The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-03-26

Phoebe Banker, the teller's daughter.
And the two who were to be absent
were the son and daughter of the CASH
jer.
That is what I mean to say, and l
have the information from Olga her
SELF" added Lucy. They have al
ways led the singing. and Conrad is
about the only fellow that can sing
bass"
The statement Of Lucy Archer had
created a sensation and something like
a panic among the pupils. 1t had
promised to be a great occasion for
them, and their hopes appeared to be
suddenly blighted. Conrad and Olga
had taken no part in the conversation
and were seated apart from the others,
and anyone who looked into their faces
would have seen only a picture of
despair in each, though both of them
were ordinarily bright and cheerful.
They were the best scholars in the
school, as they were the leaders of the
sports and amusements of both sexes.
Now they looked as though they had
not a single friend in the whole world.
General Cambridge. whose ancestors
were honored in the name of the town,
was an honest and just man, but he
was severe in his judgments. The
cashier, a German who had modified
his name so that Americans could pro-
nounce it, was an educated man and a
musician of the highest order, and his
wife was his equal as an artist. He
had left his native land twenty years
before under a political cloud, which
he might have turned aside if he had
been less honest and more subservient
to the wishes of his superiors in Of
flee.
Mr.. Binnield had brought with him
his independence of character. He had
been the manager Of a bank in Berlin
and was a very able financier. But
he never got along very we'll with Cen
eral Cambridge. Some of them said
the magnate was jealous of him be-
cause he had been mentioned in the
beginning as the president of the bank
by some Of the wisest men in the
town.
One day he reported to the president
that a box containing ten thousand
dollars in gold was missing and must
have been stolen from the vault. OF
course this discovery created a tremen-
dous excitement at the meeting of the
directors called to receive the an
n%ouncement. Without tracing the mat
ter through all its details, a detective
was sent for, and he questioned every
body about the premises, from the
president down to the %janitor, who
was also the Waterman. At the meet
ing of the board to hear his report
he declared his belief in the most posi-
tive manner that the robbery was COM
mitted either by the teller or the cash
Ter.
Further inquiry in regard TO the two
officials proved that the cashier had
spent his evenings. sometimes till a
late hour, at the bank, for a week be-
fore the discovery hat the box was
missing. The teller always went home
as soon as he had balanced his cash.
and not a suspicious circumstance
pointed at him. Mr.. Binnfield was
called before the directors and ques-
toned by all of them. including the
most expert lawyer in the place, who
attempted to browbeat the cashier into
making a confession; but he was as in
dependent as he had always been.
He admitted that he had spent his
evenings for a week at the bank to in
vestigate a discrepancy in the teller's
accounts: and pointed it out very pre-
cisely to the board in the books. His
brother, who was a farmer in the
country, had called twice for him at
the request of Mrs. Binnfield. The de-