The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-09-20
moining came they were as far from the

moining came they were as far from the
mark as ever
MI. Duff, much to the surprise of Gus
toners of the bank, next day :" took
over" the cash himself, and, rather
awkwardly from want of practice, be-
come his own cashier. Hamilton was
degraded to subordinate duties. His
spirit, poor fellow was fairly broken.--
No trace of the missing money could be
found. OF course, Mr.. Duff could not
long continue acting as teller. The
work interfered with even more inn
pOrtant duties.
A son of Mr.. Trail, the parish min
lister, who was employed at the Aberdeen
branch of the same bank, at this time
visited Tollkirk, and being of the same
craft, spent good deal of time in Mr..
Duff's company. The subject of the
missing money was broached and dis
cussed between them. 1t so happened
that George Trail was engaged to be
married to Mary Duff; and the banker
having lost confidence in Hamilton land
feeling sorely in need of capable help,
proposed that George should apply to
the directors of the bank for the appoint
ment of joint-agent or partner with
himself in the management of the Toll
kirk branch. So it came about that in
short time George Trail, shrewd,
practical business man, relieved Mr..
Duff at the telling table, in order to
familiarize himself with the faces of the
banks customers. For some days all
went well. Then came market-day.-
AT the close of the day Mr.. Traill's cash
was five hundred pounds short
Dismay fell on the quiet little bank in
Tollkirk. The former uneasiness be-
came in the office panic. Hamilton
had been made i'll by the anxiety of his
position, was in bed on the day that Mr..
Traill's deficiency occurred. After close
ly scrutinizing every entry in the books,
Trail came to the conclusion that he had
not paid the money in excess to any one
and the notes must have been stolen by
some one on the premises. The banks
safe was duly examined but the locks
bore no marks of being tampered with.
The windows and doors of the office
were unaffected and Mr.. Duff's domes-
tics-who swept out the office-had been
his servants and were known to him for
years. The matter was on this occasion
reported to the banks head office; but
thence came the cold intimation, that
no further deficiency could be made good
and referring the bank agents TO their
recent letter to that effect of such and
such a date.
Mr.. Duff began to think the place
was haunted. Wherever the money
was gone, it had to be paid up; raising
the total losses made in this mysterious
way to the unpalatable sum of fourteen
hundred pounds in less three three
months. The mystery was all the deep
er that during the day of the difference
in Traill's cash it had happened there
had not been q single cash payment
amounting TO five hundred pounds
Then there came vague rumors-such as
the police, had the matter passed into
their hands, would certainly have made
use of-that there was an itinerant lock-
smith, gipsy, in the neighborhood to
whom popular rumor attributed almost
miraculous power in the manipulation
of locks. Yet it would take very clev-
er locksmith indeed to open the Central
Banks safe unheard in the house, and
to close it again without leaving traces
of his work. The safe had foundation
of eight feet of stone, and was coated on
the floor, wall, and roof with two
inch plate of solid iron, and each-there
were four doors-had two keys and sepa-
rate locks. Through the lock of the
outer door an iron bolt was each even
ing shot down from Mr.. Duff's bedroom
above, and while that bolt was down,
no key in the world could open the door.
1t was necessary to be in Mr.. Duff's bed
room before the bolt could be drawn or
dropped. 1t was extremely improbable
that there were any in Tollkirk who
could, even with the necessary keys in
their hands, find their way into the
strong-room unaided.
No longer was Mr.. Duff able to leave
the bank with an easy mind for a two
o'clock luncheon--with forty winks to
follow-as had been his custom these
twenty years. He was closely on the
watch. Yet there was no visible cause
for suspicion. Bankers and clerks were