The Sauk Centre herald., 1913-07-24
ank, but murdered the night watch

| Murdered the night WatchLhau!
Imogen Marsden!"
"You poor child! Locked in with
robber and a murderer"
Imogen shuddered ~Horrible-hor-
rible. wasn't it? BY that time | was
perfectly wild to find some way out
of the bank That money padded
wretch had gone quietly out of Mr..
! Devlin's door and. of course. by that
time had made good his escape.
"Fortunately he had not locked Mr..
Devlin's door. Through it got into
the corridor. From the corridor 1
knew l could get into the teller's Of
| fee. 1t opened into the space where
the big safe stood If l could get to
one of the windows l could unfasten
J it from the inside and let myself drop
into the alley behind the bank. A
street lamp sent a faint light through
| the grated space. l saw a man lying
in front of the big safe. My first
thought was that the night watchman
had got drunk. 1t was my duty to
wake him up. l rushed at him for
that purpose. I could get out of the
bank by his help l stepped into some
thing Shiny. l screamed. and then I
got curiously alert. l sprang at the.
nearest bulb and turned on the light.
There lay our faithful old Tim in
pool of his own blood l looked again.
1t was not Tim. 1t was Mr.. Devlin in
his fine cashmere Clothes. just as he.
had left the bank that evening His
bag, with his name On it-what did it
all mean? l was getting beyond the
power of thought. Here was the presi-
dent dead. But l had seen the preSi-
dent Disgusting himself not a quarter
Of an hour ago after stuffing himself
with money.
"By that time had but one idea left
in my kaleidoscope. | turned off the
light, trembling in every limb. l crept
back toward Mr.. Devlin'S room. l re-
membered having seen rope ATTACHED
to his window frame 1t was to be
used in case Of fire. The room was
lighted just as he had left it. That
wretch l mean. l saw an envelope
on the floor. Now. girls you both
know that l am not at all given to.
picking up dropped things
Pins; decidedly not"
Needles; neverw
"But, frightened as l was, l did
stoop for that envelope. l shall al
ways believe in 'leadings' after this.
Inside l found a railroad ticket 1t
was to Hamilton, Ont l suppose he
| had dropped it when he was examining
money into every clevice. So them
with look of tragic triumph-"I was
in position to put the police on the
track Of the robber-murderer. l knew
where the criminal was booked for"
Horrible! Frightful! My flesh is
beginning to creep"' screamed Theo.
After awhile recollected the rope
had come after. l raised the window.
1t was only about fifteen feet to the
ground but that alley looked a thOu-f
sand miles away from me. l could
take my choice--stay where l was and
be arrested for murder and robbery or
skin down that rope at risk of my
neck. l skinned down the rope and
was surprised to find l had not broken
my neck nor anything but a corset
steel in the descent.
81 happened to know where home
for friendless girls was situated.
hope there wasn't more friendless
girl abroad than I was last night. L
daren't 20 home at that hour Of the
night, for our landlady would have
bundled us all out by daybreak.
went to that home. l made up my lie
on the way. A stoutly told lie certain
ly is very present help in time Of
need. The good soul of sister took
me in. l did not sleep much, you may
depend on it, for thinking Of the hor-
rors of the bank and of what my next
move must be. As soon as it was day.
light l slipped away from my good
friends. And as | still did not dare
to blast your regulations by coming
home at dawn 1 stole into the park,
and as soon as l could procure news ,
paper l bought one. A $4,000 reward
is offered for the apprehension of the
criminal OF course he sent the in
formation to the paper. 1t is headed,
Bank Robbed-President Murdered
"He? Who?'
"The man with the chest protector
to avert suspicion" :
"Of course"-dreamily. '"Then, Gene, !
that 5000 is yours. Good! No writ
of ejectment this time
What are you going to do, Gene?"
lone Of three things-give it to Theo
for scoop for her paper, sell it to the
police for $1,000 or use it for my prize
story"
ut would make a blood curdler. but
you'd never get $1,000 for it. Besides, .
Gene, it is your duty to inform the au-
thorities. 1t is all very horrible, but
you have no right to keep it for a
story"
"Thanks. I have given you my prize
story"
Tm-o-gen Mars-den!'
"And you did not skin down a roper
couldn't for my life" :
"Nor spend the night at a home for
friendless girls"
"I think cousin Maggie might come ,
under that head"
"And Mr.. Devlin was not murdered
by the night watchman after robbing
his own bank?
mot that have heard of. But you