The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-18
R. A. AGNEW
An Employe Of The
Spy Skips.
GONE TO EUROPE !?
Only About One Hundred
and Fifty Dollars Missing.

There's a man in our town, or there
was, by the name of r. A. Agnew. He
was one of The Spy's men; a man some
what after its own heart, and pocket
book, too, as the light of after events
has demonstrated.
One short week ago and Agnew was
on deck, clothed in his right mind, a
black derby and a pepper and salt suit.
But where is Agnew now? You can
search The Spy. or ask the wind the
same old wind that "for miles around
with fragments strewed the sea-" Ag-
new has gone; perhaps where the wood
bine twineth, perhaps to a warmer
CLINE. At any rate he has gone, and
there is some sorrow in The Spy office
and perhaps more in other places In
worcester. No more is Agnew to be
seen hereabouts; he is missing on the
streets, and in the mailing-room
There is at least a small aching void in
worcester and in The Spy's exchequer.
Agnew was The Spy's circulation man
ana a "crafk-a-jack" circulation man
ne was, too. If he could have been q
circulation man and nothing else he
would have been all right, but he was
consumed with an overwhelming de-
sire to be something else, he didn't
know what, and the rest of his acquafn-
tances mad not the slightest advantage
OF MN in that respect. Sad to relate, as
has lately developed, he was too fond of
looking upon the wine when it is red"
or IN every day English, upon the cup
Whlch Doth cheers and inebriates. And
atter few such looks, two or three. or
perhaps dozen. he didn't care particu-
larly whether he was the circulation
manager or the man in the moon.
Friends held him in check, however. and
IKE caultfiower, Agnew kept his best
race race TO the sun of public opinion, and
Tor a while did his work well.
The Spy first endured, then pitied
then agreed to try him again, and Ag-
new, IN the halo of a. sober moment
asplred successfully to a certain degree
OF authority. During a recent brief
absence of the business manager. he
was placed in quasi charge of count
ing room affairs, and thereby hangs a
tale. That Is where The Spy loses a
circulation man, and may be gains a
SCOOP"
Last Wednesday evening. when The
Spy's carriers should have been paid
OH, Agnew was missing. He could not
pc located at his home or elsewhere.
inquiry showed that he had taken the
c.rriers envelopes from the business
office, ostersibly to pay them, and II
was evident that if the carriers had NOT
Deen paid and the envelopes had been
taken from the business office, they
must be somewhere. And so they
were; they We're in Agnew's desk. 1t
took cold chisel and some work. IN
demonstrate this fact, but it was soon
done Most OF the little envelopes had
neen neatly opened and the major por-
tlon or the amounts for which the bovs
nad worked so hard, ranging from a
few cents to a few dollars each. was
missing. The total amount taken was
about $65.
The boys were paid off promptly after
the discovery, and an effort was made
70 locate Agnew. At his home his
wire was found sick in bed penniless
and in complete ignorance Of her hus-
bands Whereabouts. Further efforts
to locate her miscreant husband were
all to no purpose.
investigation of Agnew's business af-
tairs showed that, in addition to what
he had stolen from the carriers en-
Velopes, money paid to him by a few
neWsdealers in the county, amounting
70 ABOUT VIC more, had never been
turned into the Office.
On Agnew's desk Is the inscrintion
I pay my bills on the 18th of each
month Let us hope so. Hereafter
the 10th VIII be red letter day in The
spy Office, and on that particular 18th
When Agnew walks in and planks down
the $50 which stuck to him with such
peculiar tenacity in the haste of bia
precipitous flight, he will be narticu-
larly welcome
In the meantime the authorities will
leave no stone unturned to locate
AgneW and awaken him to a sense Of
his responsibility.
IL seems the very irony Of fate that
Agnew should be the son of a oIern~e
man Of the church of England but
such is the case. The fellow was his
own worst enemy, and The Spy regrets
not so much the financial loss attend
ant upon the episode as the fact that a
man representing years of kindly eff
tort and forbearance on the mart
OF his friends elsewhere, has gone
TO the bad beyond recall. He
formerly worked on the Chicago
lnter-Ocean, Cleveland Leader, New
York Times and New York Com.
mercial and other well known nanars
he mad had experience, experience
to burn, but it is a question as IN
whether that experience will cut anv
ice or, indeed, as to whether there viii
pc any Ice to cut in the finishing Mace
OF a man who will try to rob hard
working boys; succeed in robbinp HE
employers throw to the winds fhe
kindly efforts of friend who had en-
courageu MN even against hope, and
then sneak away from a sick wife.
IL is believed that the scamp has TAX
en- steerage passage back to England.
1