Strange Confession of a Banker.

Bay of Plenty Times, Issue XX, 22 June 1892, Page 4

Strange Confession of a Banker.

(Concluded.)

*<^in you give me the addresses of your discharged clerks ? ' •WUei, we go up to the bank." I now looked to the right of tbe safe, and saw a small-barred window. Two of the bars had been removed, and t&rougn this the thieves had evidently entered. Outiide this window was a long, dark passage, leadiag past the cellars ef tbe back house, and imo an area. At the top of tbe area stairs we found ourselves in a narrow back yard, tb* tall walls of which were topped by broken glass. A door there bad not been open yean, apparently, but a patt of tbe wall had been carefully •mogiiM— tbe fragments lying ioside with "tljsj. loose mortar about them. ' Jft>, thai'i plain enough !' I said, inte^fcibtlly speaking aloud. ' This is how they have entered, without a dqsfefcf* And as I spoke I tureen rountf^uietiy, but suddenly, and ooce moreTtfcongbt I saw that triumphant gleami* tbe eyes of Mr Upcott. learning to "" the vault again, I said, a* if* 1 really couldn't help it : 'Tint »eem fond of jewellrv Mr 'Yteti' he hesitated, but after a •tart.%r-e< : ' : . ■..

' Beautiful studs those of yours.' •Weli # rather.' 'Uipmnaon pattern?' 'T»y were made to order. ' •MWetb*D one set' 'NfcJgtforW *Anf^ne missing ?P *I §Din| not/ he faltered. •KSiy look.' ' Wfoys the meaning of thin questiooin^^BFked Mr Bvrnett, sternly. jpfo»i sir, ' I jepliau, almost wmimflgjily^l remember if ter aU ft oi *sS27i gi * ffl *iw*lwt-*W»ltod fell a^w moments ago from the •leere of tne murdered man, Muoro P and 1 held up the bit of gold. ' Qw&.bwmatt* cried Mr Fpcott, striking bis brow with one hand, and holding the other orer bis breast as if to ward off examination or search.

'Be kind enough to unbutton your Waistcoat, sir,* I proceeded ;* and please avoid excitement. ' Slowly but surely be unbuttoned bis veit and to my ntter amazement ftod disgust his set of studs was found ©oiflpJet*. After a pause 1 resumed : 'May I 9fk why you appeared so overcome j when I a*ked you to unbutton your waistcoat. 1 Because/ be replied, • I thought I might hare dropped one by accideat.' ? v.' * Do., you know anyone wbo had similar ata'ds.' * Yes— -me other.' ' His name ?' 1 Our late cashier, Bufus Stellar.' ' HiJ address ?' He Jired in ti ray's Inn, but left for America last Wednesday. ' ' Are you sure of that P ' 'He rame here to bid us ' Goodbye. V * Any reason to suspect him P* •Ob,n«!'

*My duty, gentlemen, compelled me to act a* 1 bare done,' I explained •you must excuse nee. Jt i* in my. duty to find when Mr Stellar left town, and which way be went en roue for America. Give me hi* addre^ in Gray's Inn, and I have no doubt J'll trap him yet, ere he crosses the Atlantic.'

Mr Bufus Stellar had been living in rather comfortable chambers at the top of » home in South square, Gray's Inn. He bad been called to the bar, and being briefless, some relations prevailed upon Mr Barnett to tike him into the bank. His salary was two hundred and fifty pounds as caahier, but it was believed that he possessed a small private income. I qoesti-DfH his laundress, and found that hs returned to his room* late on Thursday night* The robbery had been committed between Thursday bight aiiri tfoiday morning. After much iteluc'Slsce, Mr U|>cott gave me a jfcwtrait* of the gentleman, and by its aid I traced him to Button station where he got into <be half* past seve/i J^raio for Liverpool. I teltyiflW Jbis de*e>vtion, %y theDetWtiyelfcpirtment. Da^e-street laverpool, and trtok the next train myself. On arriving there, . T has told that no such pe««oa alighted from th* irain mentioned. I concluded that he had got out at Chester, with a view of getting on by some*bther means to Birkenhead and aboard the Cunard liner— the only tteaner that tailed that Saturday jßorning. I had men stationed ai all the ferries on the Cheshire side of the water, and we- 1 on board the Atlantic finer at an early hour next ino< aing, to be ready to receive him. He came from Liverpool, after all. He bad got out at Manchester, and ■pent the »igbt with some friends. I arrested him before his luggage was moved oat of the wherry, and took him np tot town with tiw; and I will confess, even new, tbat I never felt so upset by anj capture I ever made. He was % splendid lellew, bore no malice, and kept me in food humor all the way, telling me wittf stories, and humming songs now and then. We ha<Hi second-clasa compartment for ouffelveA add so had no one to disturb us. I tbiok X said a down times on that jouarey to myself, * I wish it was that other fellow, Upcott* When X thought Aim guilty, I fairly gl«md in dbe tbougti of put^ng this darbies on tim,

Well, the trial came off; but I must first tell you that, at soon as he was locked up, we examined his luggage, and found is his jewel-bos the heart-and- barrow set of studs, minus one. In his purse we found fourteen marked sovereigns, and he had paid twenty-two similarly marked coin* to the Cunard Company. When Mr Upcott was in the witness-box at tbe trial, the counsel ior the defence asked him how much money the prisoner had saved while m the employ of the bank. '* About two hundred and fifty pounds/ he replied. ' And he drew that out?' 'On the Wednesday before the robbery.*

* Did he not call on the Thursday morning, while you were alone in the bank, and get forty sovereigns in exchange for fonr ten-pound notes V * Nothing of the kind.' 'You swear that ?' * I swear it.' ' That will do.' The prisoner had in his possession nearly three hundred and fifty pounds, and his counsel explained that beside* the two hundred and fifty pounds left in the bank he always kept a goodly sum at home. The jury, however, would not beliere it, and so Kufus Stellar was found guilty of burglary and attempt to murder, and sentenced— this was before 1850 — to transportation for life. He walked out of the dock smiling, and I could not look at him. My eyes fell on Upoott, aid be looked then the guiltier of the two. The strangest part of this case has to come. Mr Upcott married the girl both he and Stellar had been courting, and in the course of time he was made a partner in the bank. I Twenty-fire years after the sentence he died a landed proprietor, and the bearer of a title. During tbe same twenty-fire years, Ruftn Stellar became a millionaire in Australia, and one of the leading men in his colony and city. He, too, married, and had children ; in fact, he had everything the world contained at his command, but the permission to visit dear old England. Ah, there's lots like him in the colonies— good men and true ! He sent hi<r eldest son to Oxford, and two daughters to beard* ing schools at Brighton. The latter fell ill, and were given over for incurable ; only, it was said, two or three months would pass before the end. The son wrote to the father, and the brare fellow came home in spite of the law. He was recognised in the Strand by a rascally loafing Englishman, whose passage he had paid home from Melbourne some years before. This | cowardly scoundrel communicated with the Home Office, and, after con* sidertibJe delay, I was sent' to Brighton to see Mr Stellar out of the country or arrest him. A comrade was sent with me, and as the train was crowded, we were compelled to enter a compartment where we could not smoke. A young lady in deep morning sat beside tbe far window reading. I was so angry about the iniquitous job I was on that I blurted out to my comrade pretty I well tbe whole story, mentioning names and most particulars. At the Brighton station my friend [said;

' I supnose you're in no hurry over this job? 1 * Not I, 1 said I. ' Let's have dinner first I never felt so much in want of Dutch courage in my life.' A sob caught my ear. Turning round, we saw the young lady in black stepping into a cab by my Bide. It was dusk before we went to Mr Stellar's hotel. When I asked for him I was surprised to hear that we were expected.

As Boon as I entered the fine room in which he had been dining, he came forward, as fine a looking man of fifty-fire as ever I hare yet seen. 'So yon'vt come to arrest me T he said. v 'Or to see yon out of the country, worse luck,' was my reply. ' Well, I am ready to go/ he returned ; ' but I am glad to say it won't be for long. You noticed the lady who travelled in the train with you. She was bearing the confession of the really guilty party'—— 'And I'll bet a thousand pound* to a penny that was the old banker, Upcott.' f You are familiar with the case then?' 'It was I who arrested yon in Liverpool, ' I replied, ' Give me your hand. ' he said ; and I took it and shook it as I never before or since have shaken a man's hand.

The lady had gone up to the Home Office with , the confession she had brought to him, Of course I was compelled to accompany him to Calais that nights but many* days did not elapse before t knew < hat tbe Queen's pardon— pardon to an innocent man —had been eitended to him. Up* cott had been betting — had stolen money, and was compelled to convict some one else. The stud be bad iiicked up in Stfellar's chambers, and he had given forty*- marked — wyereigns io the legitimate way of change to the late cathier that Thursday, and it was he himself who did all tlu> breaking in.

The old watchmen lifted many year g but never ffeebrered sanity. Mr. Burnett pensibntd him liberally. The young lady in black was Sir Gabriel Upcott'a only daughter, and •he is now the happy wife of thsen of the man who was cleared by — 'The Strong* Confts»i<ms of a tinker.'