he law, which gave the finishing touch
nd Michigan banking, and prevented h
i'd financiers from placing the John Law
gs Nicholas Biddles, and the whole tribe
nd Mississippi bankers in the shade. S
as entered the race for immortal fame in bar