The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-07-29


case of such communications; and at
the exact expiration of the three years,
that is, on the 18th of Novemb Der, 1ss-,
they were to meet at twelve o'clock
noon at Charing Cross station.
So these two men divided up their
little stock of belongings and smaller
capital of money. took a third-class
ticket each to London, went together
to Charing Cross to verify the scene of
their future reunion, and shook hands.
''We met here in three years from to-
day."
1--WE do. all being well. Good-by,
Charlie"
'Good-by, old fellow"
Thus they parted, each on his sep
arate quest for fortune.
On the evening of the 14th of No
vember, 1ss-, Eustace Margraf, Esq,
director and chairman of the Anglican
Debenture corporation, Ltd, exc of
the General Stock and Shareholders
Protective union, Ltd, and various
other like speculative companies, sat in
the luxurious dining-room of his we'll
appointed residence in Lewisham
Park. He had finished his sumptuous
but solitary meal and, reclining in a
spacious armchair, slipped his rare old
wine. 1t was three years all but day
since he had parted from Charlie Os-
borne on Charing Cross station, and
set out with eighteen pence In his
pocket to seek his fortune. In that
brief time he had rapidly risen to
wealth and distinction. Three years
ago he was a penniless mechanic, for
saken by fortune and discontinued
with his life; to-day he was a rich man,
smiled on and courted by fortune and
envied by all her minions, and still he
| was disconnected with his life.
1t was strange that he should cherish
this discomfort, for Eustace Margraf,
mindful of the fact that he was made
for something better than mill work,
had maticulated and graduated at the
Worlds university in the department
of forgery and theft. He had taken
the highest diplomas in fraud; he had
passed with honors the test of an ac-
complished swindler; and in the in
tricacies of embezzlement he was
| oChAOA NAahklCAs GU hC w DO NV SOA~
tent; some men are never satisfied.
In the paper at his side there was q
little paragraph which had given his
memory a rather unpleasant jog. 1t
was in the personal column and ran as
follows: re. M.-Don't forget to-mor-
row noon, c. c. station.-Charlie." He
| wanted to see Charlie, for he still loved
him after his old fashion; but the men,
cries which the advertisement called
up, and a doubt as to whether Charlie
would appreciate his accomplishments,
made him fidgety; and the recollection
of all that must pass between now and
noon tomorrow filed him with uneasi-
ness. For tonight he was to stake
everything in one tremendous venture.
If he succeeded he would need to do
nothing more all his life; if he failed
Tonight at eight o'clock the Cont
mental mail train would start from Char
ing Cross station with seventy-fve thou
sand pounds worth of bullion for the
Bank of France. If Eustace Margraf sue
ceeded in his enterprise it would reach
Paris with the same weight of valueless
shot in the strong iron boxes.
Everything had been nicely and mi
nutely arranged. The shot had been
carefully weighed to a quarter of a
grain, and proportional into three equal
lots to match the cases of bullion, which
would be weighed on leaving London,
again at Dover, once more at Calais,
and finally on arrival at Paris. A key
| to lit the cases had been secretly made
from q wax impression of the original,
how obtained none but Margraf knew.
This key he would hand to his confed-
crates this evening at Charing Cross
station, after which he would go down
by the seven o'clock train preceding
| the mail.
The stoker of the mail, an old rail-
| way hand, had been bribed, together
with the guard in whose compartment
the bullion would travel 1t had been
thought desirable to deal differently
with the front guard and the driver; a
specially prepared and powerful drug
was to be given them in pint of beer
just before starting, which would take
effect about an hour after administra-
ton and last till the sleepers should be
aroused by brandy. During their slum-
Der the stoker would pull up at conven-
lent places on the line to allow the rob
bers to enter the guards carriage and
leave it with their booty, when they
would make of to where Margraf had
arranged to meet them; he would man.
age the rest. The front guard and the
driver, meanwhile, would for their own
sakes be glad enough to say nothing
about their long slumber.
All these arrangements had been
made with great nicely, and told over
twice; and yet Margraf was uneasy and
nervous as he thought of all the risk he
ran. Twice he stretched out his hand
for the bell rope for telegram forms to
stay the whole business; once he went
so far as to ring the bell, but he altered
his mind by the time the servant an
swered it, and ordered hot brandy in
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