The Shasta courier., 1861-09-28
THE IRON VAULT.
ArRuE STORY OF SAN FRANCISCO LocKsxITH.

am Locksmith by trade. My calling Is
astrange one, and nossesses certain facina-
rsndering. It on5Gf The most agreeable of
suits. Many who ffoiiom it, SIS nothing
IN it but labor, think of nothing but its re-
turns in gold and silver. To me it has other
charms than the money it produces. / am
calI.d upon, almost daily, to open doors and
peer into long neglected apartments to
spriig the stubborn locks of safes. and gloat
uponthe treasure piled within to quietly
enterthe apartments of the ladies with more
beauE than discretion, and pick the locks of
drawes containing peace-destroying mis-
sives, hat the dangerous evidences of wan
dering tfection may not reach the eye of the
husband or father, in possession of the miss
ing key to force the fastenings of cash box
es, and repositories of records, telling of men
made suddenly rich, of corporations plum
dered, OF iorphans robbed, Of hopes crushed,
of families ruined, Is there no charm in all
this? nofood for speculation no scope for
the range of fancy? Then who would not be
locksmth, though his face is begrimmed
with the not of the forge, and his hands are
stained with rust?
But / hive story to tell-not exactly a
story, eith,r--f1r story implies the com-
pletion as veil as the beginning of q nara
tive-and nine is scarcely more than the in
PRODUCTION toone. Let him who deals in fan
cy, write the lest, In the spring of 1856
think it was in April opened little
shop on ( -rnty street, and soon worked
myself into fai. business. Late one even
ing, a lady closely yelled entered my shop,
and pulling from beneath her cloak small
jappanned box, requested me to open it.
The bck was curiously constructed, and |
was all of an hour in fitting it with key
The lady seemed nervous at the delay, and at
length requested me to close the door l
was little surprised at the suggestion, but
of course complied. Shutting the door and
returning to my work, the lady withdrew
her veil, disclosing as sweet face as can
we'll Ie imagined. There was restlessness
in thu eye and a pallor in the cheek, howev-
er, which plainly told of a heart ill at ease,
and IN a moment every emotion for her had
given place to that of pity.
Perhaps you are not well. madam, and
the night air is too chilly ?'' said l, rather
itqnisitively.
y felt rebuke in her reply; "In request
ivg you to close the door, | had no other OBJ
ilct than to escape the attention of passers. y
l did not reply, but thoughtfully continued
my work. She resumed:
That little box contains valuable papers
private papers-and have lost the key,
or it has been stolen. | should not wish to
have YOU remember that ever came here on
such an errand," she continued, with some
hesitation, and giving me look that it was
no difficult matter to understand.
.Certainly. madam. if you desire it. If l
cannot forget your face, will at least at
tempt to lose the recollection of ever seeing
it herc''
The lady bowed rather coldly at what
considered fine compliment, and ! proceed
ed with nv work, satisfied that suddenly
discovered partiality for me had nothing to
do with the visit. Having succeeded after
much filing and fitting in turning the lock,
| was seized with curiosity to get glimpse
at the precious contents of the box, and sud
denly raising the lid, discovered bundle of
letters, and DaguerT Teotype, as ! slowly
nassed the box to its owner. She seized it
hurriedly, and placing the letters and pic.
ture in her pocket, looked the box, and
drawing the veil over her face, pointed to
the door. opened it, and as she passed in
to the street, she merely whispered, " Re-
We met again, and have been
thus particular in describing her visit to the
shop, to render probable subsequent recogni-
ton.
About o'clock in the morning, in the lat
ter part of May following, l was awakened
by a gentle tap upon the window of the little
room back of the shop in which / lodged
of burglars, / sprang out of bed,
and in a moment was at the window with a
heavy hammer in my hand, which l usually
kept at that time within convenient reach of
nv bedside.
Who's there?' I inquired, raising the
and peering out into the darkness,
for it was as dark as Egypt, when under the
curse of Isreal's God.
"Hist - exclaimed the figure in front of
the window "open the door; have business
for ya., -
"Rather past business hours, I should say;
but who are you"
'sNo one that would harm you," returned
the voice, which imagined was rather fem
mime for burglars.
g No one that can /" 1 replied rather en-
phatically, by way of warning. as I tight
ened my grip upon the hammar, and proceed
ed to the door. I'pushed back the bolt, slow
ly opened the door, and discovered the
stranger already upon the step.
"What do you want?' ! abruptly inqui-
red.
"Iwill tell you" answered the same soft
voice, If you dare open the door wide
enough for me to enter"
"Come in," SAID 1, resolutely. throwinc
the door ajar, and proceeding to light a can
die. Having succeeded, turned to examine
the visitor He was a small and neatly
dressed gentleman, with heavy Raglan
around his shoulders. and blue navy cap
drawn suspiciou-ly over the eyes, As ad-
vanced toward him, he seemed to hesitate a
then raised the cap from his fore
head and looked me curiously in the face
did not drop the ehndle, but acknowledge
TO little nervousness as / hurriedly placed
the light upon table and silently proceeded
to. invest myself with two or three very nec-
essary articles of clothing. As the Lord liv-
eth, my visitor was lady, and the same for
whom had unlocked the little box about q
month previous. Having completed my
wardrobe, and while stammering out an
apology, she remarked:
+" Disguise 10 useless; Iprssums you Fsc-