Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1876-10-05

could ma NO account OF IL any WncIe )
nor was any letter accompanying it on
file. l called George Sayers in, and
asked hun If he could explain it. He
said he could not. He had never seen
any such letter--no such remittance
had ever come to his hand. While the
answer was yet upon his lips the men,
DRY of that letter flashed upon me-the
letter which had seen month before
and l cast q look upon my clerk
which made him tremble. Aye-as
my gaze grew more intense, be turned
pale, and fancied that he leaned upon
the desk for support. l dismissed him,
and then finished my business with
Gibson. The five hundred dollars was
missing but as well knew that the
letter containing the money had been
duly received at my store. I gave him
credit for it.
''Before again saw my clerk I made
athorough investigation Of such mat
ters as bore upon the case within my
own knowledge. 1 found by my diary
that was at work in the wooden mill
on the eighth dag of January. Gibson
mailed his letter at Montpelier on the
fifth. Of course the letter which I saw
in my counting-room, when I accident
ally dropped in there on the afternoon
Of that eighth day, was the very letter.
l left that letter, with the money in it
and now, what had become oft? l
learned. to my perfect satisfaction, that
after went out on that afternoon no
one else entered the counting room un-
til Savers came in. There was but one
conclusion before me, George Sayers
must have taken the money! And thus
l reasoned:
"When my clerk came in, and found
those letters upon the desk, he suppos
ed that the boy had left them there !;
and he did not dream that I had been
there before him. When I refolded
the letter l must have brought the parts
of the wafer so nicely together, that
nv clerk did not notice that the seal
Lad been broken. When his eye rest
ed upon that money, how easy for him
to take it, and destroy the letter, and,
in case it was missed, TO lay the blame
! upon the mail; fcr the mail did some>
times make mistakes. 1t appeared to
me an absolute certainty that the
money must so have gone. And this
was not all. Learned that George had
recently been spending considerable
money in repairing his mothers house.
sin the evening, after all others had
gone, and the outer doors had been
closed, called George into the count
lng~room, and once more asked him
concerning that letter and that money.
He paled and trembled, and decl AIRED
that he knew nothing of it. | told
him how I had seen that, very letter,
and how l had left it upon the desk
with other letters. The other letters
were all accounted for, but not that
one. Still he declared that he knew
nothing of it. I told him he had been
spending considerable money of late.
He started as though had struck
him.
sMr. Dawson" he said his whole
frame quivering with excitement, ''what
money have used was honestly mine
81 asked him where he obtained it.
''Neyer mind" he quickly answered.
And then he informed me that he would
answer no question outside of the store
while such a charge was resting against
him. He declared that he had served
me truly and faithfully (; aud that he had
taken pleasure in so doing; and he
wondered how could accuse him of
such thing.
81 remember that l gave him stern
answer, and he, in return, vindicated
himself in manner that offended me.
l became impatient and demanded that
he should make restitution. l know
that my manner was naughty and over
bearing, and the youth resented it. In
the end informed him that needed
his services no more; aud 1 told him
that out of consideration for the feelings
of his mother and sister, l should not
bring him to justice. In short, turned
him from my employ, and the cause OF
my SO doing could not be hidden from
the people of the town. | cannot tell
YOU what be said to me. With one
breath he would plead his innocence in
tears and with another breath he
would denounce me in the bitterest
terms for my treatment of him.
s'Mrs. Sayers came to me to plead for
her boy but she had no power to make
me waver in my determination. l ex-
blamed to her the evidence had of his
dishonesty and though she could not
believe her son guilty, still she could
not tighten the weight Of testimony
against him.
Il engaged new clerk, and put the
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