Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-09-22
OVERCONFIDENCE.

H OVERCONFIDENCE.
Ten years ago in certain good sized
town in Pennsylvania there lived fam
\ ily whom will call Mitchell. The fam
| lily consisted of husband, wife and two
children, the latter being boy aged five
and girl of seven. Mitchell was pri-
vate banker, known to be honest, re-
spectacle and worth clear 500, 900. l
knew little or nothing about the family
until certain incidents occurred. One
day his wife was fatally injured in
railroad collision at point about fifty
miles from home When he reached
her, in response to telegram sent by
stranger, he found she had been removed
to hotel and was being tenderly cared
for by a woman who gave her name as
Mrs. A. B. Gray, of Philadelphia. She
was on the train, but suffered no injury.
Mrs. Gray, as | might as well tell you
now, was petite, good looking, good
talker, and in general way captiva-
ting. The fact of her taking charge Of
Mrs. Mitchell as she had done proved
her tender heart. She told Mr.. Mitchell
she had been widow eighteen months
and was practically alone in the world,
and though he was burdened with grief
and anxiety, he did not forget to thank
her for her great kindness and to take
her address, She resumed her journey,
and he took his wife home to die of her
injuries. 1t was three weeks after her
death that came into the case. After
everything was over the husband sud-
denly discovered that his dead wife's
jewelry was missing. She had with her
when the accident took place about
81 900 worth Of diamonds. They had
disappeared, and when he came to run
over events in his mind he could not re-
member that they had come home with
her. Mrs. Gray had turned over to him
Mrs. Mitchell's purse and few other
things, but pair of diamond eardrops.
two rings and pin were missing.
was employed to proceed to the scene
of the late accident-and seek to trace the
jewelry. The collision had occurred
right at the depot in small town. Peo-
pie about the depot and the hotel assured
me that Mrs. Mitchell had her jewelry
on when taken to the hotel. The land
lords wife was positive, and the doctor
who was called in was positive, and
when ! had worked the case out re-
turned home to report to Mitchell that
nobody but Mrs. Gray could have taken
the jewelry. He was astonished and in
dignant, and not only vigorously re-
pudiated the implication, bnt discharged
me from the case with the assertion that
] was novice in the profession.
went about other business, and it
was about four months before I saw
Mitchell again. Then he sent for me in
an official capacity again. No reference
was made to my previous work, but
fresher and other troubles had come to
him. a month after the death of his
wife he had opened correspondence with
Mrs. Gray, and the result was that she
had come to take charge of his house.
He was without relatives. or at least
without those who could aid him in his
situation, and she claimed to be free in
her movements. You viii suspect just
as did, that she had captivated him,
but he fought shy Of any acknowledge
ment of the sort.
haven't told you about the bank. 1t
was situated just square from his
house and exactly in the rear of it. The
house fronted on one street and the bank
on another, and there was no alley be-
tween. Indeed the rear yard Of the
house led right up to therear door of
the bank, and Mitchell used to come up
and go through the yard. In the rear
of the banking rooms, divided off by the
usual railing, were the private offices
and the vault. A burglar alarm was
connected with the front doors and win
dows. but none with the back. A 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 a 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 Il bookkeeper, neither of whom
had key to safe or vault, unless it was
duplicate made without his knowledge.
Neither had the word of the combina-
tion of the vault, and it seemed impossi-
BILE that they could have taken the
money, even if SO inclined. Both were
perfectly honest, SO far as any one knew,
and Mitchell was all tangled up over
the mystery.
He hadn't talked to me five minutes
when | would have taken my solemn
oath that Mrs. Gray was the guilty.
party, but of course | didn't drop hint
of my suspicious to him. She was shy,
prudent and apparently all right. and
had put III a month on the case and
made no discovery when the outside
safe was robbed again. A deposit and
some bonds had come in at the last mo-
ment 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 had been entered by un-
locking the rear door. No one could
have entered by the front without
sOuIluluS an dldrIl. NO stranger cOulu
have entered by the back on account of
the dog. who was wide awake and all
right.
When Mitchell sent for Inc to give me
the news was perfectly satisfied that
Mrs. Gray was the guilty party. be-
lieved she had the nerve to enter his
room in the night, secure the keys and
then slip through the back yard, enter
the bank and open the safe. When
learned that the dog was a great favor
ite of hers this belief was certainty. |
couldn't, for reasons already given, say
a word to Mitchell about this. He want
ed to suspect his two employees, but
when he had canvassed the matter he
was made to see that it was altogether
unlikely that either of them was guilty.
Indeed he was akpo in the bank when
the bonds and money came in. and he
alone knew where the deposit was
placed
What did | do? | turned to Mrs. Gray
again, and in about week something
happened To prove that | was on the