The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-12
DID He DO RIGHT
A Problem in Ethics Respectfully Sub
mitted for Solution.

menC ana eacn nad couple OF children TO
support, besides their wives, who, albiet,
were not unacquainted with a noble art
frequently practiced by charming women.
Jerry and Pete were hard workers; they
worked far into the night, and occasionally
the thin mists of dawn mad begun to brea K
on the narrow city pavements before their
theirs was not a hard~earned pillow. Some
times they did not toll In vain. It depended
largely upon the police.
1t was a chilly night in November that
this horny handed pair planned the bur-
glary Of a certain safe in the establishment
of a furniture concern on the west side. On
the evening in question the bookkeeper had
had wrange with his accounts.
~ can't make head or tail Of this, a" be
said to the senior member Of the firm, "but
l know everything is all right An error
of several hundred dollars has been carried
over from each daily footing, but where
the error begins or ends ] haven't found
OUT
The fact was the monthly sales had been
extraordinarily large and a page Of the
balance had been mislaid. The head book
keepers spent an hour in egain casting up
both the tries of himself and his subor-
dinates after the establishment closed its
doors for the day.
The he went home for bis supper deter
mined to locate the deficit if he didn't get q
wink of sleep that night.
Bookkeepers, it must be remembered,
have singularly sensitive organisms, sus-
ceptible to the slightest atom of anything
which reflects upon their probity or skill.
At $50 he returned aud commenced anew
his critical calculations. He worked pre-
cisely two hours. at the end of which time
he suddenly slapped his forehead, and ex-
claimed:
"Great Scottl Why haven't 1 looked
through the safe for missing sheet9 Ten
to one Weeks forgot to number themp
He turned over the pages of the balance
in his ha d, and sure enough the usual
numerical mark of designation in the upper
left hand corner was wanting. In all like
| lihood one page, or perhaps two, had slipped
| into some remote corner Of the safe.
| The safe was large one, partially reced-
| ing into the wall, and containing all the
papers, documents and several davs' re-
| celpts in cash and drafts of the firm.
The bookkeeper, in his effort to unearth
the lost page of the cash balance, was
| obliged to intrude his whole body into the
safe. Fearful lest the candle he held should
attract ate ton from the street, showing
| 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 all of his coat prob
|
| hinges of the lock. The massive gate swung
| to as if it had weighed no more than q
single pound and the bookkeeper was a
| prisoner.
He heard resonant click, that was all,
and his candle went out.
There is nothing especially remarkable
about the incident-tragic as it certainly
must have been TO the unfortunate wretch
| inside. Many men have been imprlsoned in
l so hafnrn Rat hn al AL
hardly soothe the agony of that horrible
| moment
| The bookleeper at the outset lost his
presence Of mind. He fought like a Gagged
demon. after first exerting superhuman
strength against the four sides of the iron
tomb. Then his body gave out, and with.
out for an instant losing consciousness he
found himself sitting il a partially upright
posture unable to stir hand or foot.
At that instant. when hours seemed &c
have elapsed, the drum Of his ear, now alb
normally sensitive, was almost split into
fragments. A frightful monotonous clangol
rent the interior of the safe.
The bookkeeper used to say afterwarc
that seconds deviation of characteristic
thought and he would have gone mad.
Stronger minds in a parallel situation
would have collapsed. But q weaker per
scnality clings more strongly to hop. Only
weak individualities while in the act Of
drowning catch at straws. As the book.
keeper felt himself gradually growing faint
from want of air his revivfled hope lee
him to deliberately crash his fist 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, the noise
which smote the bookkeeper's ear was that
of a drill. Although keenly distinguished
from the inside, the sound was practically
smothered on the outside of the vault
At one end of the drill was a cavity rap
idly growing larger in one of the stee
panels. At its other end was a heavy
warty fist, part of the anatomy Of Pete, the
industrious mechanic.
Pete held the drill, while his friend Jerry
pounded it in.
1 Pretty soon the two burglars became
aware that q terrible commotion was going
on within the safe. 1t nearly drove them
into fits. They were certainly very niue
startled.
Jerry was for throwing up the job but
his companion rejected the proposal with
scorn, a. savoring of the superstitious Pete
had large family to support, he argued
He spoke frankly to his friend and CO.
laborer. The burden of his remarks were
in these words:
"You make me tired with yer ghosts and
things, and | don't want any more darn
fooling-see? De blamed job is most trough,
anyway.
Pete and Jerry went back to work. At
the first crack of the drill Jerry said:
Pete, there's man or something in that
safel"
Both men grew as pale as ghosts at the
mere suggestion. Pete intrepIdly applied
his ear, first to the lock and then to the
drill hole
"hey, in there!' he shouted, not so loud,
however, as to be heard out on the sidewalk
There came the faint responsive; very
faint, indeed:
'For Gods sake, give me airl am
locked in here. Try and burst open the
safe"
The two burglars did not stop to talk. but
went at once to work as if their own lives
depended on the result OF their labors in.
stead of the unfortunate bookkeeper's. In
less than three minutes they had a hole
somewhat mailer than the business end of q
collar button knocked into the safe.
Then they stopped to rest, and the man
inside, who had come SO close to death,
breathed.
1t was now that the two burglars became
aware Of their predicament. In all proba-
bility this was member of the firm or a l
employee. This fact knocked the success OF
the nights adventure sky-high, unless,
when they let the man out, they gagged and
bound him into silence.
But this course would have an ugly look.
1t might mean murder in the end, whereas
| if they did not LEFT him ont the chances were