The daily Alaskan., 1908-12-15
WHICH WAS THE
 GUILTY MAN?
roriEinaLl

one OCCaSlOQ NuAALE lL41 ASAb SNAA~ co singular thing occurred. The. bank l was connected with was a small affair aud we rarely had ln the vault over afty or sixty thousand dollars in cur rency. but at one time, owing to pe- cullar financial condition of the coun- try. we had over two hundred thou sand. This money had accumulated turing the week and reached the above figure ou Saturday at the close of bank Ing hours
 That Saturday night fell to think Ing about this great sum on hand. Our safe was an old pattern and could be readily opened by any bank robber with an ordinary capacity for his busl- ness. The combination was known to two officers of the bank (the president and cashier) and myself l was pay ing teller. I was not thinking of any danger from within, only from without The matter having once got into my head couldn't get 1t out. sat at home thinking about 1t till after mid night and then, without any definite purpose, put on my hat and walked to the bank, which was but a few blocks away. strolled past the building, turned back and, yielding to an im- pulse, went in, made straight for the vault saw no evidence of change and was about to turn away when desire seized me to see that the cash was there. was turning the combination knob when the door opened and the cashier entered.
 "What are you doing hereT he ask ed. evidently astonished and at tho same time suspicious.
 'I came to see that the cash Is all right. What did you come for?"
 'I came for that too > l confess didn't expect to find the teller of the bank opening the vault at this time Of night"
 And I didn't expect the cashier to put in an appearance. Your tone indi- cates a suspicion that l am here to rob"
 'I can't think of anything more sus- piclouS than the teller of the bank opening the vault at o'clock in the morning"
 At that moment a door at the other end of the room opened, and who should walk in but the president On seeing us he looked surprised.
 "Whats happened| he asked quick Iy. Any funds missIng?"
 q think not" said the cashier. But there is no telling how much would have been taken had l not arrived at the nick of time"
 'I was worried" ] faItered, "at hay ing so large an amount of currency in the safe and could not resist an im- pulse to come and see that an was right"
 And count the funds" sneered the cashier.
 What brought yoar asked the pres idaut Of the cashier.
 The cashier tried to stammer out better excuse than I had given and, failing, finally blurted:
 And what brought y0R for the mat. ter of that?'
 "I2 often come to the bank before going to bed to see that all Is safe. Sometimes I get up at 9 or 9 o'clock in the morning, come here look around and go home. Tonight having so much currency in the safe | was especially anxious"
 Having come first" l said. Ion tho same errand, ] presume I am caught in the act"
 What were you opening the vault ror?" asked the cashier. Couldn't you see that 1t hadn't been tempered withT
 'I could see that it hadn't been blown open, but l couldn't see that the lock hadn't been picked or that some one knowing the combination hadn't opened it and taken the funds"
 "Gentlemen.' said the president i've will have a look at the money and go home"
 was directed to open the safe. The bills were found In piles as they had been left in the afternoon, and the safe was closed, and we separated.
 The next day I was called before the president for an examination, which lasted two hours, and when I came out of hls private office I saw the cashier go in. as Iinferred, for a similar pur- pose. Notwithstanding that l showed Ia clean record, the president and cashier after consultation decided to dismiss me.
 appealed to the board of directors, giving them a statement of the facts.
 After a meeting for consultation the board gave out a decision that the meeting of the three in the bank was Q coincidence, that there was no guilt at- tached to any one of us, but rather, we were all to be commended for our watchfulness.
 The only good this dld me was that retained my position. I was still un- ter suspicion. This was fOstered by the cashier, who, supposed, won over the president to his views. Neyerthe- less the president acqulesced in the de- clslon of the board and exonerated me.
 If was but a few weeks after all this