The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-08-13

| Sioul'i lli\e IIalnpleu SUCH
thoughts under foot on the instant.
No man in trusted position turns
thief in day. 1t is only after he has
fought with temptation and been over
comc-allowcd himself to be overcome.
| made an effort to rid myself of the
thought, and it would have vanished
! bat Tor Il silly action on my part A
week later, us | smiled in contempt at
the idea of my turning robber, allow
ed myself to speculate on what would
happen in case | did That is, won
der how much | could get hold of, W hat
country should 90 to, and so forth
and so ON. When | suddenly found
myself greatly interested | jumped up
in shame and confusion, but half an
hour later was deep in Imagination
again.
1t seemed as if the evil one did
everything in his power to aid me after
| had finally determined on nv course.
| had the ''luck" to meet an American
who had just returned from South
America. He mentioned several sure
things in the way Of speculation, and
painted such Il glowing picture of the
country that | was excited and impa-
tient. The bank had large deposits
that fall. and on the thirteenth day of
September we had nearly seventy
thousand dollars of what was called
outside money. This was cash tempo
rarily deposited by the county treas
urer and by cashiers of three or four
manufacturing establishments. | had
been waiting for such an opportunity.
| could have taken from twenty to
twenty five thousand dollars almost
any day, but | had planned to practi-
cally clean out the institution.
Between the 4th and lth Of Septcm-
Der planned the details of my flight,
| knew the time tables of the different
railroads | should pass over on my
route, what day | should take the
steamer, and every detail had been
carefully worked out. might be pur-
sued. but | fattercd myself that | hail
laid my plans too well to be caught
| | planned to 90 to the bank ut nine
o'clock in the evening and secure adj
mission. The watchman would not
hesitate to let me in. | would then
assault and overcome him. He could
not give the alarm before morning, and
then | would be far away | planned
to make my coup on the night of the
| 18th. At the close of business on the
afternoon of that day we had one hun
dred and seven thousand dollars in
grecnbacks in the vaults Aitera bank
has closed its doors to the public ut
three clock z. W. there is work to
keep the force busy for an hour or
more. For Il year had always been
the last one to leave and my hour had
been six o'clock. The tr:Isty day por-
ter was then left alone until eight
O'Clock, when he gave place to the reg
ular night Waterman. At half-past
five o'clock that afternoon, and Just as
the last clerk had departed. the night
Waterman came to notify me that his
wife had died suddenl v and to ask that
substitute he employed. He named
a man, but | told him | would make
my own arrangements.
When the Waterman had departed |
notified the day porter that he might
leave at six o'clock. as | had work
which would dctain me till about eight.
Five minutes after six | was alone i'm
the bank and its funds were under nv
thumb. The train by which | should
leave town was not due until 1880.
and | was therefore in no hurry. |
locked up and went to my boarding
house to supper. At seven o'clock |
returned to the bank, pulled down the
shades, lighted the gas, and in the
course of twenty minutes had packed
every dollar in the vaults into a satch-
el provided for the purpose This
| satchcl | placed on a chair outside the
railing, and had sat down for smoke
when there was a rap at the door. |
knew it WAS one OF our force. but hard
ly expected to see the president him
SELF.
II expected it was YOU" he said, rs
he entered; ''always last to 90. You
are working too hard and must take 4
! rest. At Il meeting Of the board to-
day it was decided to give YOU a
months leave and Il Gift OF five hun
dr'd dollars in cash. You have been
!ni;Flul an efficient. and We wish YOU
t. know how thoroughly you are APP
preciaied."
don remember what | said i'm re-
ply, but | do remember that sometime
like horror seized upon me at the idea
of my own bascncss. Right there
within reach of his hand was the money
| intended to fly with, and vet he was
lavish in his praises of my integrity.
He remained only brief time. and
soon after his departure | went outside
to walk about and plan little.
hadn't given up the idea of robbery
and flight, but still, small vo.ce was
whispering to me. Ol the first street
corner | encountered a tramp. | was