Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-09-15

I took the rebuff quietly, - / knew ! de-
served it. and returned TO my seat.
A few days had passed, when one even
ing. inst a. we were about to close the
of3ce. we were electrified by . passion
ate outburst from old Pennypacker
directed against John Barrett. For some
minutes none Of us understood the mat
ter. bit at last, through the invectives OF
| Ephrsim and the explanations Of . gentle
man who had entered with him, 1t came
| ont that John had paid . forged cheque
| for eight thousand dollars, bearing the
/ name of Abendroth 81 Co, one OF our
largest depogitors. The forgery had
been discovered ON the monthly return Of
che cues TO that house, and the spurious
70. 2Xp g r e could
find tongue, It was TO tell that this wa
the cheque presented BY the lady some
days before; and as 1t was drawn TO
the order Of Messrs. Abendroth 81 Co.,
and endorsed in their usual manner, he
had felt no doubt about the .propriety
Of paying 1t. The forgery had been neat
ly executed there could be no doubt Of
that. In those days, even some very
large houses-that OF Abendroth 81 Co.
among others-did not have cheques
printed especially for their own use, but
awaited themselves Of such az were TO be
found at the stationers. shall never
forget the rage Of oil PenDypacker. He
showed it In every way short of using his
fists upon the unfortunate culprit. He
had just method enough in his madness
| not TO do that.
This affair upset the equanimity of the
establishment for week. John was
banished TO an inferior position, and un-
| der threat Of having his whole ealary cut
of for hundred years-for nothing less
than that would hare made good the loss
was kept close prisoner at the desk,
| except when summoned (as was also fire.
quently my own CASEY before an inquisito-
rial board consisting of Pennypacker and
| q corps OF detectives. On such occasions
we were called upon to repeat the de
scriptions we had 30 often given Of the
woman who had presented the cheque.
In these descriptions John and / did not
agree, but az 1t was supposed that he had
enjoyed better opportunity Of seeing
her, and had more interest in her de-
lection than /, his account seemed to
carry the most weight. However, no
clue was found, and in few months
John was restored to his former position,
for well old Pennypacker knew that he
could get no one OF equal ability at the
same salary. The forged check was filed
away In the archives Of the establish
ment, and the affair ceased 10 be dis
dussed.
Now comes the second event in my
story. have spoken OF Lydia Penny
packer, but l have not mentioned that
always knew that John Barrett WAS
very fond of her, and took every oppor-
tunity to show 1t when her father was
out Of the way. In fact, IL was about the
only subject upon which John was not
taciturn, and upon that he would talk
with me for hours II gave him chance
which did not often do, for liked Lydia
myself, though not In the way John did,
but rather in brotherly manner.
could not say that Lydia liked him; on
the contrary, thought she repulsed him
at every opportunity /; 80 much so some
times as to excite his deepest ire, and
draw forth, In the solitude of our cham
Der, threats did not like TO hear, but
feared TO resent Then considered that
John was nne young man, and likely to
rise in the world, being steady and indus.
trious, and I could think of no good rea-
son why Lydia should not like him, I'M
less the fact that had seen her many
times In the street, especially on the way
homo from church, with q handsome
young Scotchman, an engineer, named
Alexander Graham, had something to do
with It, l said as much TO her one even
ing, and the blush and faint laugh which
were her only reply went good way to
confirm my suspicious. As the meetings
with Graham grew more frequent, Lydia's
dislike TO John and her disgust with home
were more plainly expressed. Trouble
was rising, and one night 1t eliminated In
a contention between father and daugh
ter heard all through the house, and end
ing in the sound OF blows. l stood
trembling at the foot Of the stairs, and in
| few moments down rushed the girl, with
hair disheveled and dress torn, making
straight for the street door. II was but a
little after dark, and ! was the only one
of the clerks lett in the house. caught
her in my arms, but she tore herself
fiercely away, exclaiming:
"Let me goi The last blow is struck
that I'll ever bear"
where are you goings"
| "Anywherel anywhere! SO that l get
away from this accnrsed place"
| / still struggled to hold her, and after a
| lew UieTntHtS BIG bceIcu w ACicutS bud'
denly bursting into tears, she caught my
hand and said:
"Ob, no | was wrong to speak so, fol
you have always been kind to me, but
must 60"
/ drew her to me, trembling all the
while--not with passion, but from fear OF
old Ephraim coming upon us--and tried
every persuasion to make her forego heI
purpose. 1 pictured the perils of young
girl going forth into the world penuiless
and with no means of earning her bread
For time she was resolutc, and no words
could dissuade her, even though, as she
owned, she was going to certain ruin
God help me! what could do for hei
with my beggarly two hundred dollars q
year 9--just enough TO provide me with
clothes and such necessaries as old Eph
rain did not comprise in his s,ingy tariff
AZ last / exscted a promise from her that
she would go TO her room and put off her
intention till morning, when we nigh,
consider the situation more calmly. Sol
parted from her, drying her tears with
my handkerchief, and kissing her as she
went away That night loved Lydis
Pennypacker well enough TO have made
her my wife an act Of pure madness, fol
Il WAS then only eighteen.