Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1857-12-18
THE MARCH AssIzR,

THE MARCH ASSIZR. .s ?. Tss aii 4
Something more than half century
ago, q person, in going along Holborn,
might have seen, near the corner of one
of the throughfares which diyerge towards
Russell Square, the respectable looking
shop of glover and haberdasher named
James Harvey, man generally esteemed
by his neighbors, and who was usually
considered we'll to do in the world, Like
many London tradesmenj Harvey was
originally fiom the country. He had
come up to town when a poor lad, to push
his fortune, and by dint Of steadiness and
eivility, and small property left him by
o distant relation, he had been able to get
into business on his own account, and to
attain that most importat element of sue
cess in London --"a connection" Shortly
after setting up in the world, he married
young woman from his native town, to
whom he. had been engaged ever since his
school days; and at the time our narrative
commences he was the father OF three
children.
James Harvey's establishment was one
Of the best frequented of its class in the
street. You could never pass without
seeing customers going in or out There
was evidently not little business going
forward But although, to all appearance,
Aourishing concern, the proprietor OF the
establishment was surprised to find that
he was continually pinched in his creum
stances No matter what was the amount
of business transacted over the counter,
he never got any richer
At the period referred to, shop-keeping
had not attained that degree Of organiza-
ton, with respect to counter-men and
cashiers, which now distinguishes the great
houses of trade The primitive till was
not vet superseded, This was the weak
point in Haryey's arrangements: and not
to make needless number Of words about
it, the poor man was regularly robbed by
shopman, whose dexterity in pitching a
guinea into the drawer, so as to make it
jump, unseen, with a jerk into his hand,
was worthy Of Herr Dobler, or any other
master of the sublime art of jdgglery
Good natured and unsuspicious, perhaps
also not sufficiently vigilant Harvey was
long in discovering how he was pilaged
Cartwright, the name Of the person who
was preying on his employer, was not a
Young man. He was between forty and
fifty years of age, and had been in various
situations, where he had always given
satisfaction, except on the score of being
somewhat gay and somewhat irritable
Privately, be was man of loose habits
and for years his. eXtrayagances had been
paid for by property clandestinely abstrac
ted from his too-confiding master. Slow
to believe in the reality of such wicked
ness, Mr.. Harvey could with difficulty
entertain the suspicious which began tS
dawn on his mind At length all doub
was at an end He detected Cartwright
in the very act of carrying off goods to {
considerable amount. The man was triet
at tho Old Bailey for the offence bu
through q technical informality in th'
indictment, acquitted.
Unable to find employment, and with
character gone, the liberated thief bccam
savage, reyengetul, and desperate, Insteo'
of imputing his fail to his own irregulari
ties, he considered his late uniortunat
employer as the cause Of his ruinj an,
now he bent all the energies of his darl
nature TO destroy the reputation Of tl
man whom he had betrayed aud pIunder
ed. OF all tho beings self-deliyered t
tho rule of unscrupulous malignity, wit
whom it has been my fate to come pre-
fossioualIy in contact, I never know on
40 utterly fendsh as this discounted pi
iarer. Frenzied with his mognarywrong
be formed the determination to labor, eve
&c It were for years TO ruin his victim
Nothing short of dcdfh h$housa divert hi
from this, tho darling object of his e,
istanoe, q
Animated by these diabolical passion
Cartwright proceeded to his work Harve
80 had too good reason to know, was
a6bt 10 persons who had mado him az