The times., 1897-06-27

If my friend, Mr.. White, has yet been
released from State prison and cares to
makes ME friendly call shall be glad
to see tim and talk over the differences
without bias. As a matter OF fact, never
had anything n particular against him,
and If he has any hard feelings against
me should like to convince him that he
has no real foundation for them.
When l made Mr.. Whites acquaint-
aDce 1 was half-owner of the Westfield
Bank, run In connection with couple
of stores and "a big mill, and while my
partner attended to the stores and null
l could daily be found at the bank. IL
was O. country town and country
bank and for that reason was selected
by Mr.. White as the theater OF his opera
tions. We handled good deal of money
i'll Our institution, and as Westfield was
surrounded by corn-fields, turnip-patches,
and broad meadows, Mr. White was not To
blame for arguing that he had hayseeds
to deal with.
He dropped into town one day to es-
tablish himself as buyer, and as we
happened to have a vacant room On the
second floor of the bank, he preferred
it to any other in town. He also de-
posted $500 with US, and laid himself
out to he very friendly. Mr.. White was
a fine-looking. middle-aged man, and he
expected to buy wheat, wool, fruits anil
vegetables and ship them to the Chicago
market For reasons best known TO him
self he didn't invest dollar. He made
a great pretense OF being busy man,
and of wishing to buy up everything Of
for htttf frap W "a : q r l.
Iy closed and the cash paid over. ! am
not suspicious man, but i may say that
l didn't take 10 Mr.. White as readily as
he no doubt hoped for. In the banking
business, even In a country bank, busi-
ness is BUSINESS, and yoU have no friends
at the cashiers window. He dropped
in occasionally when i WASH { rushed
To chat for a few minutes, and his chat
was mostly in praise of me. was fairly
posted IN business matters, but no more,
and when Mr.. White began to boast of
my business sagacity, the reputation bad
us!de as a shrewd, keen man, ray fore
sight and hindsight and all ttat, began
to wonder what his object was.
The buyer who never bought had occu-
pied his room about two inonths, when
1 looked into il one night. / had dupli
cate KEYS TO the several rooms on the
second floor, and If the tenants didn't
know it, that was my secret. / rather
expected 10 find something, and was not
disappointed. Mr. White had rolled
back -the carpet in his room, and cut out
a square piece OF the floor Just over the
vault helow. This vault was OF stone,
with a foundation down cellar, and /
had to smile at the work done upstairs.
Mr.. White had evidently figured that
the top Of tie vault would be OF stone
or brick, and that he could go through
it some night in couple of hours He
must have been considerably chagrined
when he found it of railroad iron. They
We're secondhand bars, bought at a sale
of scrap iron, but they were laid side by
side, bolted together very securely, and
bedded in foot of the hardest kind Of
cement. He had dug down until he
came to the bars, and then given the
job up in disgust If he had been at lib
erty 10 work day and night. it would
have taken him weeks to get down into
the vanlt He had replaced the cut floor
fairly well. and had evidently abandoned
that idea for another. What was the other?
I thought the best way TO find out was to
pretead a friesldship did not feel: and
after few laws the scheme developed.
Nj White decided 10 buy forty acres Of
land aud build an addition TO the town of
WestfieId He figured that It would take
100000 70 begin on, and he would sell
some landin Chicago andhave draft sent
on. The draft was to be sent through the
bank l did business with, and he would
check out his money from time To time as
be needed it, Two weeks later, when Mr..
Whites draft arrived, / was ready for
him / had dropped line TO the Chicago
bank, and had only 70 glance at the paper
to know that it was a put-up job The
buyer had pal in the Windy City who
had worked that end of the scheme, but
Mr.. White didn't check any money out of
the Westfield bank. I found his draft ''ir-
regular" and he went up TO Chicago 10 see
about it. and upon his return some days
later he claimed to have used the moneyin
buying property elsewhere. | could have
sent him to prison for his little game. but
I never let on that I even mistrusted him.
/ had begun TO find the man interesting
as study.
Any physiogn omist would have pro-
nounced Mr.. White a determined and
perse vering man. He was after the
money in the Westfield Bank, and il was
not likely that he would abandon his
idea because of two failures. His third
would be to break in from below.
/ judged, and attack the vault by way of
the door. Wehad stout doors sandiron-barred
windows, and hadnever kept n ght watch
man. l now put one in, to meet what /
believed WAS an emergency. He had been
on duty only two weeks when d wagon
drove into the alley in rear of the ba TX
one night at midnight, and three men got
out with a bag of tools. Tney imme-
liately began work on the back door,
which was heavy oak and hacked with
iron, and after half an hours work they
had cut a panel out. ThTorgh this open
ing the watchman thrust his shotgun
and fired. an d ten minutes later the town
was aroused One of the robbers was
found on the ground with his leg full of
Slot, hut the other two had reached the
wagon and driven off. One of them had
also been woun ded, as a trail of bloot
proved, but they got safely away
Next morning Mr.. White was very much
in the captured robber, who
was in bed In charge of the sheriff. He
even had a private interview with him in
hopes to extract confession, but said the
villain refused to reveal the names of his
accomplices and would probably die game.
The man did die, and two or three of us
who Were with him in his last moments
Were shocked at the way he cursed and
reviled some one by the name of Jim.
The others took it that Jim was one of
the nair who got away, but ] had nv