The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-11-04
A NIGHT IN A HACK.
BY PAUL BOEEIN.

IL 10 pass through our nlgDly reSpectabl
hands. Responsibility is so rarenow-a a day
as to be expensive; we charged highly 70
what we had. Our firm was "CrOunse
Scott, Attorneys at Law, 4th floor, Pudel
Block"
I'm not Crounse nor Scott-both old
hOmely toads of lawyers, knobby with ex
crescences of legal lore, but with hearts a
warm and as young and as big as ever bea
in the human form only their head clerk
Mills, jenkins Mills, little musty ant
parchment-like in person and manners, i
is true, but serviceable, very serviceable
in hundred ways WASN'T young man
nor an old one, unless forty years or there
abouts may be called old. Then, bles:
your heart had been with the firm
twenty years, and was as much a part o
it as old Mr.. Crounse himself They pait
me very large salary, more than l could
have made at practicing, and gave me 8
sort of interest in the net profits was q
| single man; and as long as was satisfied
nobody else had right TO grumble.
Well, as have stated, our firm had q
| legacy. In a few words, it was a little box
| OF jewelry-diamOnds and other precious
stones in rich, quaint settings-with few
English bank notes as packing paper
| The contents of the box were estimated
| as worth about $4,000. The whole came
to us from England as a bequest of heir
looms from Miss Starks to niece in Hi
nOis, Miss Hattie Starks We had it six
months before we could ascertain where
the devisee lived. Meanwhile discovery
was made which just saved the precious
relics of the maiden aunt from mysteri-
Gus disappearance, and brought upon the
stage an individual who came very near to
playing the character of villain to perfec-
ton.
Mr.. Roderic Murtagh was ianitor of
our great building. He seemed remarka-
bic principally because of his height
about four feet eight inches: his weight
say one hundred and thirty pounds /:
the gravity of his thin wrinkled face his
little eyes-like black beads; his ierkiness
OF speech; his nervous starts at the OPEN
ing and shutting of door his rapidity
OF action, and, last but not least, his wife
The two were new -cOmers-the old janitor
having suddenly and unexpectedly fallen
heir to slip of real estate in cemetery
Oh which he had gone to take permanent
possession, leaving the salary and emolu-
ments of his position to an unnamed sue
cessor. We kept our legacy in the office
safe, and the janitor on the fifth floor of
the building, where, in nicely furnished
rooms, he seemed to amuse himself at odd
tunes by standing as a target for spare
crockery, skillfully SHE'D by ponderous
Mrs. Murtagh, who was great in those
physical traits wherein her husband was
small. Her noted failing was weakness
for the bottle-an error in weaning-upon
which, as human pump, she operated
with extraordinary powers of suction.
- hp We rod f.a4
ally are, but with devil dancing contin-
ually in her eyes that spoiled her other
wise mOtherly appearance used to meet
her and her shaggy rat dog on the stairs,
and it was fortnight, | think, before |
knew whom she was, and where she dwelt.
L write thus particularly of this couple be-
cause, In a cunning way, they compassed
my downfall, old and trusted as / was.
w hlch OF the two was the planner of the
scheme was never known.
made Mr.. Murtagh's intimate acquaint-
ance under very peculiar circumstances
| had seen the man skipping hither and
thlther IN his duties as Office-cleaner, and
thought him shy, insignificant creature,
sensitive as to his size, and shrinking
from observation and talk, beaten by his
wife into a pitiable slavishness, and harm
less as lamb Returning from the thea
ter late one night | saw light in the of.
fee. 1t shOne dimly through the yellow
shades, which, against our habit, were
drawn down. | was very much sur
prised at this, for Mr.. Crounse was
out of town. and / had Just said good
night to Mr.. Scott at the theater, and the
janitOr should have finished his work at
least five hours previously. 1t was barely
possible that Mr.. Scott had gone up, pass
ing me unseen while | was talking with
Il friend at the corner. My surprise in
gave way to alarm, when |
thought of the legacy buried in the safe,
of which l alone carried the KEY. This
legacy had worried me and broken my
sleep for many "a night, being, so to speak,
under my sole care. Iran up stairs very<
lightly, hearing no sound save the patter
of the feet of frightened rats scampering
across and up and down the dimly lighted
halls, and tried to open the door of the
front office. 1t was locked. At the same
instant heard sound of violent sweep
ing within. 1t ceased when / pounded
the door: the bolts clicked back into their
places, the door was swung cautiously
open, and through cloud of strangling
dust l espied the janitOr
Your works late to-night, Murtaghl"
/ said, gasping.
Yes, sir. was down with fever all
day and couldn't finish up as early as
usual. Better go into the back room, sir.
I'm through there"
No! 1t doesn't matter. saw the light
and only came up to see what was going
on" | replied, groping through the dust,
toward the safe.
"Yes, sir! Am sorry was late about
the office"
40, never mindl It's all right" But
the words were hardly off my lips when
saw that the safe doors were not tightly
closed. My heart gave one wild
Jump of fright He must have been close
ly watching me, for on the instant he
stepped forward
Beg pardon, sir. / found these keys
on the floor by your desk, little while
ago, and was afraid they were important"
He never looked into my face as he held
out the keys, among which | saw those of
the safe, and his hand shook violently as
/ took them from him. He turned away
and continued his work without another
word.
1t seemed to me then, and does now, as
ercall the place and circumstance, that was
never before so utterly surprised by any
as by this one. / would have
taken my oath, as strong as it could be
worded, that | had carefully locked the
safe that night, as was my habit, just be-
fore leaving the office, What then? That
/ had set down in the huge arm chair and
read the evening paper for few minutes
And after that | had dozed seven min
utes by the clock, then got up, once more
tried the safe, knew it was locked, and
went out of the office and locked It. Now
the safe was open. Iswung back ITS doors
Everything seemed secure, untouched.
The inner compartment, where the legacy
and other valuables were kept, was closed
and its contents safe, was perplexed be-
yond expression. How did Murtagh OBJ
tain those keys? At first | could only an
swer the question by supposing that they
had dropped from my pocket upon the
floor while was mapping. But that did
NOT OK xnlain why the safe door WAS nnen