Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-05-18

man of that age had been given such a
responsible position, and / may explain
that had been with the house for six
years. Walker Burke, the manager,
was pleased to say that they had found
me honest, diligent and ambitious, and
that there was no doubt of my giving
continued satisfaction. l gave no bond.
1t wasn't the rule in those days, and l
could not have given one had it been ex-
acted. The position of cashier is not
hard one for an honest man l handled
a great deal of money, but can truth
fully say l was never tempted in the
slightest. l don't claim to be peculiar
in my ideas, but l do say that l have
always been a bit of philosopher on
the subject of honesty. To carry
burden of guilt; to be suspected; to
leave home, friends and country; to be
obliged to admit to yourself that you
are thief; to be tracked and published,
even if not arrested and imprisoned,
why. l could never figure out value re-
ceived, no matter how large the sum.
Mr.. Burke could enter the Office any
hour of the day and count my cash or
run over my accounts without causing
me to change color. Every three months
an expert looked over the books, and /
could leave him in the office and go
home whistling. On one occasion he
kicked up quite an excitement by find
ing shortage of twenty-one hundred
dollars. I didn't tremble and turn pale.
/ neither bolted nor broke down and
confessed that 1 had embezzled the
money to speculate in stocks or play
the races. just pulled off my coat and
went over the figures with him, and
within an hour we found the error.
Expert that he was, he had made mis-
take in his footings.
1 had held the place for two years
when young man named Henry
Devon, who was a cousin of the Burkes,
came to take a place in the store as
manager of n department. He did not
create a favorable impression on me,
though he seemed to make an effort
in that direction. He was what they
call ''goody goody' man. He wore
sanctimonious look, pretended to be
possessed of all the virtues, and great
many people were deceived in him. In
a couple of months after his arrival he
was steady church-goer, had a caller
or two every day from the congrega-
ton, and was always taking up col
lection in his department for some
thing or other. He discharged two
saleSgirls who refused to contribute to
buy Sunday school books, and he
promptly bounced an elevator boy who
burned the heather" when asked to
chip in twenty five cen is.
Being a relative, Devon was not
looked upon as he otherwise would have
been, although the only advantage he
seemed to take of the circumstances
was to hang about the cashiers Office
rather more than 1 thought was proper
and to force his friendship on me.
treated him civilly, of course, but
never liked him. One day when Devon
had been in the store year or more
NV assistant was taken i'll at noon and
had to go home.
It was not only busy afternoon, but
Mr.. Burke gave me two or three extra
things to do, and when it came time to
make our bank deposit i had half a
dozen irons in the fire. My assistant
had always gone to the bank, but on
this occasion / must make the deposit
myself. Trade had been rushing and
sales heavy, and it so happened that
everything was cash. / think the sum
was five thousand eight hundred dol
lars, and had just counted it when
Devon came into the office to ask about
a check which had been mailed to us by
a country customer and had never
turned up. l was in hurry to get out
the items fcf statement of account
wanted by Mr.. Burke, and as Devon
had bis hat and coat on and was evil
IDENTIFY going out, asked him to take
the money and our book and make the
deposit for me. / did not see him when
he returned. 1 found the book in nv
desk and placed it in the safe without
opening it. 1t was not until ten o'clock
next forenoon that 1 made the dis
covery that no deposit had been credit