La Junta tribune., 1906-11-17
Copyright. isB. by jerome p. CORN
D. JEaohE ?. eoen

I'm the year 1s9- there were two
banks In B-vilie, a thriving little
city situated within 200 miles Of
New York: one a rather insIguifi-
cant affair: the other. Bethany Bros. a
remarkably wealthy and prosperous
concern for SO small place.
Friday morning. Oct ). when Mr..
Charles. the old cashier for Bethany
Bros. endeavored to open the big safe
the lock would not respond 10 his
manipulatious, and the hour for COM
mencing business found Bethany Bros-
in the embarrassing predicament Of
checks
Early in the morning a stranger Cali
ed. wanting change for a hundred dol
lar biil. He stood around quite awhile
listening to the bankers' excuses TO
customers and others.
be lock won't work. We can't
open the safe" repeated James Betha-
ny for the dftieth time. but a man
from the safe makers will lie here ut
O'Clock. and tomorrow We will be all
right"
The safe was in plain sight. and. -
usual, the makers name was lettered
OH II.
The stranger expressed sympathy
And showed hls Interest By asking
many Qussetses esA tslltne q s1milas
cases tat had eS16e fo IN fn0viedse.
He tpsA the noon train for New York.
hut before leaving he sent . long tele-
gram In cipher to oas williaD West
II r. street. New Ysek.
Tne fact that he oent . telegram did
not come out. however. until after The
mischisf had bssn does.
Al O'Clock that evsaing both the
Bethany bsSthess and Mr.. Charles
were at the railroal station. and whss
the train stopped . man. carrying .
large and q small valise, stepped o6.
On being accosted BY James Bethany
he said he was The pefson expected
After be had eaten supper all four
repaired to the bank.
II Was 3 O'Clock in The morning BE-
fore the safe WAS opensd and the Ierk
put In order and oiIsd-
"Gracious-' exclaimed Mr. Charles.
81 didn't suppose II would take half -
long"
The expert explained that IL was q
very fine lock. almost never geitins out
of order. but when once Il did ~ wrong
was very dIfiicult to n,anlpulate -
adjust.
He set IL Oh a new eo0hlns tiea an1
carIs-.
When all was finished he presea;ed .
form OF Frceipt. print~d expressiy fss
his frm. which bethany Bros. siGp~l
showing that he had done the work.
how long II took. what was the matter.
etc. The bin FOR his services and cx-
penscs. he said. would be sent by mail
Then the man. whose name was Meh-
ert. went to bed at the hotel. The next
day. Saturday. at noon, he left for New
York.
The hank opened as usual Sa.urdla v.
AMI to dispel any doubt as to Its sol
vency the counter was piled high with
currency.
Monday morning when Mr.. Charles
Opened the safe he found only a few
dollar IA specie and a slip OF paper
on which vas scrawIed. 'Yol should
chance ycur nlme TO l.. H. Mark 4
Brother
After the first shock was over. which
caused coi.<terBation bordering, on pan
ic in the town. telephone communl.a-
tion was had with the safe makers and
the New York police.
The Bangup Safe company said that
their man had not yet returned. but
they wouldn't listen for moment to
any doubts of his honesty.
The next day they telephoned that
Meinert had reported at the offiee in
walk or talk
His story was as follows:
on the train. in the seat just ia
Seut of me. were two men. who from
m y conversation learned were IN
a. = Safe company. One of the1s
waX going to Elmira on the same er-
rand as my own. to open safe. The
other was a salesman on his way to
Chicago. He asked me for a match
and gave me a cigar. They were ex-
fremeIy pleasant. and pretty soon we
were all three talking safe business.
After smoking the cigar I don't re-
member anything except vaguely that
one OF thern got OF the train with me
and we had something to drink When
came tn my senses Monday afternoon
IVES in a cheap hotel in Buffalo. I
couldn't move or speak. but doctor
came and got me on nay feet The
Landlord said n man claiming ~ he my
brother brought me there early Satur-
day morning in a cab. sayine I was On
a sprae- that he had to go 10 CleveN