The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-05

disappeared was kept in the office vault.
The lock of that vault was a combina-
ton 1t was the rule of the office that
the combination should be used by the
cashier alone. No one else, not even the
postmaster himself, had authority to
open the vault. But to guard against the
possibility OF Inconvenience. the knowl-
edge of that combination was not limited
to the memory of the cshier. An accident
might happen. The cashier might meet
sudden death or disability. To protect
the interests of the service from contin-
gency, remote though 1T might be, the
cashier had furnished the postmaster with
the combination. He had given a memo
randum of the numbers, to be used only
in the event that he was incapacltated
This knowledge should have remained
sealed in am unopened envelope. A former
postmaster, with regard for the spirit of
the arrangement, placed the combination
which had been inclosed in sealed en-
velope, in the care of a third party, and 1t
was locked in a safety deposit vault
where it remained throughout the term of
office. Where the knowledge of the COM
bination was, other than in the cashiers
mind, during the month of March, 1896, is
one of the unsolved mysteries of this very
strange case. At the time the cashier
gave no thought to the memorandum of
the combination held in trust. Grounded
public money, the thought never suggest
ed itself to him to make inquiries Sus-
picion never entered his mind.
Two or three weeks passed. The bal
ance had been forced. The books had been
falsifled. The cashier had Quilted himself
with the thought that if the blunder In the
accounts did not reveal itself he would
make the amount good from his salary.
He came and went as usual. He was DO
nestle He had no vices. He lived with
in his means. He was not extravaganza.
There was no sign of wrong In the view
of the department he was still the model
cashier.
One night the footngs were made, and
when the money was counted there was
another shortage of a considerable amount.
The cashier was thunderstruck. He went
over the figures He counted the money.
The deficit was there again. Another
81 900 could not be found. What was to
be done Put yourself in his place. TO
do so one must recall the long years OF
rigid devotion to duty. one must remem-
her the pride which had fed all OF those
years on a marvellous record for accuracy
and integrity. The ambition to reach one
more promotion and hold an office which
seemed almost within reach must be felt.
To report this latest loss was to demand
an investigation which would bring out the
classification of the books to hide the first.
Surely here was a sad case of a victim of
circumstances. And the victim was an
ordinary man.
A second time the books were fixed to
make an appearance of correctness. Around
The unhappy man net seemed TO be draw
ing. Perhaps ninety-nine men out of
hundred would have thrown pride to the
winds, forgot the ambition of a spotless
lifetime and cried out:
"There is robbery herer"
The hundredth man wouldn't. He would
have done as this man did. His first i'm
pulse would have been to carry on the de-
ception of figures. Growing desperate with
the terrible secret, he would at last have
taken into his confidence the very men
from whom he should have held aloof. He
would have accepted the suggestion that
there were easy and quick ways of max
ing a thousand of dollars to replace the
amount mysterously missing. lie would
have listened TO the seductive stories of
large odds won in an afternoon at the race
track. He would have refused to take a
dollar of Uncle Sans money and go to the
race track but he might have allowed
men about him to take sums of money and
try to win enough to make good the losses
while he further falsfed the figures to
hide the growing deficit. And so the time
might come when, without having realiz-
ed personal benefit from any of this mon
ey he would find himself face to face with
a loss too large to be longer concealed.
An inspector stepped into the cashiers
Office one day and took possession From
Washington had been sent an intimaticn
that some irregularity seemed to exist The
inspector worked and worked At length
with many figures before him, he turned
to the cashier and said: