The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 3 — page 128: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A TRAP FOR BURGLARS. An episode of my guardianship over the treasures in my employer’s mansion—How I awaited a visit from robbers, and the plans for their reception which the sequel somewhat disarranged. FOR twenty years I had been a law clerk in the offices of Drew & Morgan, among the ablest counselors in the city of New York. ‘Two of my personal characteristics can be deduced from this preliminary statement: I am trustworthy, or I should not have been in their employ so iong ; I am not gifted with any particular ability, or I should long since have been in practice for myself, or been admitted to membership in the firm. ‘That perhaps is all I need say concerning myself. As to the members of the firm, both had accumulated great wealth and now handled nothing but the very cream of legal affairs. Mr. Morgan had been traveling in Europe for six months or more with his daughter, and Mr. Drew was attending to the affairs of the firm alone. This arrangement was quite a common thing with them, first one and then the other taking a pro- longed holiday. On this last journey of Mr. Morgan’s, however, an event occurred which caused the senior partner and his family to join them in precipitate haste. This was nothing more or less than the marriage of Miss Morgan to an English gentleman of wealth and position. ‘This necessitated the sudden departure of the entire Drew family, together with a number of their servants, from their Fifth Avenue mansion. ‘The house, in fact, was left quite alone, as all the servants not in personal attendance had been sent to the Drew summer residence at Bar Harbor to prepare it for occupancy. There was no time for the storing of valuables, or the packing of plate and pictures. There was not even time enough for the selection of a trustworthy caretaker. As a consequence I was installed in that capacity myself. Although I am a bachelor, I am a home body, seldom out at night later than eight o’clock, and I accepted the trust willingly enough. Once settled in the great lonely house on the avenue, however, I began to have reasons for regretting the acceptance of so great a responsibility. I had not realized the value of the belongings that had been left in my charge. I discovered that I was guardian over hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of personal property in one form or another, and fully ten days passed before I was able to .get a full hour’s sleep at niglff™ By this time I had purchased a number of burglar alarms and fitted them to the doors and windows, to say nothing of a brace of revolvers and a dark lantern. I knew that the house was under the surveillance of some sort of special police, but as burglaries had been committed time and time again in this rich district of the city, I did not consider them much of a protection. GEomichbooks com