The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-11-13
IN H DEAD
OF NIGHT
Copyright. by Shortstory Pub. co.,
By EDGAR wELroN COOLEY

lHlS pledSeQ MIN, LOT IL auQeu 10 the
blackness of the night and had a ten
dency to drive away any late pedes
TRAN.
He was not harpered by luggage
Such tools as he needed-a bar Of
soap, an air-pump, a can Of nitrogly
cerine. some fuse, a jimmy, a dark
lantern, a revolver-he carried in his
pockets. and, under his coat, a folded
grain sack.
Without pausing, without hesitating
he glanced %searchingly up and down
the street. A smoking oil lamp stood
upon a post on the corner of the main
street of the village, its feeble rays
struggling ineffectively in the mist
No living creature was stirring; nc
other glimmer visible.
A few strides took him to the side
window of a building. The sill was OF
a level with his head. He tried to
raise the sash, but, as he had ex
oected, it was fastened. So he tool
the jimmy from his pocket, and, slir
ping it's thin edge under the frame
threw all his weigh suddenly upoI
the handle.
With a report like that of a pisto'
the lock snapped. For five minute
perhaps, the burglar crouched in tn,
shadows under the window, watchins
patter of the rain in the gutter, did h.
hear; not a moving object did he see
Then carefully, noiselessly, h
pushed up the sash and climbed In
He was in total darkness, but knew
exactly where he stood. He coulf
have drawn an accurate, detailed plar
Of the interior of the building-knev
precisely how many feet it was from
the window to the safe; from the SAT
to the from doors; from the windov
to his horse and buggy, standing in tn
! alley at the e
So, although he, could not see his
hand before him, he turned confident
" to his left and walked six PAGES
Then he circled to his right around
he end of the counter, and took fou'
steps more. Pausing. he reached GU,
his hand and touched the safe.
The burglar moved his hand glee
eully over the door and laughed. The
bank was not provided with a vault
A good vault costs as much as a build
ing, and this was a small bank in q
country town. So the funds were en-
trusted to the protection of this burg
lar-proof" safe. He wondered wha'
the citizens would say about burglar
proof" safes while gathering up the
pieces!
Without losing a moment, he filled
the cracks around the door of the safe
with soap, leaving one small opening.
To this opening he attached his pump
and exhaused the air on the inside.
Closing the opening, he cut a piece
off the bar of soap, and, rolling it be
tween his palms and holding it with
his fingers, soon fashioned it into the
shape of a small cup. This he fastened
at the bottom of the door and filled
with nitroglycerine. Then he at
tached a fuse.
Ten feet from the safe, a door
opened into the rear Office Of the bank,
and in this room the safe-breaker had
planned to seek refuge while the ex-
| plosive was doing it's work. Not de-
string to tarry unnecessarily in close
proximity to a charge Of nitroglycerine
about to explode, he concluded, before
lighting the fuse, to satisfy himself
that the door Of this inner room vas
not locked or bolted.
He turned the knob, the door opened
readily, and he took one step across
the threshold. Then he paused. In
the intense darkness he could not see
an object; in the perfect silence he
could not hear a sound.
But neutrality-suspicious., In.
stinct, some indefinable sixth sense
Something sent a chill through him,
and he trembled as who suddenly
becomes conscious of the presence OF
unseen spirits. Without the power to
move, he stood. staring into the dark.
ness, the perspiration standing in icy
drops upon his forehead.
With the desperation that fear In.
spires, he drew his d~arklantern,
| slipped back the slide and threw the
searching glare around the room, light.
ing first the most distant Slow.
~ he moved the lantern, bringing the
round spot of brilliant light towards
him across the carpet. Suddenly he
uttered a low cry and shrank back as
| the light fell iercely upon an object
| almost at his feet.
So near that by STOPPING the burg
lar could have touched him, a dead
mar lay, his waxen face and sightless
| eyes turned upward! The carpet,
where his head and shoulders rested,
cleaned scarlet with his blood; the
nerveless fingers Of his right hand
clasped a pistol; in the center of his
forehead was a CHASTITY wound.
With a strange weakness in his
knees the burglar bent over the dead
man, brushed back his matted hair.
took the pistol gently from his fingers
and folded his hands across his breast.
In the corpse the craftsman >recog-
nized Frazer, the bank cashier.
On the desk beside him was the fol-
lowing letter, unsealed:
Being no longer able to conceal my
shortage, to hide the fact that the safe