Bridgeton pioneer., 1912-12-12
A BIG FIND
Bot 1t Proved to Be
a Burden
BY REGINALD d. HERON

understand tnat cOulu nave IL
daughter of his; that if | persuade,
Edith 10 marry me without his -:
sent he would never recognize pi in.
of us any more than if we were >tT:,b
gers to him. and that the results tt
our folly and Edith's ngradtude mn
be endured without any aSsiStau.
whatever from him.
What kind OF young man ~
you" be thundered. for IL gentlrtu
to give his daughter to! AS poor IL
church mouse. you have come here
q hired carriage to see me-"
YES" | retOrted. "and I'll go awg
In the carriage in which came"
And | hope you'll stay away"
We turned our backs upon each u:i
er. he to go into apother room.
go out and get into the cab. | sa'
Edith at an upper window with
panied expression on her face. ~
kissed her hand to me. and | wave,
mine to her. Then | got into the ca'
shut the door with bang and WA
driven away.
AS 1t happened | sat down on It..
left side of the carriage. whereas
had come on the right side. The st';,
was uneven. but | was too hot tr,a.
my recent interview to notice it Iu
some time. Presently without gettiH
my mind off the latter endeavored l.
arrange the former. The hump a.
mained. | arose and lifted the cu~.
Ia |. nh
| inches long by three wide, the wrappr'
being brown paper. was not SO ~
sOrbed in having been refused t..
| girl loved but that removed it tn
revealed a package of bank bills. t.
| one on top was of the denomination -
| 500. The next was 1000. the N
| 500, and SO on of mixed denomis.
| tons to the end. | counted $JO.0OO /
| all.
Here was Il find--a big fnd-a deuce
| big find. 1t would he impossible {
| give the confusion of thoughts pass
ing through my mind. had stumh!rs
/ upon the wherewithal to reconf
| Edith would yet he mine. Would TIA
| owner of the bills turn up? WIZ
| would be the outcome? These wprr
| few of the flashes upon my brain, bn
! give only a faint picture of the tllr
moi there. can only say in ius;jr
| to myself that almost instantly Hi
gave way to the fact that the mo l:.
was not mine and its owner must It.
| found.
During the next few days | bough
every newspaper issued in the cit
| where ! lived and had found the bills
not doubling that their less would II
advertised. When the next morniH
after | had found them | saw no no
tice of them | was surprised. Whcl
Oh the second morning no notice ~
| peared ! was astoniShed. and on III
third morning. having gone throiI@
with dozen newspapers without tGd
ing what looked for. was amazed.
On the morning of the eighth day
received telegram from my cole,
chum. Henry Harker;
Come at once. The position is vacar
and cannot remain so forty eight hour
This was in response to letter
had written few days before to II
ker. who had succeeded his father !;
president of large manufacturing e
tabishment. asking him to give mo
Job. | am not one to go back on "a
proposition and began at once ~
hurried preparation to leave. T.
what should do with the bills | h:
found? Acting on the principle ~
least said the soonest mended." / li'
kept the matter to myself and n
money under lock and key. | being F
only one who knew where. , M
act at once. | thought of deposit t'
the bills in bank No; that would
do at all Fifty thousand dollars of
strangers money in ones possess i,
involved danger 1t might aud 81
finder in Jail TO give it to It fris,
for safe keeping world require depo>
ing the secret with him at the 81.
time.
| spent hours turning over diff
ent plans and finally settled OH IL
following: | went to Il safety depos
company and rented box. 1t was r
last thing did before taking a tral
and was in Il dreadful hurry. ~
plan was to use an assumed name. bi
In the hurry of preparation | had n
settled upOu n name. When the clI
todian. an old man. took out his bor
and asked What name:" I gave TN
the first that came into my head Gu
tavuS Hail Williams He wrote
down; handed me the key to the hD
went with me tu the vault. | p
away the bills. turned the key and II
the first tilue since I had found the
felt relieved
Harker pat me in nuSition tn,
had not been prepared to 81. tie 49,
he knew could lrarH HE duties 90
went along. did learn them, but g.
mind was liXed on them to the eNr.
sion of everything else though
the fortune locSed az in the safe c
pOsit company once in awhile. o.
since there was nothing concrrnit"
to think about more thHn when a.
it my memGH dvr ,iu%> ppon 1t ,..