The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-02-09
A SNIFF OF
CHLOROFORM
BY M QUAD
BY M QUAD


The Kincardine bank was one of the
oldest and strongest banking institu-
tions In New England, though situated
and doing business In town Of 2.OOO
Ii made loans to hun
dreds of farmers. and 1t did business
with many shipbuilders and shipown
ers along the New England coast.
Many and many a time. as assistant
cashier. have seen $1.OOO,OOO stack.
ed In our vault and have tossed pnck-
ages Of 100000 about as If they had
NO more value than 50 much old paper.
| say we did large business, but yet
our building was a humble one and
our methods as primitive as might be
found in country store. We had
brick vault with iron doors. but
the LATEST sort of cracksman would
have dug his way into 1t IN an hour
with crOwbar. Outside Of the vault
was an old fashioned bolt headed safe.
which locked with key only. 1t had
strong. massive look. but the lock
could have been picked In quarter
of an hour, and two ounces of powder
poured into the keyhole and explUied
would have torn the door Off. II will
surprise you when | say that sums OF
money as large as $4,000 were often
left in that old safe over night My
uncle, James Gordon Kincardine.
who died few years ago. was to
blame for our way Of doing business.
He was a set man. He hated inDOva.
tions.
was twenty-three years old when
q place was given me as assistant
cashier. had been In the bank al
most two years when the rooms over
head were vacated and rented to
travelling doctor for month.
On the 18th Of certain October,
when he had been our tenant for two
months. be came into the bank at the
noon hour. a time l was always alone,
to get change for a bill Thereafter,
until the climax came. he dropped In
almost every noon. He never attempt
ed to come behind the counter. though
the door sometimes stood open. hut
on several occasions ! went out to him.
His calls after the first three weeks
were for the purpose OF manipulating
swelling on my jaw, and ! always
passed outside the counter and sat
down ON chair On the Sth of No
vember which was cold and dismal,
we had In the Kincardine bank exact
ly S32S25O in currency. On the next
d0v vJyQ r.. no, a hfU xuifhH
to pay the hands ut mill. and some
$5OOOO was to go to certain Boston
banks by express. | hadn't been left
alone for over i've minutes when DR..
Jordan came In to attend me. As he
worked ut my jaw he gradually turned
my head to the left. so that no longer
saw him or the dOOr. He asked me to
repeat story had told him few
days ago. and l was doing 50 when
the door opened. did not stop my
talk. and l could not turn my head.
The man who came In did not SPEAK.
but he must have passed the doctor q
sponge saturated With chlOrOfOrm.
got the Odor Of the stuff at once and
was wondering what 1t was when my
neck was gripped by the doctors left
hand. and with the right he thrust
the sponge into my face. think
tried to rise up and fight the sponge
away. but am not clear about It. dc
distinctly remember, however. OF hear
ing the doctor say:
"NOw. then. lock the doors. and I'll
soon have the money In the bagsr'
1t was an hour later when I heard
faraway voices and after struggle
opened my eyes and found the bank
full Of people. Up to that time no one
had discovered anything wrong. except
with me. They had found me lying on
the floor and supposed ! was In a 1T
though all detected the presence oil
chlorOform. My first words were tO
ask them to look for the money. Ct
the $32S.25O not shilling remained
Safe and vault had been plundered t.
the last penny! When astonishmenl
passed away was charged With hav
! Ing robbed the bank II was not a
fair thing for an uncle to do. but James
Gordon Kincardine. to his everlasting
| shame. was for having me locked u[
at once.
/ 1t was long hour before we got the
tangle Strengthened out. and that hOuI
lost my uncle every dollar he had In
the world. The robbers had star
Of an hour and half, and the only
cute thing they did was to make a hall
circle around the town and misleat
pursuit for day,
, My uncle had detectives almost by
the dozen, and the majority Of then
tried much harder to convict me thar
to overhaul the robbers. | was 0ues
toned and cross questioned until bored
to death. and for change they woult
threaten me. Some thought had bur
led the money somewhere. as II ons
could gn al high noon and do such q
job. aud the sieuth Of all sleuths wa,
sure that had stood In with the tive
men and was to get my share 0f thu
proceeds.
For years and years was suspect