The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-04
THE BANK CASHIERS FATE
AND TIM TRAMP VINO REJECTED 4
FORTUNE OF 100000.
Light Thrown In u Prison Upon the Sequel
OF u DefalcRtion-The Wreck Of tho
Train ind the Meeting at tho Hoboes'
t~amp-Natural Gas settles . Problem.

Light Thrown In "a Prison Upon tho sequel
OF u DefalcRtion-The Wreck Of the
Train md the Meeting at the Hoboes'
tamp-NRturai Gas settles q Problem.
Colonel" said Shorty, the head mailman, one
day when stealing up into the prison hospital he
found the old banker quite alone and II, RESI-, in his
favorite corner, Colonel, It's glad | am to chance
upon you without amy Of thin blokes a~-hangin'
Ground to work you for ell your wuth, for there's
n questing I've been more than anx' us to ask you.
In your good days, when you was the high cock
Of a metropolitng bank, did you ever know a
cashier by the name Of David GrammOnt"
The old Colonel raised himself upon his arm
and looked sharply at the mailman AS II doubling
that he had heard Alright "Do | know anything
about Grammont" he repeated Curse him /
know all about him.; why, he was my cashier"
Thin, sir, IL it wouldn't be aStin' too much,
would you mind tellin' me the circumstances
connected with his takin' the French leave he did,
that is, presumin' he's the same wan 10 whom
| has reference"
The old Colonel sighed and his hands trembled.
Il don't know why | should revive painful memo
ries, he said, unless, unless you can tell me some
thing Of his fate"
"Ill tell you that same now without amy bar
ging, said Shorty He's dead, and he's been
good and dead these ten year; but II you wants To
know how and why, thin | must asst you az In to
tell me the circumstances Of his leavin' in order
that | may git the proper connectun Of events in
my nut"
$50 he is dead, and has been dead all these
years reflected the old Colonel, when | have
pictured him in the four quarters Of the earth,
living like a prince on the money he stole, and
utterly Indifferent 10 the ruin he left behind him.
Dead, and ten years dead God, what a world
this is, where sober fact turns into shame the
widest conlecturrs Of the Imagination, lie was
my evil genius, Shorty; and ii is right that | should
find out all can about him Not only did his
declarations cause us u have recourse to certain
irregularities which were aftnrward charged up
against me, but his absence during my trial was
most disastrous indeed, my lawyers SAID that
his testimony might have saved me. But what
is there Tor me t. tell YOU lie disappeared with
n large sum ~ money and was never heard II
after Examination showed that he had been
stealing for years, though 50 cleyerly as not to
he suspected. What else is there that you would
know
WAS he marret'' asked Shorty
"\o," replied the old Colonel. but he was be-
trothrd, engaged, you know, ~ a very lovely girl
She left town when the scandal was at its height
10 visit her sister, who lived somewhere in Ohio,
and while there died Of a broken heart"
How much Doodle did he git away with con.
tinued Shorty
As nearly as We could calculate, he took 500,
600 in large bills"
"WheN" vhistled Shorty, jumping up from his
stool and pacing the floor with his hands in his
,.,I,,.. u,,ba,,f and MIGHT baNp c,n,.,i tla
whole bunch, Gee, what a good thing | would
have been One hunder tousand plunkers'
Why, you couldn't count thin in a years time,
and a man Mould have 10 be a rig'lar Wednesday,
50 he wud. to Use thin up at the rate Of a dollar a
day. But couldn't do II, Colonel; and I'm glad
1t amt my lay; glad, like the Teller in the prayer
book for the things he left undonr. But il, AZ you
say, no one suspected what Grammont Mas a-loin'
Of. why did helight out Just when he did,"
Il We heard that question asked and considered
before" said the old Colonel, There was absn-
lutrly no more reason, from the condition Of the
bank, why he should have fled then than at any
time during the previous year, Indeed. the ex.
aminrr lad lust rendered a clean report, 90 there
was every likelihood Of his being relieved from
anxiety in that direction for the next six months
The most rational conclusion We could reach
was that h. left when he did because the new
exttadition treaty with Great Britain was about
10 go into effect As n matter Of fact, he left
town the day before it did
Thin, Colonel. II he struck Canady afure mid
night hr couldu I have been brought back, but
Il he waited until the next day you might have
na,led him
Exactly"
"WLin did you diskiver the defalectun, az you
calls it."
why, the very next morning. 1t WASH t pos
sible Ia conceal the absence IT 50 large an amount
OF bills IT that Denomination
i m TOO with my eXaminatun,' cried Shorty.
Il sees II all, The mud has settled, and the hull
stream # %currint events is as clear as a spring in
the Woods And now 10 tell my story, Colonel,
which I'm glad 10 DO, as 1t may make You think
that a puur hobo ain I tee totally vicious, even
if lac Is coustituotrnally awerSe 10 workin', eNcep,
whln under durrSt
1t was ten year ago, il were. in the spring time
| bad jet come out OF winter, quarters, You know
where, and was trampin' 'tuu the State, cnjyln'
the Slloogerty 81 the early sunshine and the song
of the burds, which had also Jest got back from
lArir cumpulsr ~ hihtrnatun, | was alone. fol
ia" byes haln I got togither yet, though ii was
well knowrd they was cunvergin, from Albany
ltiCky, Lancaster, Buffalo, Cleveland and Beloit
t a p int IN ohio, where g%inerrus nHtur had
pryiIrI a retreat not made by hands, e. uuute
agln rom SCfiptur was on the tow pat, in
,oursc, but not tar from tie railway line. and now
and thin Il Sc the ears gp Within by, and feel
n pity for the pore lasaeng"ts, n sJuintin outer
the windnr and gittun about a loot square of
scenery, insud of takin in tie hull, na,pral
landscape by ridin' on the bumpers, you know.
As nIghtiHll KEN on, | cuntlnuurd my stroll, he
cuI the ar, It was hammy, and thin, | hadn't
struck quite the thing IN barns for q night 5
lodgin', which by the wHy Colonel, IL drteroratin'
from the good old days Why In some II thin
nov. they have no hay m IS Gtall. WIN in ndders,
They packs the drrn e,iTin So tight, that you'd
git NOR" room Tor kickih round free and easy
in the mlpruru If a Crtilng hail, 50 YOU wud.
so ptambulat"d on, we'll KNOWN whIu
urCt got h. bed tl,rrd I've no press Of business
10 call me- early, mudl"r dear Well, as was
chew IN the cud oi gintle r%otllCtun, under the cam
radiance 81 the moon, | leprd A avpful scrppclin'
Ike a March zephyr oil On a hurrah Artor q
Willie, | KEN H. a WltChmAu hut What :
up' asst Collision, he gruaned, about n mile
down the ruad hey We got things pretty we'll
many have been kilt So mosicd along. thiukiu'
a. how ] might iiud somrthin' in the Vrrcknge
That would b" Nuth my while.
1T must have been u FEARFUL accident, Colonel,
though whlu ! gpt there tie llvin aud drnd had
been removed, the tracks cleared, and urly the
smashed ears a bunulu' of ~ the side. II was
a place where two lines crossed, bot Of thin
ON pritiy high "m~bankmcntS, and from the WAY
the ground was tored up, you'd have thought
Il drove Of elephants, crazy with first, had been
r"otln' for water was skeered by the lOnrli
hess and the la"ry shaddarS the fire cast So ducknd
dowV the hnnk and struck acrp~t country lcayin.
amy waluahles that might have been overlooked
10 the spirits of thin hat had owned thin IL
- happened in my ratified conditun | plunged
down the highest part, which let me into q reg lar
gully Win n nasty little stream Creepin t'rOo
II, all thick with weeds, and lookin' as II il had
had its full share Of solitnnd sence the world began,
And | guess was about the fust pioneer, that
i The fust voluntary one, for there was no feet
prints III the ~sarchin' party; but as | waded t'rpo,