The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1903-08-20
My HE NEVER
WEARS AN OvERCOAT
TOriginal.1

certainly runs risk in not doing so,
especially during this January wealth.
err"
Dinsmore shuddered. can overcoat"
he said 81 am perfectly comfortable
without one. Besides, overcoats are
unsafe. Let me tell you why.
For many years 1 had charge of the
finances of Mathew Drew & Co, leath-
er men. One afternoon in winter l was
So busily engaged that / did not notice
it was past o'clock and | had not
made my deposit in bank. Opening
the safe, l saw that had far greater
amount of cash on hand-over $4,000
than l ever kept there. We had no
vault. only little, old fashioned safe
that several men could roll away and
rifle at their leisure. Before leaving
the office l took out the bills, rolled
them carefully in piece Of brown pa
per and stuffed them into my overcoat
pocket. / preferred to take them home
with me rather than leave them in the
safe
"Just as was about to lock up, John
Trimball, man who had large ac-
count with US, came in and insisted on
going over it with me- By the time
we got through it was far past supper
time, and l had an arrangement with
my wife that when too late for the
evening meal l was to get it at res
taurant before going home. After the
departure of the customer l took my
overcoat off the hook where | had
hung it, instinctively grasped the bun
die to make sure that it was all right,
then started for the resta urant. While
there left the coat hanging on a hook
where could keep my eyes on it every
moment. There were about thirty sec
onds, it is true. during which fire en-
gines were dashing past without and
l tGned my eyes on them, but when l
looked back to the coat it was still
there. When l had finished my sup
per. went home and to bed.
That night | folded my coat smooth
ly and placed it under my pillow. The
next morning | took it into breakfast
with me, placing it on a chair where l
could watch it. | wore it to the of
flee. keeping my hand on the outside
of the pocket that contained the pack
age. When | reached the office, took
out the parcel, and the moment ] saw
it l started. l had wrapped the bills
in brown paper. Now they were
wrapped in newspaper. With hand
of ice on my heart | hastily unrolled
the package. Under the newspaper
was tissue paper. Within the tissue
paper were dozen pairs of gloves.
sank into q chair almost in q faint.
The paralysis of my faculties lasted
but moment, when arose and went
over what | had done. | at once tele-
phoned my loss to the police and re-
ported it as doubtless having occurred
at the restaurant, where it was quite
likely some light fingered rogue had
taken out one package and slipped in
another while had been looking at
the fire engines. The coat must be
mine, for it fitted me perfectly, was
exactly of the same pattern and mate
rial as mine. and on the collar inside
was the name of the firm of whom /
had bought it.
That day was one of misery to me.
l reported the loss to the firm, who
certainly did not take it with a very
good humor, and before noon they had
an expert bookkeeper at work to dis
cover if | were not endeavoring to Gov
er up shortage in my accounts. Dur
ing the afternoon a detective had re-
ported that man whose photograph
was in the rogues' gallery, one of the
most expert sneak thieves in the
country, had been seen in the restau-
rant while l was there and they were
on his track. This allayed the suspi-
cions of my employers somewhat, but
when evening came and we were about
to go home without any further clew
to the missing money one of the part
ners told me that they were very sorry
to do so, but common prudence would
compel them to lock me up for the
night. He then stepped to the tele-
phone and called for an officer.
l wrote note for my wife and called
messenger. Meanwhile we were
waiting, when in came Trimball, the
man who had been with me the even
ing before.
"See here, Dinsmore," he said, not
knowing what had happened and TAX
ing the account current from his
pocket, 1--WE made a big mistake in
these credits last night That item
rushed upon him frantically and
began to examine his overcoat.
thrust my hand into pocket and drew
out parcel wrapped in brown paper.
Enrolling 1t. there were the bills.
Found" I yelled. laughing and cry
ing Historically.