Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-05-02

fronted on one street and the bank on
another, and there was no alley between
Indeed, the rear yard Of the house led
right up to the near door Of the bank
and Mitchell used TO come and 10
through the yard. In rear of the bank
ing rooms, divided off by the usual rail-
ing, were the private Offices and vault. 4
burglar alarm was connected with the
front doors and windows, but none with
the back. 4 large and savage dog
guarded the rear, having kennel close
to the door.
What the banker wanted to see me
about was this: He had not only missed
money from his wallet at night, but on
two occasions considerable sums of
money had been taken from small safe
which stood in his office outside the
vault. One Of the mysteries was in the
taking of the money. He employed
teller and atbookkeeper, Leither of whom
had key tosafe or fault unless it was a
duplicate made without his knowledge.
Neither had the,word' OF the combination
of the vault, and it seemed impossible
that they could have taken the money
even if SO inclined. Both were perfectly
honest SO far as any one knew, and Nit
chell was all tangled up over the mystery.
He hadn't talked to me i've minutes
when | would have taken my solemn
oath that Mrs Gray was the guilty party.
but, of course, i didn't drop hint of
my suspicious to him. When it came
J my turn to ask k,questions found out that
he was very SOUND sleeper; that he
occupied>a frontsbedroom with his sons
that Mrs. Gray and.the girl occupied one
in rear Of his, with an entrance to, both
from hall; that the keys of the, bank
safe and vault were always kept under
his pillow at night. In addition. Mrs.
Gray had womthe hearts of his children,
if not his own, and it was only by the
strongest argument that she had .been in
duced to accept nsalary of S10sper'week
while occupying her position. 1t was
as plain as daylight to me that Mitchell
| meant to marry her IN due course Of
time, but it wasrt at all plain as to.what
sort of scheme she was working.
1 took the case, told MitchellsI had a
theory, and then began to study Mrs.
GRAY. | found hereto be a swcet5and in
nocent- nt-looking little woman, seemingly
devoted to the children. It:was in SUM
mer and she was out greats deal, and [
vas on hand to,follow her. 1t seemed
to be time thrownsaway, however She
was shy, prudent and apparently all
right aud 1 had Put in month on the
case and made no discovery when the
outside safe was robbed again. A de-
post and some bonds had. come In at
the last moment and had been placed
there for the night The whole thing
amounted to about 5000, and bonds and
greenbacks were missing next morning.
The safe had not only been opened with
KEY, but the bank hadsbeen entered by
unlocking the rear door No one could
have entered by the frontwithouts sound
ing an alarm. No stranger could have
entered by the back, k,on account of the
dog, who was wide awake and oil
right
When Mitchell sent for sme to give me
the news was perfectly satisfed'that
Mrs. Gray was the guilty party. be-
lieved she had the nerve to enter his
room in the night, secure the tkeys and
then slip through the back yard, enter
the bank and open the safe. When
learned that the dog was great favor
ite of hers this belief was a certainty. |
couldn't, for reasons already given, say a
word to Mitchell about this. He wanted
to suspect his two employees, but'when
we had canvassed the matter he was
made to see that it was altogether un-
likely that either of them was guilty.
Indeed, he was alone in the bank when
! the bonds and money came in and he
| alone knew where the deposit was
placed.
What did do2 turned 70 Mrs. Gray
again, aud in about a week something
happened TO prove that was on the
right trial. One of the street car line:
Of the town ran down to the railroad
8 depot. It was Mrs. Gray's habit of al
] afternoon to ride on this line with tht
e little girl as far down IS certain park
and to sit near the fountain and reaC
!, while the girl romped about with othe,
5 children had closely watched her whil