The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-06-27
A Dangerous Discovery.
BY John CASTOR

BY JOHN CASTOR.
1Copyright, 1901, by Daily Story Pub. Coz
>. It all came about because was too
nquisitive-and too honest l was en-
ployed in the counting room Of Lemuel
Ripley, the wealthy broker. A very
successful man was Lemuel Ripley.
His signature was good for fabulous
sums and the street" shook when he
went in to influence the market. He
used his wealth we'll and was shin
ing pillar of the church while every
appeal for purposes of charity or civic
reform found his ears open and his
check-book at hand.
had been in his employ for some
dve years and had acquired very re-
sponsible position when one day l ran
against most peculiar thing in the
books. OF itself it was not Of great
significance but it suggested that the
books had been tempered with. The
discovery frightened me as l had had
charge of the books and l resolved to
Investigate. The further | delved the
more puzzling the matter became
and the amount involved rose to fig
ures which made me gasp.
found that customers of the house
had been cheated out Of hundreds Of
thousands of dollars but try as would
I could not see how anybody had
Arofited by it. / decided to take it TO
[r. Ripley.
|"Ah yes, you have discovered that
ries of errors, have you?' he re-
onded blandly. "They gave me the
pst serious annoyance and spent
ny nights over the books straight
Ing the affair out. You are vigilant,
aries. am more than pleased that
found this matter because it gives
confidence that l can depend on
Hays you discussed the matter
IN any Net the other clerks?"
= nastened to tell him that had
poken of tbe matter to no living be-
quite right, quite right" he re-
piieo. 1T has all been Strengthened
9e1esp aX It would be unwise to have
Il be talked about. BY the way,
Chares have been watching your
work with great deal Of interest and
have come to the conclusion that
are worth more to the house than
m paying you. Hereafter you will
W a hundred dollars month more
you have been getting"
fool that was not to see the
he thing then when he nearly
bled my salary. If l had known
hing about the world should
seen through the scheme. In
I leaped to my feet with extrav-
ordinations of gratitude.
ought of one entry in the books
light give a clew to the errors
had so puzzled me and went
Office after dinner that night
axe one more trial to clear up the
cry. Sure enough the entry did
me clew and following it up l
we'd shock that nearly took away
ack and white that Ripley him
ad tempered with the books and
terally robbed his customers of
fortunes While sitting stupe-
the discovery key turned in
! ) I|j!.|j ! !. !:
J q
you are vigilant, Charles"
door and in walked Mr.. Ripley
hncing at the open books he saw
lat / had found.
"Still at work Charles? l desire tt
se the books tonight. You need moi
III ] will see that they are put
the next day l thought it ovel
Ehmbled through my work. Rip
called me into his Office and asked
lot OF questions about the errors
the presence of other employees
ERE were discussions going on in his
fats room. In the afternoon {
uty sheriff appeared aud to my sur
said that was wanted at tn,
house.
bat was my horror when / FOUND
called before the court to havl
(ntn9 T41s1au Vzya