St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-03-14
The Mystery Of the Bank
4 sECI;EI NI-IToR.

one day the directors of the Bank OF
England we're much puzzled. and not II
little amu2cd. when the Secretary read
Ia them. at their usual sitting. the fol-
| lowing ill-srelt and curious letter:
Two GINrILNIN orr BANK INGLIND
/ Yoo think vow i all safe hand you're
Bnnk is Scatc. hutt | knows h"ttur.
hin hin-idc thee Bauck thee les; > mite
hand VOW nose uuilin ahuwt it. Butt
UNI mott thcaf. 50 hif Ncu vii NETT NEE
in the grct squar rom. wcah arl the
mOncil is. AT tWclf2 uite lie iXsplain
url tu yocw. LETT uucy |. hur = cum
aluwn. and say muffin noboddy.
''JON SNIFF"
The letter itt.iuw read. WAS. as might
! I've expected. the r"pic of cunN ciSatiOn
and suggestion for some little time.
| Some ni the Directors Thought it was Il
/ hoax. Others thought that under the
apparently igmorantly written letter Il
+ dccIcr mystery WH> hidden: hat all
agreed that the safest WAY WAS to put
/ the letter with pr"rrl instructions. into
/ the hands of the detectives specially
/ employed hv the Bank.
The detectives ioui,td grave. There
/ WAS plot ut work. t'"y >uW: aud with
their usual penetration they 1t once
/ penetrated thC deepest depths OF the
/ niQuity. Every one knows that u file
/ at soldiers march every night from the
/ Tower of the Bank. "a keep watch and
ward over HE vast Treasures there: but
( thcy simply guard the 0utSide from at
tack. Vii within i calm and still when
business hours are over.
here j. II very large room under
/ ground. where the huge wealth of the
Bank is deposited millions and mill
I ion- of English sovercigms. bars of gold
and hmdrcd-wcightS of silver, with
myliadS of notes to an incalculablc
amount. The detectives of course
! knew thar this room must lie the place
which the wliter of the letter had des-
/ igmatcd as the gret SOAR rom. 1t Is
full of treasure. Its floor is solid
stone pavement. and lis walls. roof and
door are of wrought iron. The door.
the Only ' means of access. Is immensely
thick. and secured hy the best of modern
locks and bolts ~ lille Il sentinel is sta
toned in front of it all the night
through. No one from outside could
enter: bat of course the police well I'M
dcrStood the trick; there must he some
conlederaCy WjthiH the bank, and one
of the conSpilators being more cowardly
than the rest. had resolved to betray
his fellows to save himself The bad
writing and spelling were of course only
fcigned. Their plans were taken ac-
cordimgly.
All the night long detectives were
secrCtcd in the room but they saw
nothing aud heard nothing. with the
exception. that some said they heard
about one or two o'clock, strange
sound which they could not account for
The next night was the same. and the
next. and next: and when the Board
day of the bank came round. the whole
of the Directors would have treated the
affair as an idle attempt to frightel
them. had not their attention beel
more strongly called to the subject by
the following incident:
\ heavy chest had been forwarded
by the Parcels Delivery Company, di
rected to the directors of the Bank o
England. The chest was of COURSE
opened before them at Once-such
thing being very unusual-and founC
to contain large packet of most valu
able papers and securities which ha,
been safely deposited in the vault. Witt
them WAS the following letter:
TO the Directors Of the Bank Of Enq
laRd- d-Gentlemen: My husband. who il
ain honest man, wrote to YOU last week
and told you that he had found way