The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-08-30

bank"
The reporter drew the letter from its
envelope and read:
THE KnicllerboclieT Bank,
New York Dee. 81 lSg6
"Mv Darling Wife: When you receive
this letter | shall be far away--a disgraced
Griminal-and you will be worse than a
widow.
81 dare not ask your forgiveness for the
trouble Il am bringing upon YOU; for l
realize all too clearly the extent of the
wrony I have done you. But Zee! irrcTtst-
T.. ..t.., cd 10 lay before you i'm am ;nytr
ra!icla. 81. .sI 10 before my o. g ,u-.,ic. sec.
t.it .......ast.uCoS which l4EN .,| ta lur
oownsal y knowledge OF thc$, r,,l- per
haps enable you to understand, IN meas
ire, the temptation TO y l!ch nave sue
cumh. t.; although | find 1t mar myself.
] pw that all is over, to realize he" | cam.
TO yield to it,
"Pr",sps YOU may remember The co'H-
bratios of my tiftieth anniNcrs. ry. w"
were having a most cnjoy"aia evening IL
the company OF the friends vi ON YOU had
invited to participate IN Inc Festivities.
N.ncu; caller was announced NaS Obliged
to leave our gutNts in order TO receive him
IL Tho library. This man lost 40 t.nn j..
satin; the M ture of HIS buH'IcSS with mt.
His nurle was Thomas Chatham; he was
al expert accountant, who had seen en-
I,oyCi at the Knickerhocfcl i-i% 10 ,&-
I; liU" TIL" looks and he GO. ; ia;"rm' q
L. al. he h@d just Discovered 4" s'i!u.s
error IL. booLs-onc g. { I'D ,..... ., e.
a 1..u. ..,~ - ovcrG.a - H. 3. oo - a.
a large amount. At first / refused 10 be-
lieve him. although he submitted copies
from the books showing eNartt hu" the
blundcr had been made. When he intimatod
that it only rested with me whether the
error should be reported to the bank |
At. lf.ta ~
remained perfectly unruffled during our
interview and left me at last with the
statement that he would wait II hours be-
fore handing in his report to the pres
dent.
my first step on reaching the bank
theAcXt day was to verify chatham sSllte-
ments. Alas, they We're only too true. There
was the terrible blupder staring me in the
face. / could not understand how | had
come to make it; but there il was, and
nothing could explain it away. | had hoped
against hope up to this time; now / saw
clearly that | was ruined man.
"Thcre was only one honorable course
open to mc--to frankly confess my rCSpon-
sibility for the blunder and take the con-
sequences, whatever they might be. |
hesitated and / was lost.
Il hesitated because | felt that my posi-
ton was at stake. Would not my error
appear ineXcusable to the officers of the
bank since | could find no paliation for it
in my own eyes? | was 50 years old.
shrank from the necessity OF beginning
again at the foot of the ladder which
had so laboriously climbed after lifetime
of conscientious plodding. 1t would be
no easy matter for me to find another pO-
sition.
1.-THE more / thought the matter over, the
more / became convinced that there might
be another way out of my trouble. Was
4, hob bot ha nr rh., hlH
profted by my mistake had done so icao-
Gently? If so, would he not be willing to
repay the amount overdrawn? At the
worst, if he should refuse to do this, might
it not be possible for me to scrap together
and borrow enough to make good the de-
ficiency? In this way | could correct the
blunder and no one would be the wiser for
it, But what of that man Chatham? Would
not his report betray me? ! recalled his
intmation that the nature of his report
depended upon myself. What did he mean
| by that? Probably he would set a price
upon his silence. This would add consid-
| erably to the amount ! should have TO
| raise; but would not this be better after all,
| than the loss of my position? At any rate,
| should not be any the worse off for lis
tening To his proposal, whatever it might
be
THAT afternoon, az soon as the bank had
closed, called at the address Chatham had
given me. He evidently expected mo.
With him was a man whom he introduced
as James Withers, the depositor in whose
favor my bunder had been made, Had
] not been labOrinR under great excite
ment, it is likely that my suspicious would
have been aroused by the strangeness of
Withers' presence in Chathams room The
two men received me pleasantly, and the
alleged Withers. evembeforc could breach
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 nm
ominOus but lie Was g!7-ct f gC1dr
money just then; everyt ing he had was
tied up in promising enterprise which
was bound to bring in magnificent profit
in tho course of a few days Il only ne could
raise a few paltry hundreds to enable him
to hold out a little LONGER. II he fuaed
to sCrlpc to"cthcr this an..,l aTOuut, all
would be lost lnsidiOu.iy ana RELENTLESS,
~ they drove me toward de-, trap thrS i.l
prepared and ] was weak enough to TAIL
| into It. Before the interview N.lS over.
| ! had Conscnt,d to allow Nithers to stlll
| further ovcrdrtw lis account, and | hIU
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
oHd ovcrdraft come from another ac-