Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1911-09-15
A Narrow Escape
From State Prison
By SAMUEL E. BRANT
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

"do NdohAOl lOi lhiNhdAo pNSPtON
& Co. had the safe combination and
was implicitly trusted by the head of
the firm. The amount of cash in the
safe varied. Sometimes there would
not be $40. sometimes there would be
$1,000, and occasionally when large
amount of currency would come in aft
er banking hours 1t must be kept over
night there. At such times | was al
ways troubled, for the safe was an
old pattern and the lock out Of date.
l always counted the cash in the
safe, night and morning. One morn
ing my cash did not correspond with
what had been there the night before
by $50. l thought that l must have
made mistake in my count the night
before, but on balancing my cash l
could detect no error. Fearing that
something was wrong with me, said
nothing about the missing money, but,
being sure that my cash balance was
right, made up the deficiency from my
own pocket
Within a week l missed another
amount from the safe. This time 1t
was SIS. a smaller sum than before,
but the amount in the safe was much
smaller than before. 1t now became
evident that some one not an outsider
had the lock combination and was
helping himself whenever in need of
ready cash. I feared It might be one
of the clerks who was tempted. l
shrank from being the means Of send
ing any one. especially one / knew
well, to prison. so went to Mr.. Step
toe and told him that l thought we
should have new safe or at least a
new lock The matter was compro.
missed by safe and lock workman
changing the combination.
What was my establishment ten days
later to miss another $40. l had been
given the combination by the man who
had changed it. He had not even spo-
ken it. | had handed him a slip Of pa
per on which he had written 1t and
handed it back to me. There was
something uncanny about these disap-
pearances. am no more superstihouS
than other fairly educated people, but
l couldn't momentarily resist the feel
ing that a ghost was helping himself
to the cash.
Still, l didn't report the matter. !
had dread that l should get some
of my fellow employees into trouble
or that / should discover that some
thing had gone wrong with myself.
After thinking about the matter q
good deal l found that I couldn't add
a column of figures twice with the
same result. l called on my doctor
and told him that suspected my mind
was giving way. He recommended me
to take vacation. l didn't take his
advice, not liking to leave the safe to
any one else during my absence.
l thought Of watching the safe
nights, but I couldn't watch every
night, and there was no knowing when
a robbery would occur. Sometimes
several weeks would elapse between
them. But after l had made up a
hundred dollars from my own pocket
I began to think had better take
measures to stop the leak.
One day, when one Of the clerks
George Simpson, came for his salary
l noticed while he was signing the re-
ceipt slip that the end Of the forefngel
Of his right hand was covered with the
finger end of kid glove.
"Cut your f1ngerf' I asked.
"No; burned It,"
The next week when this young man
Simpson, came to draw his salary he
still wore the covering on his finger
When l remarked upon it l detected {
look of uneasiness cross his face.
didn't think much about 1t, however
but when another week had passed
and l still noticed the kid covering
began to wonder about the finger
"Not healed YETI" / asked.
"No; l guess my blood must be in
bad state.'
"Let me see It."
He took off the covering. The tip o
his finger looked as If the skin hat
been taken off and had not grow
again. made no remark, but tool
the receipt he had signed and filed II
at n time when no money had bee
missed for space Of twelve days
made up my mind to watch the saf
nights. l couldn't remain awake ever
night in succession, so took book
keeper, Travers, into the secret. and W
startedin to watch alternately. too
first watch. Travers second. On tn
fourth night, 1t being my turn, abou
II o'clock I heard key put in tn
lock Of the Office door. Some one cam
in steathily, and I could hear tn
tread toward the safe. Pretty soon
heard a faint sound like tumble
falling in lock. l waited awhile an
heard another, then another, until
had heard four. My position was b
hind desk over which was an electr
light. Hearing the safe door swim