Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-08-24

II am now on my way there, bu
cannot leave until Monday. IA
/ my hotel to-dayI heard the land
;tlord speak of the extraordinar.
safety vault you have attached t.
this bank AS | have a pene ehan
for seeing such structures, I hav'
thought perhaps you would al
low me to see yours, of which
have heard SO much" -
Certainly, sir, with pleasure,
replied Mr.. Braintree, who by tht
way was particularly partial t.
clergymen, doubtless because they
formed such a striking contrast tt
the Inhabitants of frontier cities
"Mr. Archer" added my chief,
"wilI you be good enough to light
4 the dark lantern and .aecompah J
US. 'tfsEist
4 1T wanted twenty minutes ste
the usual hour of closing the bank
land / had just finished my work
Had not such been the case
should in all probability. have
sent one of the clerks in my place
There was nothing, however, to
prevent me from doing as the presi
dent requested; | therefore light,
! ed a dark lantern, and we all three
descended the steps leading to the
vault. - ~
| The specie and valuables of the
bank were kept in an immense
iron safe which was placed in a
stone chamber. The walls of this
Ichamber were of extraordinary
thickness and the entrance to it
was through a massive iron door,
which was secured by thick bar
of ion fastened by an immense
paddock.
BY this means the specie of the
bank was doubly protected, for
even supposing that a robber
should succeed in obtaining an en-
trance into the stone vault, he
would still have to force the i'm
mense safe, matter of impossible
tty, unless he happened to possess
the secret, which was turning the
handle around exactly seven times,
Once more or less would be of no
avail.
| I unlocked the paddock, leaving
the key in. the lock, and we all
6entered the stone vault. The Rev.
Mf. Elliot appeared to be strange
ly interested in the place. He
gazed around him in seeming Won
der; he measured the thickness of
the walls, and the length and
breadth Of the room. m
Q "Very secure very secure, in
deed i he marmured. You can
set bank robbers at delian e with
room like this, NJ. Braintree.' y
"Yes,f sir | believe we can.
Fer even if any one should sue
ceed in getting into the stone vault,
they would have. still the safe to
cepiillt'1, III
| True, very true" responded
| the reverend gentleman, ''but |
notice one popularity about your
safe ,'''The. added, glancing toward
IIit asihe spoke, ''you have no lock
on it, as s
''It is not necessary" returned
Mr.. Braintree, "for unless person
happened to know the secret of
opening the door, | would defy
Ihimto open it. You see," added
the president, suiting the action
| to the word, sin order to effect an
Eentranee, it is necessary to turn
the handle around exactly seven
times"
After the seventh time, Mr..
IBraintree gave strong pull and
the heavy door slowly turned on
its hinges. The reverend gentle
man glanced inside with excusable
curiosity. "a
every curious ! very curious in
Decd" he murmured. "How won
derful is the ingenuity Of man !"
At that moment Mr.. Braintree
called the clergyman to see sore
thing else in the stone vault, and
they both moved away to the ex-
ltreme end Of the apartment.
On glancing into the safe | no.
ticed that two ledgers were out of
their places. / entered the safe
to place them in their respective
cases, when either the clergyman
for Mr.aBraintree brushed past the
safe, unconsciously knocked against
| the door, as he did SO, which gave
it an impetus that it closed on
me /; the bolts shot noiselessly into
their sockets and | was prisoner.
There was an acoustic phenom-
enon connected with this safe
which, L never heard explained,
and that was, any one shut inside
! it could hear every word that was
uttered in the vault, while no noise