The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-06-22

Tan pe,uspe in,aern~ VIVA. . no.
my life has been during that time. witt
| prison and disgrace staring me In the face
and with the absolute conviction that ex
| posture must inevitably come sooner O
later, I have suffered the torture Of thu
damned. At the bank, have been In
perpetual state of suspense. have start
ed at every word spoken to me; hav,
seen suspicion In every glance which hal
met mine; l have trembled and paled O
every approach of one of the officers of tn,
bank. And yet | have not dared to alb
sent myself from my desk for an hour, les
an examination of my books during m,
absence should reveal my crime. / hay,
been the first to reach the bank In tn,
morning, and the last to leave It at night
] have not even taken the few minutei
during the day which would have been re-
CURED to enable me to obtain hurried
meal On one pretext or another, during
the last two years, have had to f0rego m,
annual vacation. l have dragged myself
to my post when was SO Ill that could
hardly stand. because l could not afford
to have anyone take charge of my book.
for even an hour. And all that time, with
full realization OF my degradation and
infamy, l have been forced to continue my
frauds. knowing that each one brought
me nearer to the inevitable final exposure
but knowing equally well that a refusal
on my part to continue my stealing would
result in an instant betrayal by my &C.
completes.
Eat last further concealment became i'm
possible. A week ago the yearly examine
ton Of the books took place. The expert
accountant employed was, as usual, Thomas
Chatham, and of course, as usual, his re-
port was entirely satisfactory. 1t seemed,
therefore, as though discovery could be
postponed little longer; when suddenly,
this morning, we were informed that q
change in the system OF bookkeeping would
be adopted after the list Of January. saw at
once that all was over. The discovery of
my crime is now a matter Of hours. must
he out of the way before the crash comes
or / am doomed. I can already see the
felon's stripes upon my back; the clang Of
the prison gates ring in my ears.
II am too dazed to think: but feel that
my only escape is in death. And yet cling
to life. I know that the happy days of the
past are gone forever; and yet ! feel sort
of numb relief at the thought that the
worst is now certain to come, and to come
at once.
II have carefully prepared my flight, so
that I shall have plenty of time to reach
place of safety. Once there, l shall be
free from pursuit; but shall be an exile,
and l shall carry with me to the grave the
burden of my sin.
1.-THE most bitter pang in my remorse Is
caused by the thought Of the great wrong
/ have done you, dear wife. You will now
be forced to face the world not only I'M
protected by the one whose duty and whose
desire 1t was to smooth the way for you !;
but, what Is worse, oppressed by the bur-
den of his sin.
r. what little money have left in the saw
ings bank have transferred to your name.
You may use 1t all with q clear conscience;
for every dollar of It was honestly mine.
swear have never had single cent of the
money have stolen. 1t has all been drawn
by Henry Seymour, and used know not
how.
As soon as I am settled In the place to
which I am going shall try, as far as lies
In my power to redeem my past by life of
honest labor; and hope to be able to con-
tribute to your support In the near future.
"Oh! my wife! my darling wife! Would
that the past could be blotted out, and that
could once more place my hand In yours,
an honest man. Though you may find It
hard to forgive me now, perhaps In time
you may be able to think gently of him who
through all his crime and degradation has
remained
Your devoted husband,
JOHN w. ARBOGAST.
my safety depends upon your keeping
the contents of this letter secret for ut
least three days. After that time, please
send to Mr.. Dunlap. president Of the Knick-
bank, the inclosed papers, which
will reveal to him the full extent of my de-
falcations.
II do not hesitate to betray Chatha and
Seymour; they did not scruple to ruin me.
/ have sent for Chatham, and shall give
him warning Of my intended flight. II he
sees fit, he can take such steps as he may
choose to escape his own richly deserved
punishment"
While Sturgis was reading Arbogast's
letter, Dunlap, restlessly pacing the
room, had observed him furtively.
"Well?" he now inquired, stopping
before the reporter, what do you think
Of that?"
Poor woman!" exclaimed Sturgis,
feelingly; at is terrible to think OF
the suffering brought upon her by her
husbands guilt. I ought to be hard.
ened to situation like this; for it
is the inevitable sequel of almost every
crime that is ever committed. But |
am moved every time by the pathetic
expiration of the innocent for the
guilty."
"Yes yes; know" said Dunlap, in.
that it not what meant.
Did you note the amount which this
confesses he and his accom-
,lices have stolen from the bank?"
Eyes; it is large sum-"
1.-TWO hundred and fifty thousand
ollars! Why, man, If that is true, it
5 enough to cripple the bank--No, no;
don't mean that, Of course; the bank
5 rich and could stand the loss of
our times that amount. But quar-
err of a million is round sum, for all
# that. 1t does not seem possible that.
n spite of all our care, they can have
ucceeded in making away with so
much money. But they did. There can
e no doubt about that; for in the pa
ers which Arbogast inclosed for me in
is letter to his wife he explains just
ow the thing was done. 1t is simple
nough when you know the trick; but
took fiendish cunning to devise it.
never would have thought that ras-
ally bookkeeper intelligent enough 10
Dncoct such . scheme"
"If the scheme is work of genius"
aid Sturgis. you may rest assured
nat 'X'-who may very well be Henry
eymour-was the author of it,"
swell, at any rate" observed Dunlap,
there is one thing that must be done
once; and that is to find both Chat
ana and Seymour. 1t is not possible
,st in two years these men have spent
quarter Of q million dollars between
,em."
TO BE CONTINUED.