The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1857-04-23

sneaked round the shortest corners he
could turn. and arrived at the hotel
where the stage coach originally landed
him. The moment he made his appear
ance in the hall, thelandlord, who had first
espied him from the next room, sprang
up from the knot of men be was chatting
with on the subject of the thief, and rush
ed upon him.
!" I've got you nosS, you villain !" he
cried Il knew you'd be crawling back
after your.carpet bag. and here you are
Come intoth other room here''
Before he could recover from bis SUR
prise, Chester jerks found himself sud-
denly dragged into the midst of party
Of excited men, every one of whom loud
/ ly charged him with being Mief: He
was so confused at first thatshe could not
speak. And this they considered a cer-
tain symptom his guilt. If the rasc;l
were really innocent, he would out with
it, fair and square. But how could such
a guilty looking fellow help being really
guihys ~ 9aa
'' am no thief, gentlemen" said he
Il am no more thief than any of you
are' f+,
Who be you, then 2" asked several
at once.
Chester jerks did not care to tell them
that he was an industrious, hopeful, and
aspiring young author; very few really
promising young authors would have cho-
sen to do SO. He therefore cnly told
| them what his name was, where he came
from, and what he came out to B. for
without mentioning the name of Mary
Maxwell U
"Aha !" said they, "you needn't
think to cheat US in that way! We've
caught you, old feller, and we believe
we've caught a Mig! You'll know
more about it pretty soon y
Met by such torrent Of accusation,
the poor fellow thought it best to say as
little as possible at present, and TO await
events. zE1AsEs .5f<s
Presently Justice of the Peace en-
tered, and at his back coupe Of ladies,
resident in the village. Whatw was Ches.
ter jerks first great modification, TO
hear the justice saccosted on all sides as
Squire Maxwell! 1t took the courage out
Of his heartin an instant.
sLook here, sir, said Squire NJ. to
begin with. '.Sou are charged by these
women with entering their houses and
taking goods Of such and such descrip.
tion. Are you guilty or not guilty?" Z
Chester began long speech, but was
cut short at the outset. They did moi
come there to hear long speeches, or any
sort of speeches; but to see justice meas.
ured out to rogue and robber.
While this was going on constable
had the thought to examine his coat pock
cts; and, sure enough, from one of them
he 6shed up four silver spoons, with the
initials of one CT his female accusers quite
legibly engraven upon them! They wer,
held up as proof that he was the thief.
Whereupon Chester commenced an ex
planation of the manner in which b,
came not only by the stolen spoons, bu
BY the clothes also. ~ ,Da,.
i "a very likely story!" they all muir
INJURED, with sneer, in his ears, ga like
ly story!" asa as
The women testified both to the prop
f erty as theirs, and to the identity of th
+ prisoner The landlord identified hin
as the same fellow who had come in th
) stagecoach only the same afternoon; an
the few men who had yainly chased al
ter him freely offered their testimon
e that this was the same fellow they ha
: run out of town, and wore precisely tn
same clothes. fl sa# .a
: Could proof be more to the point?-
Chester jerks continued to protest. III
G. was laboring under a mingled sense {
e modification and confusion, at findin
e himself arraigned as criminal, and es
a pecially at having his case tried befol
the father of the very girl he had been S
q anxious to see. He thought of mention
ing to Squire Maxwell the name of h
q friend Tom Whiting; but then, on secon
thought, why need he make himse
known at all? It was already bad enough
: could he hope to better it in this way?-
Still he did not cease for a moment to pr,
test against the proceedings with all h
present vigor; to declare himself an inn
cent person, and the victim of a foul col
: spiracy; and to insist that the very cloth
: he wore were not his own, but had be,
!; left him in exchange for those he laid
: the rivers bank while bathing. A
:, however, to worse than no purpose;
,s now they thought him not only an o,
- and-out thief, but a consummate liar
"a the bargain. F.
L. "a 49,. /,