Show Dying Amid Treasure I f Many Have Met Death in Terrible Form by Being Locked in Tight Air-Tight Safe Vaults It I was fortunate that the stupid joke by which a young man and a young woman were locked in the big safe In Inthe Inthe inthe the Criminal Courts building the other day had not a fatal ending It recalls other cases of persons being accidentally accidentally accidentally accident accident- ally locked in safes sates some wh of-wh ch re resulted resulted re- re suIted In the death of the unfortunate prisoners It I would be hard to invent a more more gruesome gruesome case case of making the punishment punishment punish punish- ment merit fit ft the crime than the accident which resulted In the death of a wel- wel well well- known German usurer recently He had amassed great great wealth as a money lender lend lend- er and in the process had achieved a reputation for being a man of hard dealings One day he mysteriously dis dis- appeared No trace could be found of him and after waiting some time it was decided that he probably was dead and his property was taken possession of by his next of kin With great difficulty a large safe in the ti-ic usurers usurer's bedroom was broken open and to the horror of the onlookers the body of the money lender was discovered sitting in a rorer of the interior clutching in his dead hand a bag of money How he came to be thus l en entombed tO in his own safe is not known but it i is supposed that he entered it I t to replace a bag of gold which he had had been counting and that the door accidentally wung swung to and thus closed his career forever for for- forever for for- ever But still there is something mysterious mysterious mys mys- and uncanny about It I for the thedoor thedoor thedoor door of the safe did not close generally cose of its is own volition and the safe stood In a place where no gust of ef wind would have been able to get at it I and blow it to Not long ago there was a most gruesome gruesome gruesome grue- grue grue grue- some safe accident in Scotland A man manof manof manof of great wealth and also of great eccentricity eccentricity ec cc- ec- ec centricity had decided that when he died he would like to be buried In a safe He bought a big safe a and d had it placed in a neighboring cemetery It was th the mans man's custom to pay periodical visits to to the cemetery and inspect and even open and enter the queer tomb which he had chosen for himself One winters winter's da day when he was thus grimly sitting Insl Inside e the safe while a windstorm windstorm windstorm wind wind- storm raged outside outside outside-a a gust slammed to tc the door doer and he found himself a pris oner Suddenly SUddenly that tomb which he had so gloated over lost all al attractions I Ifor for him and he called aloud In terror for help and nd threw himself against the th door of the safe He might as well wel have thrown himself himsel against a rock and as asto s' s sto to his cries the rushing and the roaring roar roar- rear ing lag of the wind drowned them Some hours later when the wind had gone down a a passer-by passer thought he heard sounds coming from the safe He did not wait to inv investigate it might be ghost for alt all al he knew but ran and told the people in the viage village Who came in ina ina ina a body to confront whatever might be crying for help in the cemetery Wen Whets When they became co convinced vincet that some living thing was inside the safe It was opened and the rich man Than was found lying on the floor foor of his steel prison in the last stages of ef exhaustion with wih almost every particle of clothing torn from his body bedy in the agonies and despair of an Imprisonment imprisonment Imprisonment which had so nearly mean meant death I ISome Some Seine time ago a London bank cerK clerk was imprisoned in the strong room of oC the bank bank and nearly died from the ef effects effects effects ef- ef of it He was on the point of leaving leavIn leav leav- In ing the bank after the closing hours when his eyes fell upon a bundle of notes which he had forgotten to place In the He stepped inside the strong room to stow stowawaY away the notes when the cashier not knowing he was there closed and locked the door before the clerk realized the situation and went away leaving the young man to his fate In yam vain the clerk shouted and kicked at the unyielding door His cris and cris struggles were unheard and the terrible fact dawned on him that he was entombed entombed entombed en en- alive and that long before the morning brought release he would be a a a dead man At length after what seemed an eternity eternity eter eter- of agony and vain crying and struggling horror and vitiated air overcame overcame overcame over over- came hint hin and he fell insensible When en he recovered consciousness it i was to find himself lying on en the floor foor of ef the bank outside the safe with the cashier and his own wife bending over him The explanation of his timely rescue from death was that his wife becoming anxious ious bus at the return non-return of ef her husband from the bank at the usual time had gone to the cashier to inquire about him They had gone gene to the bank and failing to find him there the cashier casher by a a. happy Inspiration had opened the strong room roem just in time to save the the- the clerks clerk's life This last incident carries a strong moral with it i for all married bank clerks The clerk who was shut up in the safe was a man of exemplary habits habits hab hab- its and always went straight home from from-ct the bank Hence the wife's wies wie's anxiety when he did not show up at the usual time If I he had been a frivolous bank clerk accustomed to loiter with wih the boys on his way home she would not have been anxious and he would havo been a dead man New New York Press ress |