Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-11-11

Are kindly hearts and social glee:
But here for me they may not be,
My heart is gone beyond the sea.
Thomas Love Peacock in Novel Review.
A NARROW ESCAPE. 4
"Come home at once Urgent business p
So ran the telegram which received ut
the Crown hotel, Manchester, from my
father, a Liverpool merchant. I had just
completed a long days business, and had
| intended to proceed to oldham and several
other surrounding towns before returning
home. However, I made what haste /
could and reached Liverpool about p m.
drove rapidly home, and found my father
in the dining room, pacing from one end to
the other, as was his habit when anything
| troubled or perplexed him
Il am glad to see you, lad, )" he exclaimed,
| greeting me in his hearty, affectionate
manner. Something has happened in the
| office which has caused me the greatest
uneasiness. Soon after you went away I
drew from the bank @,out goo in notes. I
| placed this in the safe in my private Office,
| and locking it in came home. The next
| day-ThursdayI opened the safe and
| found, to my establishment, that not a
| penny of the money remained. 1 Informed
| the police Of the affair, and it has been
! placed in the hands OF man named Bing-
| ley. He seems a shrewd fellow enough,
| but so far has reported nothing to me- I
expect him there this evening. It is not
SO much the loss of the money that mind
as the fact that / must have about the
Office an untrustworthy servant Who it
| is, must confess have not the remotest
( idea"
| "But surely, father, you took the num-
Der of the notes." Iqueried.
THAT, did," he replied; 'but here is
| one of the strangest parts of the whole
affair. On referring to my pocketbook the
next day found this slip of blank paper"
and he held out to me a thin sheet of such
paper as 1 had observed him using on pre-
yious occasions for the entry of the num-
bers of bank notes.
'And who saw you deposit the money in
the safe?"
''There was no one in the room except
old Richardson and Tom Hail." he an
swered, land to suspect either of them
seems impossible"
"Where did you enter the numbers?'
was my next question.
Gas sat at my writing table"
'On what did you place the paper?"
"As we'll as can remember, ON my pock-
etbook," he answered Stay, now l ca.
it to mind, there were several other pieces
of paper exactly like it lying on my desk
After entering the numbers doubled up
the paper and put the money into the safe. %
Leaving your pocketbook on the desk,
presumed"
EYES," he replied.
'"Then that is one step gained. The thief
took the numbers away and inserted one of
the blank sheets of paper"
A sudden pallor came over my fathers
face. To accept the truth of my inference
was to believe in what he had declared i'm
possible of credence.
"Who was nearest the table," was my
next query, while you placed that money
in the safe?"
Tom Hall stood within about three
yards of the table, and Richardson was
close to me when I locked the safe!" az
swered my father in Il shaky voice. "It
looks black for Hail." he went on more
slowly. 81 almost wish I had not called
in the police. l would rather lose the
money altogether than break his Door
mothers heart"
Just at this moment a stranger to me
was announced and entered the room. He
was indeed u shrewd looking fellow and
well known in his profession as a skillful
tracker of criminals.
ANY news?" asked my father when the
detective was seated.
YES" he answered. 81 must confess it
was rather a puzzling case, but it is clear
enough now. AS you placed the matter in
our hands with instructions to prosecute l
have arrested Tom Hall and he is now in
Dale street safe enough"
"You must be mistaken, Bingley," said
my father. Hall cannot have done such
a thing 1t will kill his mother"
Unfortunately, sir" the detective re-
piled, 1.-The evidence is only too strong; and
as to his mother-well, criminals are not
given to thinking of the feelings of their
relatives till the crime has been discov-
ered."
begged my father to be seated, that we
might hear fully what the evidence was
upon which the detective had arrested
Hall
ut added to the difficulty of my task that
the numbers of the notes were missing"
the detective went on. "However. I
Swallowed Hall, and Richardson was
watched by another member of the force
On Sunday evening l met Hall with his
sweetheart, and noticed that she wore a
splendid diamond brooch which had evil
IDENTIFY been given her by Hall, as they
were talking about it, and walking behind
them overheard every word. She was
urging him to be more careful of his
money, and he laughingly replied: oh!
never mind, there's plenty more where
that came 'FRONT.' Yesterday l obtained a
search warrant and found this''
He handed to my father handbook,
Which showed that Hall had deposited
nearly e400 in one of the local banks on the
Friday preceding.
bat 94o0 is not the amount takcn.r
calculated my father
but it is part of it," replied the detect
i've, land the rest may be elsewhere. When
charged with the theft, Hall seemed dunn
founded, and on receiving the usual eau
ton, simply replied, I am perfectly limo
cent He will be brought up tomorrow
and probably committed for trial to the
nssizes."
The detective then took his leave and
my father and | remained silent, thinking
for some time. At last said: Twill you
let me have your pocketbook, father, and
the key of your private Office and safe? ]
shall probably be there for some time, so
do not sit up for me-"
My father complied with the request,
and in less than half an hour was in the
office Certainly there did not seem much
hope of Hall being innocent, but | was de
termined to probe the matter to the very
bottom. had known him from u lad, and
in fact in our boyhood we had been school
fellows in the Liverpool institute Open
as the day, though somewhat reckless, he
seemed the last man to turn out a thief /
sat down and carefully examined the peck
etbook my father had given me. Thought
the matter over on every side, and sudden
Iy an Inspiration flashed across me. My
father always wrote with good pencil,
and if he placed the thin paper upon his
rccketbook l might find traces of the num-
hers. Hastily taking from my own desk
small microscope carefully examined the
leaves of the book. Here was what
sought. The numbers stood out plainly,
and l carefully copied them into my own
pocketbook. So much of the difficulty be-
ing solved, uext turned my attention to
the safe.
The question had still to be answered,
sHow had the thief opened the safe:" |