Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-03-17
Harrigan.
By LULU JOHNSON.
Copyrighted. 1908. by lesser Morgan.

|
There was no uproar in the street,
only the long. single file Of depositors
waiting patiently in the faint hope that
the bank might open its doors and let
them present at the window the checks
which they nervously fingered.
The scene being enacted under the
great glass dome within the bank pre-
sented q curious contrast to the almost
hopeless inactivity outside. In the d.
rectors' room the bank examiner and
the president sat at the long table
scanning piles Of collateral.
At the bookkeepers' desks the clerks
were helping the staff Of accountants
to examine the huge ledgers. and in
the wire cages the assistant cashier
and his staff were counting over the
stacks of bills and the great bags Of
coin. The cashier. Douglas, was not
among those present
Tim Harrigan looked up from his
desk as the assistant cashier, Mr.. War.
ing. passed.
81 wish you'd count these" he said.
1--WE gone over 1t three times. and 1t
seems to be 5000 short"
Waring stepped into the cage and
ran over the bills with practiced touch.
| A second time he counted them and
then looked up.
THAT is just what we are trying to
find out" he said to Harrigan. For
months Douglas has been slipping one
or two bills out Of n package. 1t was
| easier than falsifying the entries. and
as most Of the money was cash reserve
| the trick may have been going on for
a year. 1t was when one Of the pack
| ages was paid out by mistake In Doug
las absence that the first suspicion was
aroused. asked him about 1t when
he came back from lunch. he gave an
explanation. but when lie did not come
down yesterday morning suspicion was
confirmed. and somehow the news got
out, and so the run started
"And Il precious lot Of work 1t Is
making" said Harrigan GROSSLY as he
| thought of the hard labor Of the night
before and of the broken engagement
to take Nell to the theater Waring
laughed knowingly.
Don't mind about the girl" he ad.
vised. There's every prospect of get.
ting through tomorrow, and you can
| take her to the show then Keep al
eye peeled for short packages and lay
| them to one side
The assistant cashier passed on. and
| Tim Harrigan bent to his work again
Outside hand organ grinder had
drawn up at the curb 10 cheer th"
waiting line with popular songs Tlri
| gritted his teeth rs the familiar strains
| of NO Wedding Bells For Ne" came
| through the ventilators. For Il mo
ment he was half envious OF the Zee.
| ing cashier
Douglas had taken plenty of monc'
| Twenty thousand from the previous
| days receipts were known 10 be gone
What else was missing could he told
only when the auditing was accom-
pished Twenty thousand. Just one
| Of those crisp bills would enable him
to get married and set up the little
home for which he longed. He and
Nell were saving but their bank ac-
count grew with such pitiful slowness
The hand organ changed its tune.
| and Bascom. I'm the next cage, laughed
There's your song, Tim," he said and
softly began to hum the words Of the
| chorus:
/ H-a double r-i-g-a-n spells Harrigan.
| I'm proud OF all the Irish blood that's In
| me.
| Divil word n man can say agin ye,
| H-a double r-i-g-a-n ye see.
| It's a name that a shame never has been
| connected with,
| Harrigan-thats me.
Soon the organ was pushed on to
more remunerative stands. but the
strains kept whirling through Tins
head. 1t was catchy air just then
popular I'm the vaudeville houses where
he and Nell sought their amusement
and she delighted in singing 1t to him
| 1t brought to his mind picture OF
| the parlor in the little fiat where he
spent most Of his evenings. 1t was
clean and neat and had the aspect OF
home. but the tiny fiat was small. and
| the children overran the place. He
| wanted his own home alone with Nell.
Just one of the crisp bills which Doug
las had taken would have set them up
and have left tidy balance besides.
| Tim gritted his teeth ut the thought.
lie counted the packages of bills me-
chanically. now and then throwing out
one in which the count was short. He
had completed the count of the hun
dred dollar bills and was working on
| the thousands now.
Here. too, he found discrepancies. 1t
was as easy to slip couple of these
notes from package Of fifty as to alb
stract them from the packages of
lesser denomination. Douglas plan
had been absurdly simple in way.
Tim wondered that others had not
thought Of It, He might have done 1t
| Will tcai Va uSeSNpoA'
He might do 1t now with absolute I'M
punity.
The thought staggered him for an in
stant, and he leaned uncertainty
against the side of the cage. On the
polished counter before him were a
score Of packages from which bills
! were missing What was to prevent
his slipping couple Of bills from
perfect package and toss 1t on the short
count pile? 1t would be blamed on
Douglas. No one would ever suspect.
One bill would enable him to marry
Nell and fit up home such as they
had dared to dream Of. 1t required
only a single deft motion. He could
slip the bills Off the pile and into his
pocket. The fiction of Il legacy would
explain his sudden atliuence, and no
one would ever dream Of his transgres-
sion.
He WIS leaning against the wire par