The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-05

of Marlborough has been robbed, and
that might do the bank harm at present. =
"All right, sir, understand you. said
the guard; ''but here is gentleman from
the bank, think"
A young man, accompanied by q porter
with trunk and policeman, was stand
ing on the platform looking inquiripgly at
our carriage.
"From the Lombard-st bank ?" he said,
addressing me as got out of my compart-
ment.
ayes" I replied; "can speak to you
for a moment?" | took him aside and
told him in few words what had hap
pened.
Good Godw he exclaimed. No one
who has come by this train ought to have
been allowed to leave the station. Stay,
there's the station-master-the train must
be searched"
Only two people had left the train at
marlborough; both of them were we'll
known and highly respectable. OF the
search which ensued need only say that
it established as certainty that the money
had not come so far. The two compart-
ments next to mine were empty, and only
five people remained in the train, about
no one of whom there could be any doubt.
Accordingly, we had the still heavy but
now worthless box put on truck, and
started with it to the bank.
The Bank of Marlborough is private
institution, the principal partner in which
was an old gentleman named Church,
who was waiting in his dressing-goWn to
receive US.
1t was not until the box had been SOL
EMMY wheeled into the strong-room, and
1 L. ~ Lea ~ 4 10 fall
Mr.. Church OF the robbery.
"A dreadful accident has happened,
/ sir, | said nervously, as ! handed him
| the letter Of advice from London.
"An accident Good heavens! where
and when?" he exclaimed, with as much
/ animation as his nature seemed to permit
! He was a tall lanky man, with what
| have heard described as parchment
countenance, and iron-gray hair.
Not quite an accident, sir, in that
sense, replied, speaking with some con-
! fusion in my excitement "Oh, sir, what
/ meant is that the box has been robbed,
and the s22,0OO stolen from it during the
! journey from London"
''The box robbed" he repeated calmly,
/ as il he were relieved to hear that it was
only money and not life that was lost.
"Well, that is hardly an accident" he
continued after moments pause. ga
preconcerted matter, should call it. Let
US hear about it, please. How was the
robbery efected?"
These were his words, as nearly as I can
remember them. He was perfectly polite
and self-possessed, and yet thought there
] was something icy, an undercurrent of
sarcasm or incredibly, in his voice and
manner.
| k,l1 f,,1l I.1a
! possible. When / finished he merely
! said:
| well, it's very annoying, and ! can't
! understand it at all. However, it concerns
| your people and not me: / must wire to
| them to send me another e22,O00. But it
! is nearly o'clock now. You had better
| go TO bed; have a room for you. Good
| night, Mr.. Adams" last to the clerk,
who left the house.
He showed me up stairs TO a room, say
! ing, as he left me, that l should be called
at half-past O'Clock, but that need not
get up then if were too tired after my
| journey.
"Good night, SIR" 1 said mechanically,
as he left the room.
TOO tired after my journey" | re-
peated to myself when | was alone.
! Tired? l had reason to be tired, but L
felt as il, like Macbeth, | should ''sleep no
more" Sleep 1t seemed as ii walk of
| a hundred miles would be little grateful
exercise to calm my feelings. To get into
bed was impossible; the solitude OF the
room was intoierable. l would have
| given anything | had to get out for an
! hour into the free streets to roam about at
viii. The place seemed like a prison.
! Was it really one? Was ] really confined
! in Mr. Churchs house on suspicion of
! having taken part in the robbery?
If l could have left the place with any
decency, / should have done so, but, una
| bic to sleep or to relieve myself by going
out into the open air, for which | felt an
! intense craving, | put out the candle,
! opened the window and sat by it for more
| than hour, looking into the depths of
space with a growing sense OF relief from
] their aspect OF boundless calm and free
! dom.
At last, to nav great delight, began to
feel tired and sleepy, and so, having closed
| the window, l threw off my clothes and
got into bed, where shortly forgot my
| troubles in profound slumber.
l did not seem to have been asleep for
more than FIVE minutes when | awoke
! crying Yes, in a minute"
1T is half-past 8 o'clock, sir, said a fe-
! male voice outside.
every WELL" I replied, and at once
| jumped out of bed.
1t seemed as if it were only then that
! fully realized in its full and true sig
niicance the importance of what had hap
] pened during the previous night, or rather
| during the early hours of the present
morning. In vain / tried. whilst dressed
myself as quickly as possible, to think of
| some plausible or rational explanation of
| the robbery. And it was, think, then
| that | first comprehended, fully and
clearly, that the only reasonable hypo-
/ thesis that would cover the facts was that
/ myself was an accomplice of Hill We
had been together as far as Rugby, during
which time was wide awake. At Rugby
| he left with some luggage, at all events;
as to how much, the evidence, could see,
would probably not be very clear. Hill
| having left the compartment at Rug
| by, a strange man with no luggage
| at all got in This man LETT the train at
| Stafford. He could not have either brought
| the weights with him into the carriage or
! taken the gold from it. From the time
that he got out Of the train at Stafford the
| guard would prove that nobody had access
| TO my compartment On this showing, the
only person who could have taken the
gold and notes, and substituted for it the
| rags and weights, was my friend Hill, and
he, by hypothesis, could not have done
| this without my knowledge, as l owned to
having been awake during the journey
.. II hot