The Red Cloud chief., 1884-07-25

out OF my mind.
Some thtee months afterward the firm
received a letter from this man. which
was rather ambiguous of its kind. There
was an error, so he said. in his account
Would we look over il? At once I ex
amined the books. checked of ever,
item. went through al the debts and
credit, of his business. and ended b,
inspecting the final check paid him.
Nv employers. who were very honest
and careful gentlemen, were satisfied
with the accuracy OF the account, and ]
was instructed to write him a letter to
bat eject. ! did So, az politely as /
pld. but at the conclusion OF my let.
said: lyon leave US in the dark.
yer. rs 70 n thing. Three
NJ 3 have ELAPSED since our check
wkV rem to you. If you had not been
paidE3 at was due you we should have
certat heard from you before. Have
ron b koyerpaid?" Ny senior en-
pioyer. brewd business man. looking
over \tter, remarked; Perhaps
your q~rert here might not be liked
by Mr.. However. let it go" l
mailed the 4 er. We heard nothing
more aboatis1 a month. Then there
came . tortuuu6 2etter from the man.
'His account ~ wrong" he wrote.
Maybe he hal come across some
money he conk - exactly O
for" He did, Hot state how much
money it was. or haWHk happened. 1t
was . mean shamh}oe n his part. l
knew that He had pf;ct2 of conscience;
that was certain of. he firm con-
suited with me what thay bould do. I
made up my mind that nor money Lad
been paid the man on the ehoek than he
was entitled to. l went 81 ooce to the
teller Of the bank. I found him i'll.
nervous and tremulous. YEA" he
said. my accounts were wrong
There had been q big deficit Ihave not
slept for months. l am afraid ave
overpaid some one. But thank GodkI
have made it up. / mortyagcd NJ
house and passed the amount sh0gf g
the credit Of the bank. I must have
made q blunder somewhere. But tie
strain on my mind has been killing me.
feel as il | were no longer fit for the
place." He seemed to me to have mo-
mepts Of doubt and uncerta 'nty. IL
still cling to my place." he said. sOf
course | have no recollection of having
ever paid that check of $i56." said
to him that l had hopes of getting
some of the money back" but I did not
like to tell him how. But what l did
do was to 60 that evening TO the Presi-
dent Of the bank and state the case to
him. As it had been through him that
] owed my position in the firm he had
every confidence in me. MI advice
was asked. l was forced to declare
that l thought the paying teller had
better be given another and lighter DO.
sition. Next day. when | went to the
bank. the old teller had been apparent
ly relieved. He was casting up some
account, in the ledger. When I spoke
to him across the railing he did not
seem TO recognize me. Next day l
was shocked to learn, through the Pres
ident of the bank. that such positive
indications of mental trouble had been
shown by the teller that his friends had
thought it wiser TO confine him in his
house. His accounts had been at once
vigorously examined. and were found to
be correct. 1t was perfectly true that
he had mortgaged his house, and had
paid the amount received into the bank.
He had concealed the loss for three
months or more from the bank. which
was a mistake on his part, but he had
the interest for some ninety days.
Now. felt absolutely certain that
the man to whom the check had been
paid must be q rascal. If he had Of
fered restitution it came late-very !
much too late. My firm gave me my
carte blanche to manage the matter as
/ pleased. l could not have him ar
rested. As he lived in an isolated part
OF the country. no efficient summons
eould reach him. If l had been aggres-
we before probably not a cent would
Ave been returned. / wrote now a
snip letter. / said that "a very large
arrs4pnt of money must have been paid
hin.pver and above the face of the last
ckecAtEiven him. which was S456.' Ii
stated that Il knew exactly how much
it was. Nj must confess outright that
this wasp bluff. / was not sure that
the tellertad not made other mistakes
besides th.&Qne. l wrote that ''unless
the money rs at once restored I would
blast his reputation. If he was inclined
to be honest, Non at this late date, let
him do all be eapld and send back the
whole amount. L thought It wiser not
to let him know ~ mental condition of
the teller. l wafyquite certain that if
he knew the teller cas- out OF his mind
not one penny wonl6la return. l wrote
to him that he ..masts be in q hurry
about it. That only No teller and I
knew of it and that my, firm were as
yet in ignorance" NJ
At once. by return may I had a let
ter. The sum was not as Fe laid, what
l represented it to be. He Nude some
speciOus arguments about AJnan find.
ing a purse. and the description of il
not tallying with the actual pxse lost
the amount in it. Under sSsh cir
was = man bound 20 re-
turn It? If l could prove that he 3,ad
been overpaid l ought to state ex&stly
what was the arlount. He might,Ac
added. ''never have written me . wosl
about il, and no one would have beeM
the wiser. But he had 3 ccnsc;enca.''A
SO he said. l replied with . visorous /
1 confuted his arguments. 'sHe
knew" | said, ''tho moment he had the
passed over to him that he
had been overraid." A man might
find a pie>e of gold in the dust Of the
road, and could rever tell who dropped
it there. But there was no analogy be-
tween the two cases. l cred flor in,-
mediate restoration. or there would DO
an exposure" lis answer did not
for ten days. Il was Mistaken"
he said. ''He vas not aware that he
had been overpaid Until be got home.
Then he did not know o. it for n week
1t came out then in his ac-
l knew this to be a wicked
lie. but it contained st least the written
acknowledgment that he had been over