Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-10-09

/ anything wrong on JOnn part, as we
/ had such perfect faith In the young
mans integrity, but an examination was
/ necessary. A special meeting Of the
! Board was called, which took the matter
/ into consideration. AT this meeting it
was developed that the money was not
only missing, but that John Hardy had
recently paid of a mortgage Of about the
same amount on his mothers house
| The question at once arose as to where
/ he had obtained the mortgage money,
and when asked about 1t he said that it
had been given to him for that purpose
! by an uncle who had recently visited the
family. There was a strong feeling of
sympathy for John among those who
! knew him we'll but there is always some
one around who will act IN the interest
/ Of the letter of the law without regard
to any personal feelings in the matter,
and so it CHANGED in this case. We kept
! the affair quiet until we made the inves-
| tigation. I had a private interview with
John and asked him to tell me frankly
! if he had taken the money. but he de-
MED it in a manly, straightforward way.
He said he had found that the money
was missing one day when he had been
paying out and receiving an unusual
amount. He had missed a package Of
money and asked Mr.. SlOman if he had
removed it, but that gentleman said he
had not. There had been a good many
people in the bank that day, and several
times he had a number of packages of
money piled up on his desk that he re-
ceived over the counter, but had not had
time to put away, being kept busy at
tending to other customers. 1t was on
one occasion Of this kind that on step
ping from the open counter to his desk
he thought he missed the money. Mr..
SlOman had just returned from dinner
and he asked him about it. He supposed
he was mistaken until he made up his
cash account after bank hours and found
it short. AS to his appearing troubled
for several days before, it was nothing
save severe headache, such as he was
accustomed to have, and which would
sometimes aff1ict him for a week at a
time.
"'But how do you account for the
money with which you paid off the
mOrtgageP 1 asked of him.
Easily enough he replied; my
uncle, from California, who was here on
a visit gave it to me 1t seemed to be a
happy thought with him JUST before he
went away, and when 1t was too late for
him to attend to the matter in person,
and then he considered that it would be
pleasant surprise to my mother if she
knew nothing of it until he had gOne.'
"The matter troubled me very much.
1 believed in the young fellow, and my
daughter, Nettie, I must admit, rather
influenced my judgment. She had
learned from John the whole story, and
declared him to be innocent of any mis-
appropriation, in spite of appearances
1 would willingly have let the matter
drop so far as L was concerned, and sew
eral Of the Directors were of the same
mind. Johns bOndsmen came up and
proposed to make the amount good.
This compromise could have been eff
tected If it had not been for John him
self
go Mop he said; 4 did not take the
money and it would be compromising
my honor and render me an object of
suspicion if 1 allowed any one to pay 1t
for me. There is a mistake somewhere
which I cannot explain. When we are
able to communicate with my uncle that
part of the matter Will be made clear,
but what became of the missing money
is something beyond my knowledge.
Meantime L may suffer from the suspicion
created by the unfortunate circumstances,
but cannot permit compromise which
would be based on a presumptive adj
mission Of guilt
'The result was that a direct accusa-
ton Of embezzlement was brought
against John Hardy, and he had to stand
the shame Of an arrest, though there
were enough lIlCuO6 10 luIulbu Ill Bll6
surety required to keep him from going
to prison.
'''He is not guilty, father said my
daughter Nettie. 1t makes no differ
ence how much appearances may be
against him, would pledge my life on
his integrity
Z" 4 believe in him, Nettie,' replied;
and 1 would willingly pay the missing
amount out of my own pocket to discover
h 80 H.
fortunately, however, our beliefs do not
60 for much In a court of law. All we
can do is to try and discover the where
abOuts of the missing money
thine passed on toward the day for
holding the court, only too rapid y for
John Hardy and his friends, who were
endeavoring to fathom the mystery. An
expert was employed to examine the
bank books to see if there could be any
error there, and a detective was en-
plOyed to find out if possible some other
Way-in which the money could have dis
appeared. kilograms had been sent to
Johns uncle, but that gentleman instead
of going home direct had taken a trip to
the frontier Of Texas, and so the mes
sages did not reach him.
cat last the day set for the trial came.
Able lawyers, who were friends of the
family, had volunteered to assist in the
defense. The Court room was packed
with people the majority of whom were
in sympathy with the prisoner and in
tensely interested, yet it was easy to see
that they were not very hopeful Of an
acquital. When JOhn was asked TO plead
he did so In a clear voice without a ire
NOR. The usual preliminaries were gone
through, and with. some difficulty a jury
was empanneleG.
cit was near the hour for Court to ad-
journ when a boy from the telegraph Of
fee entered the Court room and handed
a dispatch to the prisoner. He tore it
open and a smile came in his face as he
passed it to Mr.. Brief, his leading cOun-
sal with tho -or,orI~