Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1910-06-09
A MISSING SAFE KEY
BY BEVERLY woRrHINeToN.

Nv
copyright, 1910. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
"Great heavensw
Mr.. Purbeck Jones, who made this
exclamation, had entered his Office in
Lombard street, London, at 10 o'clock
in the morning, laid aside his hat and
cane, gone to his safe and stood with
q hand in his right pocket. He was
white as a sheet.
Anything wrong, sir" asked his
chief clerk, anxiously approaching his
employer.
There was no reply. He neither saw
nor heard the speaker. Finally he
asked family:
cat what hour does the Indian mail
leave?"
"At noon, sir"
"Then it is impossible"
"What is fmpossible?"
Still Mr.. Jones paid no attention to
what was said to him.
"Rush. a messenger to Strecher's to
send his best workmen here OF the
jump to open this safe."
In another moment one of the
clerks was in a cab, the cabman lash
ing his horse on the way to the
Strecher Safe and Lock company.
Purbeck Jones, an English million
ARE and railroad contractor, had taken
a contract to build the Maiwar line in
central India and in the venture had
cf0 kod oil hic yoococcinro M rpoo M
quired to give security amounting to
f2,000,O00 to cover loss by the railway
syndicate. This sum must be in nego-
table bonds and other securities and
delivered on or before May 8, 1891.
Even the wealthy Purbeck Jones
found it difficult to raise the money
for so large transaction. He, however,
succeeded in gradually collecting the
securities, which he preferred to de-
post in his own safe to that Of q de-
post company.
On the morning of the sailing Of the
Indian mail he went to his Office to
dispatch the securities under a special
guard to India. Feeling in his pocket,
where he expected to find his safe
keys, they were 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 a
bag of tools In his hand, jumped out
and entered the Office.
GIVE securities in that vault" said
MI. Jones, "that must go 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 a small fortune for a
workman. Each thought Of the wife
and BARNS at home and the comforts he
could give them with SO large a sum.
The fastest horse that could be pro-
cured was brought and stood at the
door ready to transfer a messenger
with the securities to the steamer the
moment they could be taken from the
safe. MI. Jones stood over the work
men watch in hand noting the lapse
Of time, trembling like a 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 its loss would
render him hopelessly bankrupt.
He hung on the expression of the
workmen's faces. When they sue
ceeded In some important step, Dor
ing through a 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 un-
expected obstacles he feared the
worst.
Eleven O'clock came, and they had
succeeded In getting only 50 far as
through the outer plates that protect
ed the lock. At half past II they
found that they were 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 a quarter Of IL, after whis-
pering to each other, they turned to
Mr.. Jones and announced their failure.
Jones sark back into a chair and
covered his face with his hands. A
panorama Of his life passed before
htm-his early struggles to get a start,
his first successes, the great contract
that made him a rich man, the years
since, during which he had been a mil
lionaire. The man who had climbed
the ladder oflwealth to the top round
saw all this, saw ruin staring him II
the face a~ndsgroaned.
The workrnen, equally disappointed,
gathered I'D their tools and silently