The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-03-12
DID HE DO RIGHT?


Sarah d. p. Jones In Inter Ocean.
DID HE DO RIGHT?
A Nice Question Of Ethics for Read
els to Decide.
Jerry and Pete were two industrious |
mechanics. They lived in fourth |
ward tenement, and each had couple
of children to support, besides their
wives, who. albeit, were not unac-
quainted with a noble art frequently
practiced by char-women.
Jerry and Pete were hard workers;
they worked far into the night, and oc-
casionally the thin mists OF dawn had
begun to break on the narrow city pave
ments before their labors would cease.
Nobody would say that theirs was not
q hart-earned pillow. Sometimes they
did not toll in vain. 1t depended largely
upon the police.
1t was chilly night in November
that this horny-handed pair planned the
burglary of certain safe in the estab-
lishment of furniture concern on the
West Side. On the evening in question
the book-keeper had had wrangle
with his accounts.
~ can't make head or tail of this"
he said to the senior member of the
firm, '.but l know every thing is all
right. An error of several hundred dol
lars has been carried over from each
daily footing but where the error be-
gins or ends haven't found out.
The fact was the monthly sales had
been extraordinarily large, and page
OF the balance had been mislaid. The
head book-keeper spent an hour in
again casting up both the entries OF
himself and his subordinates after the
establishment closed its doors for the
day.
Then he went home for his supper,
determined to locate the deficit if he
didn't get wink of sleep that night.
Book-keepers, it must be remem-
bered, have singularly sensitive organ
isms. susceptible to the slightest atom
Of any thing which reflects upon their
probity or skill.
At half past eight he returned and
commenced anew his critical calcula-
tons. He worked precisely two hours,
at the end of which time he suddenly
slapped his forehead and exclaimed:
.'Great Scott. Why haven't | looked
through the safe for q missing sheet?
Ten to one Weeks forgot to number
them.'
lie turned over the pages of the bal
ance in his hand and. sure enough, the
usual numerical mark of designation in
the upper left-hand corner was want
ing. In all likelihood one page, or per-
haps two, had slipped in some remote
corner of the safe.
The safe was a large one, partially
receding into the wall, and containing
all the papers documents and several
days receipts in cash and drafts of the
firm.
The book-keeper. in his efforts to un-
earth the lost page was obliged TO in
trude his entire body into the safe.
Fearful lest the candle he held should
attract attention from the street, show
ing out as it did in glazing relief against
the black recesses of the safe, before
entering he drew the door slightly ajar.
As he stepped in the tail of his coat
probably caught on an angle of the
huge riveted hinges of the lock. The
massive gate swung to as If it weighed
no more than single pound and the
book-keeper was prisoner.
lie heard resonant click, that was
all. and his candle went out.
There is nothing especially remark
able about the incident-tragic as it
certainly must have been to the un-
fortunate wretch inside. Many men
have been imprisoned in safes before.
But this reflection would hardly soothe
the agony of that horrible moment.
The book-keeper at the outset lost his
presence of mind. He fought like a
Gagged demon, after first exerting al
most superhuman strength against the
four sides of the iron tomb. Then his
body gave out, and without for an in
slant losing consciousness he found
himself sitting in a partially upright
posture unable to stir hand or foot.
At that instant, when hours seemed
to have elapsed, the drum of his ear,
now abnormally sensitive, was almost
split into fragments. A frightful mo.
notonous clangor rent the interior OF
the safe.
The book-keeper used to say after
ward that seconds deviation Of char.
acteristic thought and he would have
gone mad.
Stronger minds in parallel situation
would have collapsed. But a weaker
nj c%r rr1vy ~
hope. Only weak individuals while in
the act of drowning catch at straws.
AS the book-keeper felt himself grad.
ually growing faint from want of all
his revivified hope led him to deliber
ately crash his first into the woodwork
with which the interior of the safe was
fitted, in secretaire fashion, one drawer
being built above another.
AS may have been conjectured, thu
noise which smote the book-keeper's
ear was that Of q drill. Although keen
ly distinguished from the inside, tn,
sound was practically smothered on tn,
outside of the vault.
At one end of the drill was a cavit,
rapidly growing larger in one of tn
steel panels At its other end was
heavy, warty fist, part of the anatom.
of Pete, the Industrious mechanic.
Pete held the drill while his frien,
Jerry pounded it in.
Pretty soon the two burglars becam
aware that q terrible commotion wa
going on within the safe. 1t near
~ drove them into fits They wer
certainly very much startled.
Jerry was for throwing up the job
but his companion rejected the propos
al with scorn as savoring of the super
stitious. Pete had large family t.
support, he argued. He spoke frankl..
to his friend and co-laborer. TIL
burden of his remarks was in thes
words:
"You make me tired with yer ghost
and things, and don't want any NOR
darn fooling-see? De blamed job
most trough, any way"
Pete and Jerry went back to work
At the first crack Of the drill Jerry said