Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-04-26

son buried bis face in his handkerchief and
turned away with an Unsurpassed sigh.
HAS anything gone wrong at the store !?
asked Nellie, now really alarmed. 'Oh
Joe! you ought to tell me-indeed you
ought' and she threw her arms around
Benson's neck and burst into tears.
Il aoiN tell you, Nellie. God help usv
what has happened, Joe do, please
tell mep
sWhat occasions my depression of spirit:
cannot be revealed in a moment, dear Mel
lie,' said Benson. sAs I said before, ]
shall tell you everything as soon as Lily is
put to bed, and supper over. See ! the
poor little thing has fallen asleep on the
floor And he carefully lifted the limo.
cent sleeper and gently placed it in Mel
lies arms.
Supper was over; little Lily was sound
ly asleep and Nellie and her husband
were seated before the blazing fire, both
looking unusually sad.
sNeliie,' said Benson, suddenly starting,
as if from reverie, james has proved
himself to be william
I'm what way?' asked Nellie.
You are aware, I presume, that he left
this place for New York about three weeks
ago.
Yes
He had in his possession over twenty
thousand dollars, belonging to our house,
which We intrusted to his care for our credi
tors at the North
well = said Nellie.
I'VE have this afternoon received seve
raj letters from these very creditors, asking
remittances to the amount of our indebted
ness; and the inference is quite plain, eth
er that James has met with some misfor
tune, and lost the money with which he
was iutrusted, or has appropriated it to his
own use, and swindled the firm
But do you really believe that James il
capable of doing so villianous an act |?
asked Nellie, in surprise.
why, Nellie, in examining our books
this evening, we found many, very many
false entries and erasures in the cash &C.
count; and, as far as we can ascertain, by
; comparing James book with our memoran
dums, at least fifteen hundred dollars can
not be accounted for. This goes far tt
prove that our book-keeper has been in the
habit of pilfering, on small scale, fol
sometime back. But what occasions Vi
more uneasiness than any thing else, JUS
now, we find the Bank Receipt-Book ha'
lost several of its pages, and fear tha
James may have appropriated to his OWL
use large sums handed him for bank. de-
posit.'
%, Joe this is dreadful said Nellie
tAt this terrible pressure in the money
market, together with the failure of several
large houses at New York and Liverpool
upon which we greatly depended, I do moi
know how we shall survive our losses unless
we manage to keep our creditors in igno
rance of it.
sBut twenty thousand dollars surely vii
not be felt by your partner and yourself
Joe.'
1T may be forty or even fifty thousand
for aught we know to the contrary, deal
Nellie and though such loss, of itself
would not break us, yet, if such report
became public during the present panic in
the commercial world, ten chances to one.
our creditors would make run upon us;
compel US to stop payment and-it may be,
even worse
sYou are my wife, dear Nellie contin.
ued Benson; 'and, such being the case, |
feel it to be my duty to speak candidly with
you on this, as well as every other subject
I invested one hundred dollars in the bust.
ness three years ago-being about all the
capital in my possession-and my partner
! invested about one third of that amount
sometime after. His means were quite
limited, but his business qualifications and
practical experience in mercantile life, rep.
dered him an admirable co-partner to one
so young and inexperienced as myself
The present firm then, as you see, is quite
in its infancy and its credit not so we'll es
tablished as older and more influential
houses in the city. A very little thing
Nellie, may put an end to our business
transactions, as our present Indebtedness i:
considerably above a hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. I should have told you
too, that the firm of Jackson, Riley & Co..
which failed last week, was loss to US o.
over two hundred thousand dollars