Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1893-09-07
A BURGLARY.

dren to support besides their wives, who,
it is grievous to relate, were drones.
They were only nominally acquainted
with that goodly art commonly asso-
ciated with charwomen.
Pierre and Baptiste were hard workers.
They worked far into the night and oc-
casionally the thin mists of dawn had
begun to break on the narrow city pave
ments before their labors would cease.
No one could truthfully say that theirs
was not hard earned pillow. Some
times they did not toll in vain. 1t de-
pended largely upon the police.
1t was early one November that this
horny handed pair planned the bur-
glary of certain safe located in whole
sale establishment in st. Mark street.
On the particular evening that Pierre
and Baptiste hit upon for the deed the
head bookkeeper had been having
wrangle with his accounts
81 can't make head or tail Of thisr' he
declared to his employer, the senior
member Of the firm, 'yet I am con-
vinced everything must be right. An
error of several hundred dollars has been
carried over from each daily footing, but
where the error begins or ends Tn
blessed if can find out"
The fact was that the monthly sales
had been unusually heavy, and pageof
the balance had been misled. The head
bookkeeper spent upward of an hour in
casting up both the entries of himself
and his subordinates after the establish
ment had closed its doors for the day.
Then he went home to supper deter
mined to return and locate the deficit if
he didn't get wink of sleep until morn
ing.
Bookkeepers, it must be borne in mind,
have highly sensitive organisms, which
are susceptible to the smallest atom re-
decting upon their probity or skill. At
$50 the bookkeeper returned and COM
menced anew his critical calculations.
He worked precisely three hours and
half, at the end of which period he sud-
denly clapped his hand to his forehead
and exclaimed: 44sg
"Idiot! Why haven't you looked in
the safe for missing sheet? Ten chances
to one they have been improperly num-
beredr'
He turned over the pages of the bal
ance ON his desk, and, sure enough, the
usual numerical mark or designation in
the upper left hand corner which should
follow II was missing. Page 10 in all
likelihood had slipped into some remote
corner of the safe. .sa gYew
The safe was a large one, partially re-
ceding into the wall and containing all
the papers, documents and several day
receipts in cash and drafts Of the firm.
The head bookkeeper in his efforts at
unearthing the lost page Of the cash bal
ance was obliged to intrude his entire
person into the safe. Fearful lest the
candle he held should attract attention
from the street, showing out as it did
against the black recesses of the safe,
upon entering it he drew the door slightly
ajar.
As he stepped in the tail of his coat
caught on an angle Of the huge riveted
lock, the massive gate swung to as if
it weighed no more than pound, and
the bookkeeper was a prisoner.
He heard the resonant click-that was
ALL His candle went out
The bookkeeper at the outset lost his
presence of mind. He fought like a
Gagged animal. He first exerted almost
superhuman strength against the four
sides of the iron tomb. Then his body
collapsed, and not for an instant losing
consciousness he found himself sitting
in a partially upright position unable to
SO much as stir q muscle
1t was almost at the same moment,
although hours seemed to have passed,
that the drum of his ear, now abnormal
ly sensitive, was almost split into frag-
ments. A frightful, monotonous clangor
rent the interior of the safe.
The bookkeeper used to observe after
ward that a single seconds deviation of
characteristic thought and he would
have gone mad. Stronger minds in a
parallel situation would have indeed col
lapsed. But weaker man can never
confront the inevitable, but clings more
stubbornly to hope. They are only weak
individuals who in the act of drowning
catch at straws.
As the bookkeeper felt himself grad
ually growing faint for want of air to
breathe his revivified hope led him to
deliberately crash his fist into the wood
work with which the interior of the safe
was fitted, in secretaire fashion, one
drawer being built above another. This
gave him few additional cubic feet of
air.
AS may have been conjectured, the
noise which smote the boOkkeeper's ear
was that of drill. Although acutely
discerned within. the sound was practi-
cally smothered on the outside Of the
vault.
At one end of the drill was cavity,
rapidly growing larger, in one of the
steel panels. At its other end was O
heavy. warty fist, part of the anatomy
Of Baptiste. the Industrious mechanic.
Baptiste held the drill while his COM
rade, Pierre, pounded it in.
( Soon the two burglars became aware
that some sort of animal commotion was
going on within the safe. 1t nearly drove
them into commissions of astonishment.
Baptiste was SO startled that he dropped
the drill.
ut is ghost" he said.
Baptiste was for throwing up the job
nncompromisingly on the spot, but this
proposal met with obstacles. His fellow
workman, who was of stiffer courage,
rejected it with scorn, as savoring too
much of the superstitious. Pierre had
large family to support, he argued. He
spoke frankly. They could not afford to
throw away the opportunities of provi-
dence. To his friend and colaborer the
burden of his remarks was:
sLachei Go hon! You make me tired
wiz yer ghosts an tings. Let's not have
no beast foolin--sees De job is com
mence. Allons!' b
The upshot of this was that Pierre and
Baptiste went back to work. At the
third crack OF the drill Pierre crossed