Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-09-16
OVERCONFIDENCE.

Ten years ago in a certain good sized
town in Pennsylvania there lived fam
lily 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 a clear 800, 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 a telegram sent by q
stranger, he found she had been removed
to hotel and was being tenderly cared
for by 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. Mitchells 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 l 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, but discharged
me from the case with the assertion that
! was novice in the profession.
l went about other business, and it
: was about four months before l saw
t Mitchell again. Then he sent for me in
an official capacity again. n" refe renee
was made to my previous York, 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 will 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 a 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 the rear door of
the bank, and Mitchell used to come W
and so through the yard. In the real
} 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
I kennel close to the door.
r What the banker wanted to see me
: about was this: He had not only missed
q money from his wallet at night, but Oh
8 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 {
e teller and a bookkeeper, neither of whom
had key to safe or vault, unless it wa:
Q "a duplicate made without his knowledge
: Neither had the word of the combina
ton 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 owe
the mystery.
He hadn't talked to me five minutes
when ] would have taken my solemn
cath that Mrs. Gray was the guilt,
7 party, but of course didn't drop a hin
of my suspicious to him. She was shy
prudent and apparently all right, and
had put in a month on the case ant
made no discovery when the outsid
9 safe was robbed again. A deposit ant
: some bonds had come in at the last mo
r ment and had been placed there for tn
f night. The whole thing amounted +
: about 5000, and bonds and greenback
;, were missing next morning The SAT
: had not only been opened with key
D but the bank had been entered by IN
locking the rear door. No one coul
have entered by the front withou
n sounding an alarm. No stranger coul
d have entered by the back on account c
"a tho dor who u-as wide awake and a