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The failure by Harold Ward Amos Duncan
paused for a second beside the time clock

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in the hallway just outside the offices
of Carney and Kirk. Then, his

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heart beating like a trip hammer,
he mustered up courage enough to push open

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the swinging doors and peep into the
gloomy interior. He was frightened, scared

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to the point of hysteria. Yet
for thirty years he had stopped in that

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self same place in the hallway morning
and noon on his way to work.

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For thirty years, fifty two weeks
in the year, six days a week,

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and twice each day, had he
sought his number on the time clock

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and pushed the button which registered his
comings and his departures. Instinctively four figures

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were one of his hobbies. He
made the calculation in his head. Eighteen

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thousand, seven hundred and twenty times
had he pushed his way through those doors.

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And never before, except possibly the
first time, when he had applied

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for a place with the firm,
had he been as frightened as he was

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now. For this was the first
time he had ever come to rob getting

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a grip on himself, he entered
the Big Office on tip toe an office

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covering nearly one fourth of a city
block. Yet he knew that Old Bill

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Judkins, the watchman, would be
making his rounds out in the factory at

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that particular hour. It was part
of his daily work to check up the

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dial on the night watchman's clock.
He knew that the old man traveled as

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true to schedule as a mail train. He halted just inside the doors and

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listened, his eyes taking in every
one of the familiar details. From where

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he stood, he could discern the
dark shapes of rows and rows of desks,

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each identical in size and finish with
its mates. Around two sides of

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the big room were innumerable cubby holes
of offices, divided from each other by

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ground glass partitions, extending two thirds
of the way to the ceiling. During

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working hours, they housed the elite
of the office world, the men and

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women who had pushed their heads above
those of their fellows. His own desk

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was second from the front, and
the second row from the right, just

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inside the cashier's cage, a huge
affair of wire, netting and glass.

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It gave him renewed courage for the
task ahead as he gazed upon its outline

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staring at him out of the darkness. For twenty seven years, since the

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day of his promotion from the office
boy ranks, he had occupied that desk

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or one like it in Cagney and
Kirk's office, giving to Cagney and Kirk

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the best of his manhood for starvation
wages and two weeks vacation yearly on pay.

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Others had gone over his head,
scores of them man no better fitted

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than he, young cubs would pull
or college education. He had long since

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given up hopes of promotion. He
had reached the point where he was a

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mere cog in the machine, a
fizzle and a failure. In ninety nine

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cases out of every hundred, when
a man goes wrong, a woman is

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responsible. In Amos Duncan's case,
the woman was missus Amos Duncan, a

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downtrodden cog in an office machine,
the man with little force of character.

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In the beginning, hen pecked at
home and abroad, Duncan held to the

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firm opinion that his wife had conferred
a favor upon him by maryan him.

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The fact that he had rescued her
from a life of drudgery in the shipping

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room of the factory changed his opinion
not one iota, nor did missus Duncan

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fail to keep his memory refreshed whenever
opportunity offered itself. Amos Duncan longed to

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appear as a hero in the eyes
of his wife. It had taken him

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two years to screw up his courage
to the point of robbing Carney and Kirk,

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Yet he had planned the affair so
often that he knew he would be

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absolutely above suspicion, and with the
money once in his hands, he would

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hide it until all memory of the
affair had blown over, and then,

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with a carefully concocted story of a
lucky speculation on change, resign and migrate

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to some distant city to spend his
declining years in ease with the lady who

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had assumed his name. Carney and
Kirk always paid off in cash. Duncan

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knew that there was close to fifty
thousand dollars in the vault, ready to

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go into pay envelopes in the morning. As assistant cashier and one of the

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old timers with the firm he had
been entrusted with the combination. He had

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read that skilled burglars were able to
open vaults by listening to the whirl of

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the mechanism. A rag saturated with
alcohol would do away with telltale fingerprints.

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The police would think the robbery the
work of a professional. Still walking on

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his toes, he worked his way
through the maze of desks to the big

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vault in the rear of the office
behind the cashier's cage. Taking a tiny

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flashlight from his pocket, he pressed
the button and allowed the stream of light

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to play over the dial while he
manipulated the affair with fingers that trembled as

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from the augu it refused to work
in his nervousness. He had gone past

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the number. He took a deep
breath, and, with the sweat standing

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out out in great beads upon his
face, attacked the job again. Someone

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was entering the office through one of
the rear doors leading from the factory.

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He stopped for a second, then, as he heard the footsteps coming toward

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him in the darkness, he leapt
outside the cage and drew his revolver.

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He had never fired a gun in
his life. He had bought this one,

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a cheap second hand affair, merely
as a matter of precaution, and

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because he knew that burglars always carried
such weapons from out of the darkness came

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a flash, a report. A
bullet sped past his head and flattened itself

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against the vault door. It must
be Judkins, the faithful had heard something

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suspicious and had entered the realization of
his mission in the office at that time

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of night stopped him involuntarily. He
gave a little squeak of fear. A

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second bullet passed unpleasantly near instinctively,
just as a cornered rat will fight,

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so his finger pressed the trigger of
his own gun. He fired aimlessly in

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the general direction of the other,
dodging from desk to desk, knocking over

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chairs. He was in a panic
of fear. The other's fire ceased.

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Suddenly, from out of the darkness
across the great room came a dull,

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throaty cry. Something metallic jangled against
the tiled floor. An instant later,

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it was followed by a heavier body, a body that crashed against a desk

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as it dropped. Duncan leaped through
the folding doors and out into the hallway

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again. To unlock the outer door
and dash out into the sidewalk was but

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the work of an instant. Around
the corner, he heard the shrill whistle

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of the policeman on the beat.
As attracted by the shots, he came

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lumbering along, signaling for his mate. He dodged into the shadow and turned

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into the alley. Behind him,
he could hear the policeman hammering on the

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office door with his nightstick. From
two blocks down the street came the sound

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of another whistle in the distance.
A third shrilled, proving that reinforcements were

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on the way. Missus Duncan was
sleeping soundly when he arrived home after a

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round trip through the alleys and side
streets. Letting himself into the house with

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his pass key, he hastily sought
the security of his own room. So

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far as he knew, no one
had seen him either going into the factory

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nor leaving it. But God,
what a fizzle he had made of the

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affair. And there was blood on
his hands, the blood of poor old

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Judkins. What had he gained?
Nothing? Absolutely nothing. He paced the

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floor, every nerve tangling, he
wondered, poor old Judkins. And he

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had a crippled wife too. With
Judkins gone, she would have to go

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to the poorhouse. It was something
that he had not foreseen. He was

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still pacing the floor when the sun
came up in the east. In the

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other room, he heard Missus Duncan
getting up. In less than two hours,

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he would have to go to the
office. Of course, no one

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would suspect him, but he could
hear Missus Duncan rattling the pots and pans

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in the kitchen. When the door
bell rang. He opened the bedroom door

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crack and peeped through. As she
answered the summons, A gruff voice was

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asking for him. He heard her
admit the visitors. There seemed to be

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two of them. When she called
Shrilly up the stairway for him. He

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knew that they were detectives from their
heavy tread. They were after him for

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killing Judkins. His brain was in
a horse. Yet he wondered how it

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happened that they associated him with the
crime. He had been so careful too.

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Probably he had dropped something in his
mad rush to the outer door.

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He could never face the music and
Missus Duncan. What would she say?

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He couldn't tell her that he had
gone to the office to rob the vault

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for her sake and had made a
failure. The gun lay in the bureau

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drawer where he had tossed it.
He picked it up and broke it open.

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The chambers were all empty. He
had used every cartridge in killing poor

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Judkins. From downstairs came a buzz
of conversation. Missus Duncan shrieked. He

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heard his own name mentioned. God, they had told her what he had

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done. He must move rapidly.
His glance fell upon a bottle of carbolic

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acid. Missus Duncan and was at
the bottom of the stairway now shrieking his

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name. He placed the bottle to
his mouth and emptied it at a gulp,

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With the fiery liquid eating into his
vitals his throat of fire, he

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reeled across the room and tumbled in
a heap upon the bed outside. Missus

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Duncan was pounding at his door.
Amos, wake up. She was shouting

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between sobs, for Missus Duncan was
a hysterical woman, and awful things happened.

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There are two detectives here. Old
man Judkins went home sick from the

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factory last night, and while he
was gone, somebody broke into the office.

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The robbers had a fight, cause
one of them was found dead when

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the police broke in after hearing the
shots. Right the cashier is out of

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town. And they want you to
come down and open the vault and see

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if anything is gone. Oh,
isn't it awful? Amos? Why don't

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you answer the end of the failure