Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-06-06
A BANK DEFEeFFyE.

For five years I held q queer place
and pursued Q strange occupatiou. -Four
banks In IargecIty made up eom-
mon purse and EMPLOYED me as 4 elIard-
ian. was to look AFTER the employees
were faithful, hang about during busi-
ness hours, hunt upinformation regard
ing patrons, and make myself useful in
ether ways. sv-.
hadn't filled my place a week be-
fore made discovery to amaze me.
My first work had been to look up the
lwatehmen. / found that the watch
man at the Drovers' bank was an old
man, lame and feeble. He came on
duty at p, m. and went off at in the
morning. He had cot in the corridor,
and after little questioning he admit
ted that he always went TO bed about
half past s and slept s0undly until after
8. The bank was so situated that rob-
bers who had once gained admission
could have worked for several hours
without fear of disturbance. 1t seemed
marvellous to me that none of "the
boys" had caught on to the free and
easy way things were permitted to slide
along, and I determined to keep my
eyes open very wide. Cosgrove, the
watchman, as l soon learned, was in
the habit of going to a certain saloon
near his home every week day at 4
o'lock in the afternoon, and he sat at
certain table and drank q glass of
beer, ate sandwich, had a smoke, and
then returned home. / timed him
seven or eight times, and he was as reg
ular as clock work. He had no idea
that I was connected with the bank.
AS stranger I pumped him dry, get
ting every point which burglar would
have cared for. @ 2l = e.. ,s5 ~
ZThe other watchmen were younger
men, vigilant and cautious, and |, had
no one to worry about except Cosgrove.
Every day at half past four dropped
in the saloon. took a table near him,
and had my glass of beer, and remained
until he went away. was dead sure
that some of the gang would tumble to
him, as the saying goes, sooner or later.
In those days there were but two lways
to "doo bank. One was through the
cashier, by forgery or other swindling,
and the other through the watchman,
by gaining admission. Any one con-
templating on making raid on the
Drovers' bank would try the watchman
firm. Firmly believing this, I contin-
ued to keep On eye on him, but it was
nearly three months before anything
happened. Then. one day, 1 saw the
face Of fellow called "EngIish Jack''
on the street. He had done time for
bank work and was known to the de-
ftectives as fly man. He was not
wanted just then, and felt that he had
come to G C-on business, and that
he would turn un something sooner or
later. / gave every cashier his descrip-
| ton, and about week later dropped
in on COsgrove one afternoon to find
him hobnobbing with English Jack.
| While the latter did not know me, and
could have no suspicion that was con-
nected with the bank. i kept to the
other end.of the room and did not tarry
long after drinking my beer. The two
metthe next day and the next, and it
was plain to see that COsgrove had TAX
en- liking to the man. @
1 On the fourth day, an hour before
the regular time, I entered the saloon
in that cOnditiOn known as half full. b ]
sang q song, took drink and then sat
tdown, and gradually relapsed into that
tstupor which was an excuse for drop.
Iping my head and arms on a table and
going to sleep. Tie barkeeper had nc
thoughts of putting me out, as I was q
Irregular customer, and I was apparently
sound asleep when Cosgrove came in
and took his seat. Ten minutes later
English Jack entered and sat down be-
and both took 1t for granted that was
u -, al Nd Nhav
had aglass, talked in friendly man.
ner for few minutes, and then Jack
said: -
"I got some of the incest wine to-day
ia present to me-that you ever tasted
I had bottle ready to bring down, but
forgot it. IL happen to be going by
the bank this evening Pll just knock on
| the door and hand it in.n f,u a
II might be asleep" innocently re-
piled the old watchman." -.,.
"Fhen I'll make it q point to come
early. If should be passing at s o'clock
you'd have your eyes and ears open,
eh?" as0 " .ef@ Il
/ "Yes, but" -H ..--. -F -
"Pshaw! man it will be no trouble to
me; none in the least. When like O
man I'm willing to do for him. The
taste Of that wine will give you five
years more oflife. If it's agin orders
for you to open the door few inches
to receive present from q friend, then
it's time you looked for another job"
/ 7 hoped to hear the old man declare
that he could not think of breaking the
strict orders given him, but, after a
feeble attemp to protest, he gave in,
and yvhan itlav nartpd il was with the
understanding that the wine was to be
handed in. Icould have called at his
house and opened his eyes to the game
his friend was playing, or blocked the
scheme in several 0ther ways, butyI
hoped to accomplish more than that.
l went to the president with my report,
and that afternoon, when the bank
closed, I was left behind the counters
with three policemen in citizen 's cloth
ling, and all of us fully armed. The
janitor remained with us. until z, at
which time Cosgrove came on duty,
and the old watchIila N was left alone. as