The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-02-25
A Bank Of England Mystery.
THE DANGEROUS LoopHoLE.

read to them, at their usual sltVihs' .ne
following ill-spelt and somewhat eurl'
Gus letter: ,,
.Two Gentlemin off Bank OF ~ng,
land. Yoo think VOW Is all sate manu-
your Bank is seafe, butt / knows pei,
tnr I bin hinside the Bank thee las'
, mite hand YOU nose muffin aDoWt ~,
Rut nm mott theaf, so hlf yeo WI
NETT NEE in the gret squar rom, "1ln
air the moneiys, at twelt hlte ne
plain orl to yoew. let only 1, ne.
cum alown, and say nufnn hopous'
Jon Sniff" oa
Tba letter having been duly reau.
was. as might be expected, the topic -
conversation and suggestion lor aolno
little time. Some of the ulreclo.s
thought 1t was hoax. OtherS thous
that under the apparently lshol 49,
written letter a deeper mysVer! ~" ".
hidden; but all agreed that u,e ou sal
way was to put the letter. Will pi0t a.
instructions, into the hanus vi 1,o
tactives The detectives looked grave
There was a plot at work, tney saw,
and with their usual penetration they
=. orce nenet,.ated the deepest depths
of the iniquity. ~
There is a very large room uliuel-
wound where the huge wealth OF uhe
5anl.T is Observation-Disclosures and mill
ons NJ English sovereigns, bars OF goiu'
4 md hundredweights of silver, with my
lads of notes. The detectives, Oh
course knew that this room must pe
he Mace which the writer OF the ie'-
ier had designated as 1.-The gret sauar
rom.p II is full of treasure. LIS moor
a solid stone pavement, and lls "ailS;
roof and door are of wrought iron anu
STEEL
All night long the detectives were Sc
,reted in the room, but they saw n noln-
ng and heard nothing, with the eNcep.
ion that some said they heard, apou'
nna or two O'Clock, strange holse
.hevi could not account for. Inc heAs
light was the same, and the next, anu
Il, he next: and when the board-uay Vi
I he hank came round the whole Oh lle
Nrectors would have treated the al
4 air as an idle attempt to 1rlghIeh M lleri
TX ,adT not their attention been more
,trongly called to the subject by the lol-
owing incident: saoa
a heavy chest had been forwarded
addressed to the Directors OF the balh
If England The chest was OF course
,pened before them at once-tSuch d
hing being very unusual-and sounu u
contain large packet OF most Vaiu,
,ble papers and securities wtlch nau
,een safely deposited in the vault
! With them was the following letter.
ITO the Directors of the BANK o.
england, Gentlemen,-My husDaho
who is an honest man. wrote W yo'
asst week. and told you that ne na'
found way-which he belieVes Is ON
known to himself--of getting lnuo YOU
strong room, and offered, II you woul
meet him there at night, to explain III
whole matter. He had never H"he
anything from that room except lhe en
.losed box. You set detectives upo
him and he took the box to show ina
he could go there. If he chose' wloet.
mipht watch. He gives you anothe
,hance. Let a. few gentlemen be !
tho room alone. guard the door, an
maka everything secure, and my hui
hand will meet you there at mhnigh
"Yours respectfully,
= ELLEN SMITH
This letter was more mysterio'
than the last. The only ching that WI
evident was that the writer, "Ell'
Smith" was better scholar than u
husband, who styled himself Jt
Sniff" The detectives were shown I
letter. and acted accordingly. Or cour
they saw through "the dodge. II
cleverest men were posted in the roo
In the morning they told a strah
story. They said that they saw Eg
at about twelve o'clock 1t seemed
come from a dark lantern; but direc'
~ they ran to the spot whence the lie
proceeded, it went out, and the strlct
search had discovered nothing.
H.
"A The bank officials became alarm
They, however, agreed to do what p
haps would have been wiser II az
at first--viz., to depute few OF IN
number to visit the vault alone. sc
was arranged that three gentlen
should remain in the strong-room
night, and that no one else should
with them. Every suitable precaut
was taken when night came. The
tinel paced up and down outside;
detectives were not far off; and a
the most rigorous search had been
stituted, the gentlemen were locked
At last one of them, who paced
floor rather impatiently, beginning
think that perhaps after all 1t was
a clever trick, cried out: You gh
you secret visitor you midnight Il
come out! There is no one here
two gentlemen anu IlySeil. II you
afraid, give you my word OF homo
a gentleman that the police are
here. Come out, / say!"
1t was more in jest than in ear
that Major c., for he was mili
man, shouted out the absurd speech
as we have said, he had begun to
pect that after all some practical
was being adroitly carriedtOn,
having more than once before
perpetrated, and he did not much
being victimised himself
His astonishment, however was
when, in reply, he heard strange
saying: "If you have kept your
/ will keep mine. Put out your
Cor I've one, and then I'll come"
The Major and his fellow-dirt
did not much like putting out the
Nbut they were not towards, and
~ Aayna dpmIlr n WAS done WheI