Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-04
THE HISTORY OF A CHECK.
How n Girl. Fortune Wa. sa''d ur.

How n Girls Fortune was >s'fd's NV
A Goshen "a. W telegram says A
number of gentlemen were talking 10
this place about the complications that
had been brought about by the failure
of the Middletown Bank, the affairs Of
which, after year and 4 halfs efforts
to straighten out, are still in IN en-
tangled condition. The conversation
led to the relation Of the following
story Of singular accidents that had in
terfered to save the little fortune Of an
orphan girl, whose money was to have
been invested in Middletown Bank
shares
The money was trust in the hands
an uncle OF the girl. Ii had preyi-
ously been invested in bond aud mort
gage. which had matured and been
paid. The girl was about to be mar
lied. and she wanted her money, which
amounted to $4,000, invested in some
good security. The Mid lletown Bank
stock was then held at 1925 share.
and was the fayorite investment in that
part of the country. The trustee ofthe
girls money wrote to friend who
lived near Middletown, and asked him
il he could secure $4,000 worth
of stock in the Middletown Bank. The
friend replied that he thought he would
be able TO do so Just at that time, as
several estates which held stock were
selling il in order to settle up their
affairs. The girls uncle procured .
certified check for $4,000 and inclosed
it in letter addressed to his friend at
Middletown. lie had to ride two miles
to the village pOst-oiiice, and when he
arrived there it was closed for the night.
lie put his hand in his pocket, took out
the letter, as he supposed, and dropped
il in the mail-box at the pOst-oiiice, and
drove home. lie waited a week with
out hearing from his friend. lie wrote
a second time, inqulring as to tbs
success which the friend had met IN
getting the bank shares, and as
matter of form, asked il the certified
check had been received all right. A
letter from Middletown by return mail
assured the trustee that no such check
had come to hand. He went to his
post-oflice and made inquiry of the
postmaster about the letter. the amount
of business done at the office making it
an easy matter for the postmaster to
remember what mail had passed through
| his hands during at least months
| time. lie said he had not seen any let
ter addressed to the Middletown GENTLE
man. for he knew him well and would
have remembered it. The writer Of the
missing letter gave the postmaster the
day, date, and hour when the letter had
been placed in the post-otfice.
" An ;" SAID the Postmaster, then
III bet that the blank envelope contain
ing a circular was the letter you
dropped in the Office. | found one in
the box the morning after the night
you say you mailed your letter."
The postmaster found the blank en-
yelope and circular. The writer of the
letter recognized it as one that had been
handed him by boy on Broadway,
New York, one day while he was in
the city, and which he had mechani-
cally placed in bis pocket. lie then
concluded that he must have dropped
the letter containing the check on his
way from home to the post-ofiice the
night he supposed he had mailed it
and in the darkness had placed the
blank envelope in the mail-box.
lie hurried home, and looking in
the buggy he had used that night,
found the missing letter in the boot,
with the check safe. He placed the
letter in an inner pocket Of his coat,
and went about doing up his regular
chores at the barn and the house. lie
intended TO write a second letter and
mail it that evening, but while he was
at work a number Of friends drove up
to spend the remainder Of the day at
the farm, and he went to the house
with them. Before they arrived he had
taken off his coat and hung it up in the
wagon-house. When he went to the
house he left the coat hanging there,
with the letter in the pocket, having
forgotten it for the time.
lie did not get to the village that
evening, and the first thing next morn
ing he wrote the secona letter to his
friend. lie went TO the wagon-house
to get the certified check out of the
letter in his coat-pocket, and was
startled 10 discover that the coat had
disappeared from the place where he
had hung it. A thorough search failed
to reveal where il was, and nope Of the
family had seen it. The conclusion
that the coat had been stolen by tramp
was arrived at. Neither coat nor check
was ever seen again. Payment on the
check was stopped at once, and in the
. course Of two weeks another certified
check for the same amount was issued
by the bank, which was a city bank.
A day or two after the receipt Of the
check the trustee Of the fund started
for Mlddletown TO deliver the check Il
his friend in person. On his way e
. the railroad station be was taken sud
denly Ill. lie was obliged to return
4 home. and was unable 10 transact any
4. business for over week. AS soon q
he could get around again he put tn
check his pocket and went to Mid
. dletown TO pay for the bank stock. ii
:. went directly to the bank and found a
!. excited crowd in the vicinity. Tn
T. news that be heard almost made hir
l. faint. The bank in whose stock b
4 was about 10 invest his niece's it'll
:, fortune had closed its doors and wa
a hopelessly bankrupt. He went BAG
) home thoroughly convinced that 70
some reason or other Providence IA
, interiered with his intention on beha
4 E -.