Evening journal., 1891-02-18
THE UP STAIRS TENANT.

! into liquidation years before, and referred
to some land speculation in connection
with banking.
Our building was plain two story brick
standing at corner, and the interior was
| plainly furnished, rs was the rule in those
days.
1t was simply long room divided by a
railing ia the center Behind the railing
were our desks, and at the rear end was
the vault. The second floor was scarcely
more intricate.
There was front room and two rear
rooms. with hall the length of these lat
ter. One room was exactly over the vault,
and this leads me TO tell you how the vault
was built. 1t was of brick, and two feet
thick, and at the top the joists Of the sec
ond floor were covered with boiler plates.
/ The spaces between the joists were filled in
with cement. On top Of the second floor
/ ioists, before laying the floor we laid other
| plates Of iron, and when the bank was
opened for business we had little fear of
our cash being stolen by any tenant of the
up stairs rooms
The idea was to rent the rooms to law
ycrs or doctors, but the FIRST caller decided
TO take all three, and to pay one years rent
in advance. lie was a stranger to all, but
explained that he was an inventor. and
was then seeking to perfect certain tools
for the use Of miners. One Of his ideas was
n drill to be worked by turning a wheel
The man had frank, open face, a smooth
tongue, and when be offered to put down a
whole years rent in advance it would not
have been business to keep him out. While
Mr.. Dsnoyers, my partner, was perfectly
satisfied as to our up stairs man, was not
Isere wasn't the slightest reason to sus-
pect that he was not what he claimed to
be- or that he had any designs against us
but / somehow felt myself suspecting him
from the first moment ! saw his face He
hadn't got settled in his rooms when
planned that he would enter our vault by
way of the back room, or at least make an
attempt 90 do 50, and this idea was never
out Of my mind thereafter. was laughed
at by my partner but this only made me
the more obstinate in clinging to my idea
GOldwaithe furnished the front room as
a reception room and Office the second Us
bedroom and the third as his workshop.
Exactly over the vault he had a carpenter
put up heavy framework OF beams and
among the stuff moved in were chisels,
hammers, augurs bits, drills, files, saws
and many other carpenters and mechan-
! les tools. could say nothing, as he made
Use Of ali these rs an inventor, but my sus-
picions regarding his final object were con.
tinually strengthened.
For three months our man tp stairs
scarcely entered the bank below or spoke
to one of us except as / met him at the
hotel where we both boarded He was so
quiet and ensy spoken that everybody had
a good word for him, and he invited many
OF the townspeople to visit his rooms and
examine his work At the end Of six
months he was universally liked aud re-
spected, and if he had wanted q couple OF
hundred dollars at our bank dozen bust
ness men would have backed his note
While l had become ashamed TO longer
mention my suspicious, they had by nc
means left me. We had no watchman, and
/ the safe in the vault was one Of the old
/ pattern which was neither fire nor burglar
proof. My chief dependence was on the
| strength Of the vault. / made all sorts oi
estimates, but finally decided that Gold
waithe could not cut his way down into
the vault and open the safe in less than
twelve hours at the very least. The tool:
and appliances Of that day were very crude
compared to the modern.
The man up stairs had been with us hall
with his condnct, when he seemed TO make
a special effort to win my friendship. III
to this time he had passed the evenings II
his rooms. Without saying a word TO my
| partner l had passed my evenings in tn,
bank never leaving until about 10 o'clock
did this to shorten Goldwaithe's time
| providing he intended TO enter the vault
was always at the bank at half-past il
the morning, and this would give him onll
nine and a half hours to work, where haC
| figured il would take him twelve
| One evening something was said abou
cards, and he so managed it that l invited
him up to my room in the hotel to play
few games AS long as he was there / ap
| pretended no danger, and so ii finally cam
about that we used TO spend almost ever,
evening in company Sometimes / wen
to his room, and sometimes he went Il
mine, and he never exhibited the slightes
curiosity regarding Our business in tn
bank. One evening he did not leave m
until II o'clock. Next day Desnoyers said
"Our man up stairs has been away, ehg'
"No."
"But met him as he came from the de
pot last night at 10 o'clock"
you are mistaken. He was in my room
until H."
"Is that so? Why, / met a man VIII
looked exactly like him. He was carrying
a sachel, headed for the bank, and / an
sure he went up the stairway"
This statement puzzled and annoyed me
and kept my suspicious active. Knowing
that Goldwaithe was with me at the hou
of 10 l was Obliged to believe my partne
mistaken, but yet there was something
about the case did not like. About fou
weeks later, one morning as / opened tn
bank, the ticket agent at the depot cam
along on his way to breakfast. a trail
passed at o'clock. and he was obliged t
be there.
Lost your inventor9" he asked as h
came up.
'How-what?n
''Why, Goldwaithe. He went Off on tn
train this morning, and as he had sache
with him, didn't know but he was goin,
Tor good. Bought a ticket for St. Louis p"
As Goldwaithe had been with me up &
II o'clock Of the night before, and had salt
nothing OF going away, l was puzzled
This state Of mind was increased an hou
later when I saw him in the bank.
started 10 ask for an explanation, but oi
second thought concluded not TO. Tha
evening saw the ticket agent and asked:
Are you sure you saw Goldwaithe &
away this morningg'
Perfectly sure Whyp
because he didn't go. He came int