Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-03-30

. dHu tuOuSu all I'D lnelT minOS knew III
Z truth, they dared not speak it. At leDgl
!, loud rap was heard at the lower door
and after the money disappeared int
!. the pockets of The respective owners. ih
proprietor went down stairs to open il
! while the parry were Immediately en-
gagged in perusing papers, and no vestig
OF card uiayiDg could be seen in tb
room. The proprietor returned. an,
: with him a policeman and one of tn
clerks in The bank where Charles --
was mployed. The company looked a.
| IN apparent wonder at the intruders.
Have any of you seen Charles -
this EVENING"" inquired the policeman
No one had seen him since the nigh
previous. and all inquired the reason O
the strange proceeding. When told tha
he was a defaulter for over three thou
snnd dollars, and had not been 10 the
bank that day, they gazed at each other
IN blank amazement, with guilt stamped
upon their countenances. The police
man soon left. and the party, after en-
deaVoring to ease their conscieuces with
expressions that had they known it, they
would never have played with him, that
they supposed ii was all right, &c, re-
/ tired TO uber respective homes. Field in
particular seemed 10 feel the disgrace
which had been brought upon promis
ing young man and his friends bv the
cursed habit, which he found was gain.
ing strong hold upon himself; and the
writer. IN conversation with him then,
heard him resolve that he would never
play for money again. How much mis-
cry he might have saved himself and
friends and family had he kept tha;
resolve; and no doubt had he turned
from the precipice over which he was
then impending, no disgrace would ever
have attached TO i,is name.
But his companions, some of them,
were constant winners, and not desiring
to break up the party so soon, Field
found the serpent-folds enrwined around
h-m. and hr-akIng all his well formed
resolves. he again plunged into the deep
Taartp,, 4, Il
he lad just learned be blindly plunged
forward IN the darkest of all nights -
The friends OF Charles - paid up his
deialcaiion, and he left for a tour in
Europe.
The game continued with the balance
OF the party, with the exception of three
or four, who arrested their steps in time.
Alter few months bad passed another
OF The party, James -, also a bank
CLERK, was arrested on charge of forge
ry, and ere his trial look place, The den
tlst left Brooklyn for Ohio. He has
never since been heard from. 1t has
been calculated that he must have made
over SIX thousand dollars out OF the party.
is arrest broke up the party for The
time. He was sent to the State prison.
Of the latter history of this party, the
writer has nothing but rumor to guide
him, and fearful that some of them might
be true, he omiIs writing them down.
Oscar Filed's brief career was a short
and bitter one. In the year 1854 he was
a young man esteemed by all his friends
and acquaintances, sober in his habits,
gentlemanly in his manners, and possess
ing no attributes but that of e gentleman.
In 1859 be is fugitive from justice,
wanderer, with The mark of Cain upon
bis brow, leaving behind him a loving
wife and children. The story of his
keeping fast woman the writer doubts,
for his tastes and inclinations were rot
Of that nature.
OF the four young bank clerks who
met evenings during the winter of 1854,
55. in 1859 one is the young man before
alluded 10 as travelling in Europe. the
second Is James --, an inmate OF Sing
Sing Prison, the third is Oscar Field, the
Ourth is the writer; and as the latter
lasts a glance over the past shudder
'reeps through his frame as he thinks
'ver the fate of his companions. and
hanks merciful God that saved him
rom the abyss into which he had almost
'lunged himself.
There were other bank clerks among
be party, and ere long their defalcations ,
nust come to light, for they have been
ossessed of sums which they could not :
ave come by honestly.
The only cure for hopeless affection is {
, discard the article for one having a rea- C