, 1901-06-28
4 Dangerous Discovery.
BY JOHN CASTOR.


Copyright, 1901. by Daily Story Pub. Coz
1t all came about because | was too
inQulsitive-and too honest. l was en-
ployed In the counting room Of Lemusl
Ripley. the wealthy broker. A vsry
successful man Vas Lsmusl Ripley.
His signature was good for fabulous
sums and the street" shook whsn he
went In to influence the market. He
used his wealth we'll and was a shin
appeal for purposes Of charity or civic
reform found his ears open and his
check-book at hand.
l had been in his employ for some
nve years n had acquired . % re-
sponsible position when one day l ran
against a most peculiar thing in the
books. OF itself 1t was not Of great
Significance but 1t suggested that the
books had been tempered with. The
discovery frightened me u l had had
charge Of the books and I resolved to
investigate. The further 1 delvsd the
more puzzling the matter became
and the amount involved rose to ng-
ures which made me gasp.
l found that customers Of this house
had been cheated out of hundreds OF
thousands of dollars out try AZ l would
l could not see how anybody had
profted by 1t. l decided to TAX 1t 10
Mr.. Ripley.
"Ah yes, you have discovered nat
series Of errors. have you?" he re-
onnnaaJ hlnnl1v .Thnu 1.-o -a tkA
most serious annoyance and l spent
many nights over the books straight
ening the affair out. You are vigtlant.
Charles. | am more than pleased that
you found this matter because 1t gives
me confidence that l can depend on
you. Have you discussed the matter
with any Of the other clerks?"
l fastened to tell him that | had
spoken OF the matter to no living be-
ing.
Quite right. quite right" he re-
piled. 1T has all been Strengthened
out but 1t would be unwise to have
1t be talked about. By the way.
Chares. l have been watching your
work with a great deal Of Interest and
l have come to the conclusion that
you are worth more to the house than
l am paying you. Hereafter you will
draw a hundred dollars a month more
than you have beef getting"
Oh, fool that l was not to see the
whole thing then when h nearly
doubled my salary. II I had known
anything about the world shou1A
have seen through the scheme. IL
stead l leaped to my fsst With e1trav-
agant ordinations Of gratitude.
| thought Of one entry in the books
that might give a clew to the errors
which had SO puzzled me and l went
to the Office after dinner hat nlgha
to make n more trial 10 clear up the
mystery. Sure enough tAs entry a.
give me a clew and following it up I
received a shock that nearly took away
my senses. There was the evidence
in black and white that Ripley him
self had tempered with the books and
had literally robbed his customers of
great fortunes. While sitting stups-
ned at the discovery a key turned IN
the o and In walked Mr.. Ripley.
~ SAo oPSn JUL hc bAW
what l had found.
Still at work Charles? l desire to
use the books tonight. You need not
wait. l will see that they are put
away"
All the next day l thought 1t over
as fumbled through my work. Rip
10y called me into his office and asked
me a lot Of questions about the errors
In the presence Of other employees.
There were discussions going on in his
private room. In the afternoon a
deputy sheriff appeared and to my sur
prise said that l was wanted at the
court house.
What was my horror when found
I was called before the court to have
my sanity inquired into? Ripley was
there as was his manager and several
employees Of the house. Ripley went