Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1910-05-06
A MISSING SAFE KEY
Bv BEVERLY NORTHAMPTON.

Mr.. Purbeck Jones, who made this
exclamation, had entered his office in
Lombard street, London, at 10 O'clock
III the morning, laid aside his hat and
cane, gone to his safe and stood with
hand i'll his right pocket. He was
white as Il sheet.
Anything wrong, sir?" asked his
chief clerk, anXiously approaching his
employer.
There was no reply. He neither saw
asked family:
"At what hour does the Indian mail
leave?"
"At noon, sir" .
"Then it is impossible"
"What is impossible:'
Still Mr.. Jones paid no attention to
what was said to him.
Rush messenger to Strecher's to
send his best workmen here on the
jump to open this safe.'
In another moment one Of the
clerks was in cab, the cabman lash
ing his horse on the way to the
Strecher Safe and Lock company.
Purbeck Jones. an English million
aire and railroad contractor. had taken
contract to build the Maiwar line i'll
central India and in the venture had
staked all his possessions. He was re-
quirel to give security amounting 70
t2.0O0.000 To cover loss by the railway
syndicate. This sum must be il rest>
table bonds and other securities AID
delivered on o. before May Q. 1911.
Even the wealthy FurbetA Jones
found it difficult to rui>e the money
for So large i transaction. He. however,
succeeded in gradually collecting the
securities. which he preferred TO de
post in his own safe to that of de-
poSit company.
On the morning of the sailing of the
Indian mail lie Went 10 his office to
dispatch the securities under 4 special
guard To India. Feeling in his pocket.
where he expected to find his safe
keys. they We're not there. He had
left them in his country place, Har-
wood, just outside Carlisle, and to get
them in time to open the safe before
the steamer sailed was impossible
Missing the mail would prevent his
delivering the securities before the
expiration of the time limit.
Before long a cab dashed up to the
Office, and two workmen, each with
bag of tools in his hand, jumped out
and entered the Office.
I've securities in that vault said
Mr.. Jones, 'that must so off on the
Indian mail at IL noon. Open the
safe in time to get them on the steam
er and I'll give you $500 each"
The sum was small fortune for a
workman. Each thought of the wife
and BARNS at home and the comforts lie
could give them With so large Il sum.
The fastest horse that could lie pro-
cured was brought and stood at the
door ready to transfer messenger
With the securities to the steamer the
moment they could be taken from the
safe. Mr.. Jones stood over the work
men watch in hand noting the lapse
Of time, trembling like leaf, his
heart beating wildly. On their sue
cess or failure hung either continued
wealth or ruin to him. He had made
the biggest contract any man had
ever undertaken, and it's loss would
render him hcpclessly bankrupt.
He hung on the expression Of the
workmen's faces. When they sue
ing through hard plate or cutting a
rivet, he had hope But if their tools
proved softer than the steel or after
cutting their way in they found I'M
expected obstacles he feared the
worst
Eleven o'clock came, aud they had
succeeded in getting only SO far as
through the cutter plates that protect
cd the lock. At half past II they
found that they We're still obliged to cut
through as much as they had already
accomplished to reach the machinery
that shot the bolts, and then they
would need considerable time to shoot
them. AT q quarter Of II, after Wits
periny u each other, they turned t.
Mr.. Jones aud announced their failure
Jones sank back into /; chair and
covered his face with his hands. !,
panorama Of his life passed before
him-his early struggles to get start
his first successes. the great contract
that made him Il rich man, the years
since, during which he had been a mil
liOHaire. The man who Lad climbed
the ladder Of wealth to the top roun(
saw all this, slw ruin staring him ii
II the face and groaned.
ii The workine.!. equally disappointed
gathered up their tools and SILENT!
passed out. The clerks resumed thci
positions OH their desk stools, but onl,
to pretend to work. All knew that
blow had struck the man for whom
they worked. and each was thinkin;
where he would find another situation
Presently MIR. Jones recovered him
self SO far as to send u messenger by
the steamer he expected to dispatc
the securities to announce the reason
Of his failure to do so and ask an eS
tension Of time. But he knew it woul