Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-09-27
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: THE STURGlS WAGER :
A DETECTIVE STORY. <
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. BY EDGAR MORETTE. E
E Copyright, 1899, by Frederick A Stokes Co. y
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CHAPTER NII.-CoNTINUED.

CHAPTER NII.-CONTINUED.
Continuation of Abrogast's letter:
THAT afternoon, as soon as the bank had
closed, called at the address Chatham had
given me. He evidently expected me.
With him a man whom he introduced
as James Withers. the deposltor in whose
favor my blunder had been made. Had
l not been laboring under great excite
ment it IS likely that my suspicious would
have been aroused by the strangeneSs of
Withers' presence in Cha than room The
two men received me pleasantly, and the
alleged Withers, even before | could broach
the subject. expressed his regret at hear
ing of the error which had been commit
ted and assured me of his Willingness to
reimburse the bank; but-ah! there was an
ominous but He was short of ready
money just then; everything he had was
tied up in a promising enterprise which
was bound to bring in a magnificent profit
in the course of a few days if only he could
raise a few paltry hundreds to enable him
to hold out a little longer If he failed
to scrape together this small amount, all
would be lost. InsidiouSly and relentless
ly they drove me toward the trap they had
prepared and | was weak enough to fall
into it. Before the interview was over,
] had consented to allow Withers to still
further overdraw his account, and had
received his solemn promise to refund, be-
fore the end of the week, the entire amount
he owed the bank Then Chatham suggest
ed that it would be wiser to let the sec
ond ovcrdraft come from another ac-
count. Withers agreed with him and stated
that the check could be made in the name
of Henry Seymour, a relative of his, who
had recently opened small account with
the Knickerbocker bank. | strongly OBJ
jected to sharing tn" secret of my infamy
with any others; but / finally allowed my
self TO be overruled by the plausible scoun-
drels into whose clutches | had fallen.
THE next day | took my first step in
crime. by making such entries would
insure the honOTing of ScymOur's check.
After that | was completely in the power of
these two men. 1t was not long before |
discovered that ! had been their dupe.
Chatham's acccompliCe was not the true
Withers; for this man, few days later,
made large deposit, which more than
covered his previous OVerdraft. The false
Withers was Henry Seymour himself.
GAS soon as | had committed felony, it
became Unnecessary for Seymour to keep
un any further pretense of a desire to re-
fund the money ! had helped him to steal.
I was now in the mcshes of crime as deep
ly as my accomplices; and. from that time
TO this they have forced me to act as their
cats-paw. During this period of two years
the bank has been robbed in this way of
over $25O000, every cent of which has
gone to Chatham and Seymour.
'You can perhaps imagine what hell
my life has been during that time. With
prison and disgrace staring me in the face;
and with the absOIute conviction that OK
,osIIre must inevitably come sooner or
later 7 have suffered the tOrtIre of the
damned Ar the hap nix + have heen in -
porpetual state of suspense | have start
ed at every word snnl,en to me. | have
seen susnicion in every glance which has
mat mine. | have trembIcd and nailed at
every aDproach of one of the officers of the
bank And vet | have not dared to ab-
sent myself from my desk for an hoIIr lest
an examination of nv books during NV
absence should reveal my crime have
been the first to reach the bank in the
morning, and the last to leave it at night;
I have not even taken the few minutes
during the day which would have been re-
quired to enable me to obtain a hurried
meal. On one preteXt or another, during
the last two years, have had to fOregO my
annual vacation. | have dragged mySell
TO my post when / was so i'll that / could
hardly stand. because | could not afford
to have anyone take charge of my books
for even an hour. And all that time, with
a fun realization of my degradation and
tnfamy, / have been forced to continue my
frauds. knowing that each one brought
iHe nearer to the inevitable final exposure;
but knowing equally well that a refusal
on my part to continue my stealing would
result in instant betrayal by my ac-
completes.
at last further concealment became inn
possible. A week ago the yearly eXamina-
tion of the books took place. The expert
accountant employed was, as usual, Thomas
Chatham, and of course, as usual, his
port was entirely satisfactory. 1t seemed,