Wilmington journal., 1875-02-12
"sNAP.'' .
ssIie down, lie down, sir !"

him, but he looks as if he would bear
a great de al of mindlng.
..,onsepse." said A!ick, laughing.
81 tell you the dog will not touch you;
but. if you will not believe me, wait a
moment and will 60 in with you"
[ certainly was afraid to go IN tn
room alone, and think you, my read
er. would have thought discretion the
better part bad you been IN my place
Alick was talking with his agent as
Icaue to the hail door, and / had
walked toward his library to await his
leisure: but when l opened the door.
a large b ack dog that had evidently
been iaylpx on the floor. starts d to hIe
f. ct with groWl aud Exhibited TO"
of teeth tia would have made hrst
o,ass stock for dentist. He was
v.ilaihons 10, king brute, and L declin
ID trusting & myself to his mercy, as l
have told above.
Anck tnlehed his business; then
-ouk me bv the fIm and led me ILL"
he room. the dog slowly dropping ."
l. lau cher w:eI be sav bls mhht.'r.
,hd | paid 80 mr." att+ nti"n to htu'
uu;ii / uad finish, d the business had
III hand
What in the new world do you
| want with such Il vicious dog! III
| outred, as / lit the cigar my frleud
| gave me.
Il don't think much of your iudg-
| ment. if u cali him a vicious looking
| dog" was his answer.
| "What breed is hep"
| "He il a GROSS of several breeds"
yes, 1 should think from the way
he showed me his teeth that he was all
cross"
Come, come, you must not run
down nv MAP" He has been too
good friend for me to listen to any
thing but praises of him
"What did he ever do that was par
ticu ally friendly?" inquired.
swell, I'll tell you what Nap did;
he saved me fifty thousand dollar =
during the war times.
I WAS about to give an unbelievin g
chuckle, bus q glance at Alexis face
told me that he WAS in earnest, 80
begged for the story.
cit was about the middle OF the
war;" said Alick, when was Treasurer
of the Grafton Drilling Company.
Our office safe was as unsafe as IL pine
box would have been. and I disllked
to leave q dollar in it. There were sew
eral burglaries about the place, all OF
which were skillfully planned and exc
cuted.
zone night our Office was visited,
the safe pried open with wedges, and
the contents carried off. The burglars
foul d but few hundred dollars, but
the worst feature of it was that they
had hit upon q night when there ought
to have been q large amount of money
there. We had received large cash
payment the day before, but instead
of trusting it to our old safe, l had
taken it home with me.
"We wondered if the burglars had
any knowledge of this payment. i
. they had, then they must have extror
binary means of gaining intelligence
and would know whenever we received
any large amounts again, and woulC
, they not come at once to my hous'
now that they had seen did not trus
!, the safe /? The question was yer,
perplexing one, and l had an angr,
, debate over it with some of our Di
rectors. I was in favor of getting
reliable safe and employing a nigh
watchman, but [ was out-voted.
"Old Evans, indeed, went SO far g
: to say that, IS lightning never struci
t twice in the same place, neither dl'
= burglars visit old safes the secon'
!. time. And he was inclined to tbinl
: our money would be more safe if lef
q in +he. aac--.-.+ u,tineu so many of th
e others into his way of thinking that
: resolution was passed declaring i
t against their wishes to have any OF TIN
f CompaDy's funds kept anywhere ex
ceE't IN the Office safe !
q 'Of course. the effect of this wa
that, if l carried the money home ant
2 lost it the money would fail oD ne III
, divldually, aud not upon the Com
8 pany.
b, 81 was angry enough to have re
, signed my place, but my interest in th
e concern was too large TO be trihe,
7 with, though determined there shoul(
2 be a change IN the Board of Director
= another year.
"About week after this our Secre
Y tary returned from Boston on Ia
evening train and brought with lia
fifty thousand dollars and all in grren
, backs, the proceeds of our monthl
bills receivable. He brought the none.
;, in bills because the day following wa
our pay day.
Il was i'll the most perplexing stat
of mind when he handed me the money
D L knew the office safe was no prottc-
On whatever, aud yet if carried I'll,
> money home with ME L vas aseumIn.
: great sponsibllty. Without sayID;
= a word to any one L Determined not t,
{ keep the money in the office aut
: ! carried it home and put it III tina
l ottoman.
"You may be assured that I did no
feel very comfortable that evening.
thought of every nook and corner il
. the house, and wondered where woulC
, be the safest. At last / d determined
1 upon dividing it, leaving half here ant
. the rest IN my own room. I had no
I mentioned the matter at home, no
even to my wife, but plead head
5 ache when reminded Of my preoccr
pied air.
; II came in here and placed twenty
five thousand dollars in that cttoma,
at your feet. See, the top is Oh hinge.
and is fastened by this hook ON the
side. This ottoman pushed near Nap
The balance carried to my room anG
put in the stove, thinking it would be
l the last place where any one woulo
! look for 1T. l went to bed, but it waf
! nearly midnight before fell asleep.
Il was awakened by a mans hand
on my mouth, and to be informed that
A6 uiA Uob llLSBu I'D mar N me II keDt
) quiet. My hands were then tied be,
hind me, aud the muzzle of the pistol
placed against my head. Another man
was treating my wife in a similar man
ner. They had q dark lantern and
wore masks.
"After securing us they began to
search the room. First my clothes,
then the bureau drawers, under the
bed-everywhere but where the money
was. began to think I had outwit-
ted them. when one said to the other.
"Hov's that stove p Another minute
and they are pulling out the money.
Imagine my feelings. if you can.
Even if they left with this amount, it
was no small sum to lose. I could
almost have cried then and there. One
ran over the amount and said to the
other only one half here My heart
grew colder than before. They went to
the easy chair and cut open the stuffed
| seat: thew picked nm tho ottopoon ~