Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-02-14

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 a curious contrast to the almost
hopeless inactivity outside. In the di
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
the wire cages the assistant cashier
and his staff We're 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 it three times, and it
seems to be 5000 short"
Warning 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 a package. 1t was
easier than classifying the entries. and
as most of the money was cash reserve
the trick may have been going on for
q year. 1t was when one of the pack
ages was paid out by mistake in Doug
las absence that the first suspicion was
aroused. 1 asked him about it when
he came back from lunch. He gave an
explanation, but when he did not come
down yesterday morning suspicion was
confirmed, and somehow the news got
out, and so the run started"
And a 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. Warning
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 an
eye peeled for short packages and lay
| them to one side" b"
The assistant cashier passed on, and
| Tim Harrigan bent to his work again.
Outside a hand organ grinder had
| drawn up at the curb to cheer the
waiting line with popular songs. Tim
gritted his teeth as the familiar strains
of ''No Wedding BeIls For Me" came
| through the ventiIat6rs For a mo-
ment he was half entious of the fee
| Ing cashier.
Douglas had taken plenty of money.
| Twenty thousand from the previous
| days receipts were known to be gone.
What else was missing could be told
| only when the auditing was accom-
plished. 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 &C
count grew with such pitiful slowness
The hand organ changed its tune
and Bascom, in the next cage, laughed
There's your song, Tim" he said and
chorus:
II-a double r-i-g-a-n spells Harrigan.
I'm proud of all the Irish blood that's in
me.
Divil a word a man can say agin We,
H-a double r-i-g-a-n We see,
It's name that a shame never has been
| connected with,
| Harrigan-that' me.
Soon the organ was pushed on Il
more remunerative stands, but the
strains kept whirling through Tim:
head. 1t was a catchy air just ther
} popular in the vaudeville houses whert
he and Nell sought their amusement
and she delighted in singing it to him
1t brought to his mind a 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, ant
/ the children overran the place. Ht
, wanted his own home alone with Nell
> Just one of the crisp bills which Doug
las had taken would have set them VI
and have left 4 tidy balance besides. I,
, Tim gritted his teeth at the thought
He counted the packages of bills me
, chanically, now and then throwing GU
, one in which the count was short. HI
had completed the count Of the hun
dred dollar bills and was working oil
the thousands now.
/ Here, too, he found discrepancies.
I was as easy to slip a couple of thes
4 notes from package Of fifty as to alb
: stract them from the packages of
r lesser denomination. Douglas plal
had been absurdly simple in way
Tim wondered that others had no
thought of it. He might have done
i himself with little fear Of detection
He might do it now with absolute i'm
punity.
The thought staggered him for an in
slant, and he leaned Uncertainl
: against the side of the cage. On tn
polished counter before him were
score of packages from which bill
were missing. What was to proven
his slipping a couple of bills from
perfect package and toss it on the shol
count pile? 1t would be blamed o
Douglas. No one would ever suspect.