The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-11-04

The morrow came, and glorious day 70
fi.hiag they said j, was. The curate and
friend he brought with him and and th'
young draper, stepped into hired chals
at half past nine in the morning, mn
drove off to Milford. We surmounte'
slowly the huge hill, and drew up at th'
door of the s.Foxn in less than an hour.
seized my rod, and, pushing my companion
before me, made for the brook side beyonf
The mill, pretending eagerness for ths
sport, and begging our friends to order din
ner, and then4reioin US. was afraid les
the landlord should catch a glimpse of us
disllking our appearance, make himself
scarce; and ! was unwilling, too, to spoI
The sport of the party. The day was
warm and close, but cloudy at times; anc
he two gentlemen, who understood The
craft Of angling, had good success. The
draper md |, on the other hand, made a
sorry affair Of it, A dozen times, at least
the fish broke away our hooks, and, when
at last the draper caught one, he broke the
rod in Juggling it out As for me, caught
none. was all the while thinking Of a
bigger fish, which was afraid was lying
shy in the public house, and might not be
| Induced 10 come out Of bis hole. But
these we're groundless fears. The stable
toy came running across the meadow "a
bout five o'clock to tell Us dinner was
waiting; and we saw the landlord himself
without his coat, standing on the little plank
bridge by the mill, and signing with his
hands for US to make haste, at the distance
of half mile. We found the ducks and
green peas smoking on the table, and III
| ty lass ia waiting. | bade her tell her mas
ter to bring bottle ofhs best sherry
She withdrew, and in few minutes the
landlord came in, all smiles and good hu-
nor, bottle and eorkscrew in hand, and
beg n drawing the cork.
As the wine gugglsd forth into the de-
canter, the draper, who just then was
thinking of anything bu, satisfying hls mp
petite, started, turned pale, and, recovering
himself as he met my glance, pulled ont
his watch, and, turning to the unconscious
victim Of the law, ,sad:-"Landlord, ob!ige
me with the exact time by you: my watch
is stopped"
1.-The exact time" said the other, obse-
qaiouslg, sis sixteen minutes pas! five, to
second"
The die was cast.
The sentlemenaIl enjoYed their dinner,
aud, for the matter of,hat, so did | mine.
| The landlord waited upon us with the vi
| most g!ee and alacrity, laughed at the pass.
lug Jokes till the tears ran out Of his eyes
took wine with the oura,e, with whom he
| was on terms of respectful familiarity, and
seemed altogether as happy as man could
be in the enjoyments Of the comforts and
delights of existence. Ii went agains, my
heart to think how soon all this would he
dashed away from him; but knew that feel
INC was weakness ought not 10 enter
tain When we had done dinner, and fin,
ished bottle of port, ordered the chaise
10 the door, requested MS the evening was
| getting cool to have it closed up, and bade
The landlord make out his bill. While our
party were packing up their tackle and
| fish, and loading the chaise, whispered to
the draper that he should ride outside with
| the driver. ! got first into the chaise, and,
taking out my purse, called TO the land
lord, as the two gentlemen were getting
| ia, to come and receive his money. We
we're all Sc ated when he came, bill IN hand,
aud bowing, presented it to me. | took
hold Of his hand instead of the BILL
Come said |, '.here's room enough for
you," aud | pulled him before he was
aware of nv intent, down on the seat at
nv side. shut the door while he vet
thought was Joking, and, grasping him
firmly by the arm, apprised him that he
was nv prisoner for robbery committed on
he post office three years ago. All this
had taken place go rapidly, that my two
companious in the chaise were only con-
yipced that the whole was not practical
les, on my pnrt after ! had ordered the
driver to proceed as fast as possible TO the
Town hall in Bath, and they had time to
notice the horror-strickcn condition Of the
miserable man in custody as fastened the
hand cuffs on his wrists. At their re-.
quest stopped The cbaisc a, the foo, Of the
hill, and suffered them TO alight. taking up
in their stead the two town officers, who
had been lurking all day in the neighhor-
hood, and had seen how the affair had been
managed. One Of them ran back 10 the
inn ior the hat and coat Of the prisoner,
who groaned bitterly, and wri,hed in agony
Of spirit, but spoke not word during the
shor, journey. He was safely lodged in
1iail in Grove street the same evening, al.
ter the hearing Of tho charge ! had to pre-
fer against him. then went TO the post
Office to see what chance of evidence in-
adiry nigh, afford. There | learned that
tho prisoner had been IN tho constant
habit Of calling once or twice a week ,e
see his old companions, and had as con
s,an,ly assisted them in sorting the letters
and making up the mall-bags whenever
from pressure OF business, his experienced
assistance was desirable. The master re
\ membered distinctly that he had assisted
TO make up the London mailbag which
ouoh, t. have contained the missing letter
three wears before. Upoa nv demanding
why was not informed of,hat during the
Investigation made at The time, be said i
had escaped his memory, and that, furlh
+ er, Mr.. was the last man upon earit
whom he should have suspected; and that
, indeed, notwithstanding appearances
nothing could convince him Of the prison
IA