Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-04-06

| but fresh 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 l did, that she had captivated him,
but he fought shy of any acknowledS-
ment Of the sort She was in his house,
| he said, to care for his children, and to
manage his domestic matters, and that
was no ones business but his own.
The bank owned by Mr.. Mitchell was
situated exactly in the rear of his pri-
vate residence. The house fronted on
| one street and the bank on another,
! and there being no street between, the
| back garden of the house led up to the
back door of the bank, and Mitchell
used to come and go through the gar
den. In the rear of the banking rooms,
! divided off by the usual railing, were
the private offices and vaults. A bur
glar alarm was connected with the front
doors and windows. but none with The
! back.
| A large and savage dog guarded the
rear. having kennel close to the door.
What the banker wanted to see me
] about was this. He had not only
missed money from his wallet at night,
| but on one or two occasions consldera-
BILE sums of money had been taken
! from n small safe which stood in MS
| office outside the vault One OF the
mysteries was in the taking OF the
money. He employed a teller and
| bookkeeper, neither of whom had 4
kew to the safe or vault-unless it was
a duplicate made without his knoWl-
edge. Neither had the word OF comol-
nation Of the vault, and it seemed I'M
Dossible that they could have taken the
money even if so inclined. Both We're
nerfectly honest so far as any one
| knew and Mitchell was all at sea over
the mystery.
He had not been talking to me hVe
minutes when l would have declared
that Mrs Gray was the guilty party,
but. of course, 1 did not drop hlnt OF
nv suspicious to him. When 1t came
TO nv turn to ask questions | found out
that he was very sound sleeper; that
he occupied a front bedroom with MS
son: that Mrs. Gray and the girl occu-
pied one at the rear of his, with an en-
trance to both from the hall, that the
KEYS of the bank safe and vault were
always kept under his pillow at night
In addition, Mrs. Gray had won the
hearts of his children, If not his own,
and it was only by the strongest argu-
ment that she had been induced to ac-
cept a salary of two pounds week
while occupying her position. 1t was
as plain as daylight to me that Mitchell
meant to marry her in due course OF
time, but it wasn't at all plain as to
what sort of a scheme she was engaged
upon.
/ took charge Of the case told Mitch
ell l had a theory, and then began to
study Mrs Gray. l found her to be
sweet and innocent-looking little wom-
an, seemingly devoted to the children.
AS it was summer time she was out
a great deal, and determined to follow
her. 1t seemed to be time thrown
away, however.
| had been engaged month on the
case, and made no discovery, when the
outside safe was robbed again. A de-
posit of some deeds had come in at the
last moment, and had been placed there
for the night. The whole lot amounted
to about two hundred pounds, and
deeds and bank notes were missing
next morning. The safe had not only
been opened with a key but the bank
had been entered by unlocking the back
door. No one could have entered by
the front without sounding an alarm.
| No stranger could have entered by the
back on account of the dog, who was
wide awake and on the alert.
When Mitchell sent for me to give
me the news I was perfectly satisfied
that Mrs. Gray was the guilty person.
l believed she had the nerve to enter
his room in the night, secure the keys,
and then slip through the back garden,
enter the bank, and open the safe.
When I learned that the dop's ass = :,
great favorite of heers1'';;n5 indeed for the
a certainty. I eSs1-Si1av4 ps aEs-sqtire 4
ready given, say a word to Mitchell
ABOUT this He wanted to suspect his
two employees, but when we had dis
cusSed the matter he was made to see
that it was altogether unlikely that
either of them was guilty. Indeed, he
was alone in the bank when the deeds
and money came in, and he alone knew
where the deposit was placed
After this l turned to Mrs. Gray
again, and in about a week something
happened to prove that 1 was on the
right trail.
One of the tram-car lines of the town
ran down to the railway station. 1t
was Mrs. Gray's habit of an afternoon
to ride on this line with the little girl