The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-12-16
tunnel leading straight to the vaults
of the Cedardale National hank.

cover Of night and loneliness, when he
was popularity supposed to be resting
from his not overengrossing duties.
The house being built on the very
edge of q steep cliff overhanging the
Missewa river. the dirt from the tun.
mel had been very easily disposed of,
being simply carried across the cellar
and dumped through an opening in
the other side into the swift current.
The roof Of the tunnel being composed
Of stiff clay, It had required no artifi-
cial support.
All that had been required was
minute exactitude In planning the
course Of the tunnel and plodding in
dustry in digging 1t. But one hundred
thousand dollars lay at the end Of his
Job.
Behold. therefore. this spectacle: 1t
ID early evening. barely eight o'clock.
Martin crouches at the extreme end of
his long burrow, which at this point
slants abruptly upward. He is work.
Ing upward. too: his flying fingers are
dislodging rapidly the bricks that sep.
arate him from his goal. And as he
works his old.time prison habit comes
back on him, and he talks to himself
In whispers that carry barely beyond
his lips.
IT amt made q mistake, I should
be gettin' close. One more layer of
bricks an'-there it is. The steel
plate! Now If this new.fangled cleo.
trio contraption works. Well, II 1t
don't. Ill go back to me old drill"
He turned button, carefully NUT.
Hing the clicks. though he knew that
a rifle-shot would have little chance
Of being heard outside the tunnel.
A sharp, pointed something sprang
into intense, white heat, which re-
vealed every eager line Of Jimmy's set
face. He applied the electric drill to
the steel roof above him, and 1t ate
its way in with barely sound, send.
ing out shower Of heated STEEL
He groaned in his eagerness and
satisfaction.
Good, good! Oh, a winner-a win
ner-a winner! Now II the tide is
backin' up the river right-pshaw, of
course 1t Is. I en- get away In the
boat before midnight. Then for Porto
Varez an the wide. wide world-an'
the beauty parlors."
Half an hour later a square section
Of steel plate sagged down, snapped
of, and dropped to the bottom of the
tunnel. Jimmy Martins breath came
in little excited gasps. He thrust him
self through the opening and emerged
on the floor Of the great vault
He had no need to waste time in
investigation. The plans Of the vault
had not been hard to get; he knew
them almost as we'll as the bank pres
ident himself. He stepped across to
with lock, and drew open q large
| drawer marked:
100 G. c.
1t was grand sight.
The drawer was literally packed
with bundles Of gold certificates. One
hundred dollars each, one hundred in
a pack, and ten packs. It required no
mathematician to figure the value
One hundred thousand dollars!
Jimmy's mouth worked and watered.
He stretched out his hand to take
the money. He stretched out his hand
he tried to. He tried again. His
body was bathed in cold sweat while
: he stood there and willed that his
/ hand reach into that drawer and re-.
! move a package Of gold certificates.
But 1t hung inertly at his side. For
the first time in his life 1t refused to
perform its function.
/ How long he stood there he never
knew. His mind must have been in q
chaotic condition. In wild efforts to
retain its reason it CROPPED blindly for
the solution Of its strange helpless
ness. And in his goaded memory half
forgotten phrases used by the great
surgeon sprang again into promi-
nence.
"The motor nerve center concerned
with-unlawful acquisitiveness- Sud.
den release Of abnormal pressure like.
| ly to paralyEe the nerve center Con-
tinuance Of predatory habits will be
impossible"
These words. uncomprehended when
| they were uttered. and but vaguely
| explained by the warden. were now
plain as day. The instinct for theft
remained. but the nerve center that
carried the order to the muscles had
been destroyed
Cursing all science and scientists,
Jimmy Martin left the vault-and the
town. The laboriously constructed
tunnel and the hole in the vault, both
apparently unused, remained to form
one Of the great unsolved mysteries
Of criminology.