The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-11

mo, O'Brien," he said, tell him yourself.
/ You do it much better"
Such was probably O'Brien's own opinion for
he prided himself upon possessing powers of
narration and clear statement worthy of any
/ lawyer. At any rate, he proceeded to answer
my question without more ado.
1.-The safe behind that door" he said sis as
large as small room, and when Mr.. Bacon was
alive. used chiefly, although not altogether
| for the storage of abstract of titles. Two or
three weeks before the old genflemen's disap-
! pesrance. workmen came hers and began the
work of rehtting it with drawers, compart-
ments and pigeon holes, ard putting on a
lock First of all. OF course, all the papers were
| taken out OF it. When everything else had been
nnlsheo, workman came one afternoon to set
the combination, and after having done gave
the number to Mr.. Bennett VINO In his
/ room at the time, and went away leaving the
door locked. Mr.. Bennett wrote the. mum Der on
scrap OF paper. called the managing clerk. and
| requested him to take it to Dir. Bacon. The
wards Mr.. Bacon left the Office. That
night Mr.. SBennett went to Washington
business. the next morning the manag-
! ing clerk desired to restore to the big safe
| the abstracts and other papers which had been
| taken from it. and asked Mr.. Bacon for tho
| scrap of paper Mr.. Bacon searched among the
| papers which lay the top of his table, but
conld not find it. He noticed that his papers.
| usually in great confusion, we're in beautiful
| order. Kaufman then the Office boy,
and full of zeal in the performance OF his duties.
| Mr.. Bacon summoned him ard he confessed that
in his anxiety to improve the appearance of the
table he had brushed several scraps of paper
| with figures them into the waste paper bas-
ket, which waste paper basket the janitor had,
in due course emptied a short time afterwards.
This accounted for the loss OF the of pa
per. kauffmaa was given blowing up and
threatened with dismissal. ard a message sent
to the office of the safe manufacturers They
had record of the number, however,
and said that opening the safe would be
long and tedious operation So resolved to
wait until MIR. Bennett returned. But by that
time Mr.. Bennett. If he ever knew the number
had forgotten it-anc the safe has never been
opened from that day to this. So. you see
H. x-slN lI-9S -
But why wasn't the safe finally opened by
the manufacturer / asked. You must have
wanted to use it again"
"Wel I said, it was used chiefly for stor-
ing abstracts. When they were taken out they
were put in some empty in Mr.. Benefits
room aud found could get along very
well without using the big safe. M. Bacon
was the trustee of number of estates, and
there were good many papers in the safes re-
were almost all taken away and that left good
deal of room for other papers. The managing
clerk did speak to Mr.. Bennett twoor three
times about having the big safe opened. but he
never gave orders 20 have it done"
left Mr. Bennett's room and went back to
work. NV desk stood against the wall to the
right of the Fireplace At.the left of the fra
place and elevated about four feet from the
floor was another safe a small one, also set in
earlier IN the evening, and left the door wide
open. looked into it as passed it my way
to my desk, and my eyes fell upon a large heap
of yellow and grimy papers. The interior of
the safe, except for few pigeon holes, was
without com partments. and this pile of papers
nearly filled 1T. 1 knew this mass of documents
well, and had already turned it over several
times in search of differens papers It had
been collecting | knew for several years. It
was a miscellaneous collection of odds and
ends. ana II paper was not IN It's proper
place there was always a fair chance of
finding it here. Papers will become misaid in
the best regulated offices, and Mr. Benefits
Office not particularly systematic l
wondered if the viii could have strayed into
this heap. It was highly improbable. but was
/ nd
anything, great would be my triumph.
placed my lamp where 1t would light up my
deposit the papers as took them out, in front
of the safe. took ont the different parcels
one by one and scrutinized each one carefully.
Finally the receptacle appeared to be empty,
but upon holding up the lamp perceived, jam
med into one corner. a small and crumpled scrap
of paper This also removed and spread open.
1t was half page of legal cap, blank except for
the following figures written upon il in the hand
of Mr.. Bennett, '.23-47-32." They suggested
the the question flashing .Sroueh %y mi nna
Gould this be the missing scrap
upon which Mr. Bennett had written the combi-
nation ten years agoT imagined it lying upon
old Mr.. Bacons table amid mass OF other pa
pers, and he or some clerk nwittingly picking
it up with some of those papers and depositing
them all together in this safe. Pleased with
my conjecture and eager to test its truth hur-
ried into MIR. BENEFITS room Kaufman and
O'Brien, upon learning of my discovery, shared |
my curiosity TO learn whether it was of any
portance. O'Brien began to turn the knob back
and forth. and Kaufman and stood by and
watched him. At last ali the turns indicated by
the series of numbers which had found had
been made. Nothing remained except the final
twist to the right OBrien gave the knob that
also Ny guess was a correct one-we heard
the bolts within rattle they fell o Brien
pulled at tho knob and the closely -fttiDg door
swung an inch two, far as the table
in front of it would allow.
My curious discovery of the combination and
our succ ess IN opening the safe with it filed our
minds with a pleasurable excitement and
Kaufman Oplued that the boss would be
surprised his next appearance at the office
than he had been for some time. OBrien and
he were beginning to feel the need of
cupation and they resolved to take a look at the
safes interior. Both took hold of the table and
showed and pushed it away from the wall and
set the door wide open. The FIRE had burned |
low by this time and gave tittie light, and the
door as IL stood open came between the fire
the entrance to the safe SO that its interior
dark any pocket Kaufman went for
my lamp and holding it in his hand walked d.
rectiy in. Our eyes followed him but
stepped within however than he gave cry of
terror. dropped the lamp upon the iron floor, |
and rushed for the outer door of the |
Office. We followed and caught MIN. He |
had seen, he said, "a corpse. something black |
and hIdeous, and CHASTITY, that nothing could in
duce him to look within that door again We |
looked back into Mr.. Benneats ROOM and saw |
bright and wavering light issuing from the |
safe door. O'Brien and 1 left Kaufman trem- |
bling, Ia the darkness OF the outer Office and in
almost equity shaky condition retraced our |
steps and looked into the safe ourselves. The |
lamp as it fell had broken, and the oil and wick.
now all uncontned. gave out fariug flame and |
a choking smoke. At the rear of the strong |
ROOM, sitting upon the floor with its back |
propped against the wall, was the corpse Kauff- |
man had seen-a skeleton clad in black clothes. |
with the flesh dried npon its face and hands
We beat out the flame, lit another lamp, and |
looked in again. There the skeleton, grim |
and black Beside it, on the floor, as |
IL it had fallen from its coat pocket, lay a |
large envelope once white, but |
y elbow with age. We picked it I'D and saw in |
dorsAd IL in the hand of 0'Rrian sFTha |
last will and testament of Joseph Bacon" |
OBrien tore ie open and took out paper. 1.-The |
missing will, he cried, and then turning to the
end-s'executed. too" He seized the lamp and |
held it close to the figure seated on the floor. |
THE man who executed it," ha said. trembling. /
He knew him by his clothes he said. We looked |
again At the will Execntad il all |