Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-12-29
CAUGHT.

FROM the day that I first came into
our house, as a partner. l have, l have
always attended to the cash and bank
ing business myself, all moneys, checks,
&c., passing through my hands are ac-
cOUn ted for to me. In three and twenty
years, experience, / never had an errOl
but which, on careful revision, could be
reetified, nor had any moneys ever been
lost or stolen.
You may judge, therefore, Of my sur
prise when, one day-it had been a very
heavy cash day-On making up my ac-
count, L found myself two thousand three
hundred and fifty seven dollars short
There was no such amount entered in
any way that could possibly have moth
ing sil all my transactions upon which to
base my deficit. ] had but one place in
which to put my money during the day,
and that was in a drawer of my desk, a
solid, Old-fashiOned structure attached to
the building, and put up when the office
was built, forty years before. Had the
desk been one of the modern, fiimsY af-
fairs, I might have thought that sOme-
body could have spirited the money out
in some way, but even the idea of a false
key did not harmonic with the old fash
iOned lock of solid wood. I always lock-
"
pocket, and was rarely out of the Office
during the day; except half an hour for
lunch, and then there were never fewer
than three or four persons in the same
room. At night I invariably removed
every dollar to the safe, so that any ap-
prOpriatiOn of funds must be made I'm the
daytime.
This was the state of the case the day
that was two thousand three hundred
and fifty-seven dollars short. ] went
through every pocket and available place
on my person, though I knew / never
put any money about me, and closed my
account with the deficit, making up my
mind not to speak of it that day, but to
consider it until the morrow, before I
ssked advice. The morrow came, and,
utterly discOmpOsed, ] admitted to my
self my Inability to straighten Il, and
called in for advice Mr. Conway, our old
bOOl1keepeF, in whose judg-
ment I had great reliance. Mr.. Conway
did not, like the famous Dutch squire,
weigh the two accounts, and give judg-
ment in favor of the heaviest but he
did almost as well he footed up the col
umn of figures three or four times, count
ed my Cash-balanee as often, looking at
me over his spectacles, and told me the
was wrOng-twO thousand three
hundred and fifty-seven dollars short.
That's all the satisfaction there was from
Mr.. Conway After this, pledging him
to secrecy, I thought it better to consult
nobody else, hut watehfully await events,
charging the amount as I was bound to
do to myself personally.
How much, for days, this matter
troubled me, I cannot state but, like all
things else, after two weeks had gone by,
and no elaeidatiOn had come to me, it
began to wear away, when one day I
was amazed and Mortified to find another
deficit of nine hundred and eighty-f0ur
dOllare. This time I remembered some
of the very missing bills, and knew that
they had been taken from my drawer,
and yet had not left the key in it one
moment while I was absent from the
room, and all day there had been pres
ent at least two persons besides myself
and there had been also people coming
all the time, but these were separated
from me and the clerks by railing so
that it was impossible for any person
calling on business to approach nearer to
my desk than fifteen feet. This time I
consulted with my partners, and after
numerous theOries-all of which fell to
the grOUnd-We concluded to call in the
aid Of some TepUted, able, detective Of
ficer; and having applied in the proper
quarter for such a person, we were re-
to Mr.. Peter SehlidOg, a
who by the wink he gave
me after I had told him the whole story
and the assertion that We'll fix this
lob up in half an hour convinced me
that he would achieve nothing. Mr..
commenced his operations by
glOing upon my employees, one by one, |
and looking into my money drawer, and /
handling the money lovingly, so that |
somewhat feared that he meant to con-
iscate it as part of the evidence and |
ended by settling upon poor old Con- |
way, who, he mYEteTiOuslY informed me, |
gas the guilty man, hut could give me |
10 reason for it save that Mr.. Conway |
,Ould not look him in the eye for which |
did not blame Conway, for a more /
ascally, unpleasant eye I never beheld |
II mortal man. ] had some trouble in /
,etting rid of Mr.. SchlidOg, which was
,nIy accomplished by bribing him off,
md submitting to his hints that there
must be something wrong i'm myself, in
Ismuch as / was not willing that the
Investigation should proceed.
then thought would play my own
detective, and having put my money i'm
he drawer as 1 always dld, watched the
Of every one with the clos
st circUmspectiOn, although appearing
lot so careful as usual. Before going to
unch each day counted the money {
nd again when ! returned hut no re-
Ult until one day, on making MP my
aily accounts q little before three
'oloek, I found myself one thousand
ne hundred and thirty-twO dollars short
I almost jumped in astonishmentl /
rom my seat, for the abstraction must
ave occurred within three-quarters of
n hour, and with myself In the room
III the time. This was staggering and