Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1858-07-23
ii was frightened nowniin earnest

AZ this rate i should soon, be utterly
ruined. told the man to, wait until af-i
ter breakfast, and would see what we
tc0uld do. He did not blame me, nor did
he seem anxious toiresort TO extreme
measures. though he would leave moth.
ing undone which could possibly lead to
the detection of the thief.
When the guests were all seated atthe
table for breakfast, 1 ran my eye Sareful>
lyto over the company, and found every
person there who had & been, there the
night before. Lcould detect no guilty,
looks. nor could ! find yillainous look
ing face. At length asked them to
give me their attention FOR a few minutes,
and when they were still Iitold them of
the letter l had received from New York;
OF the loss of over ten hundred dollars By
MIR. Luton; of the robbery Of the two
young men; and. finally, Of the heavy
robbery ofthe New Orleans merchant. /
told them l suspected no one. / looked
upon each and every one as honest. Yet
under the circumstances, hoped they
would all allow their baggage to be ex-
amined. At this young man Jumped
up and said. - -8I-i.
'Aye-I for one. demand to be exams
ined, and hope all will do the same.'
And then he put it to vote, request
ling all those in favor Of an examination to
rise. Every soul stood up in moment.
After the meal was done, a committee
was chosen from among the guests, and
| went with then over the house. We
6rst examined the persons themselves,
and then overhauled the trunks and box
a. Rut Tnfkinrr 0f IL
had been found. My own men had been
stationed at the doors so that no one
could leave. and thus we knew that all
had been searched.
Il could do no more then upon the
premises. The New Orleans merchant,
whose name was Lafont, concluded to
keep on to New York, but obtained from
me promise that 1 would leave no stone
unturned to find his money.
1.-Two days after this, planter from
Kentucky stopped with nae, and on the
very first night of his stay his trunk was
robbed Of eight thousand dollars, while
another man on the same night, lost near
four thousand! On the next day, when
this became known, forty seven of my
best boarders left me. They would stay
no longer where they were in constant
danger of being robbed Of everything, and
where, moreover, they were constantly
liable of being suspected of crime.
L began to grow desperate. There
was a thief quartered upon mean ex.
pert and mysterious thief-and determ-
ned to find him il it lay in the power ol
human possibility. II did not, my pa,
irons would all leave me, and my grow
ing business would be ruined. That very
afternoon the stage from Oswego brought
wealthy family who were on their way
to Mississippi. [ gave them the same
rooms Mr.. Lafont had occupied, and then
determined to keep watch upon them
during the night. l said nothing to any
one OF my purpose. but when the guests
had all retired, l took my position where
no one would be likely to see me, but yet
where l could see the door of the apart>
ment in question. There was no light
burning in this upper hail.. but the star.
light from the two large windows would
enable me TO detect any one within my
range of vision. 90
1T was very near midnight when 1
took my post. The clock struck one
then two-and yet no sound had been
heard by me. Perhaps the thief had
gone; or, may be, he was afraid TO ven-
ture SO soon. Half an hour more passed,
and my watch was growing wearisome.
when suddenly there was movement as
of door being opened very softly, and
in few moments more dark figure gil,
ded across the hall. 1t was slight form,
and 10 female attire. looked more
sharply, and finally satisfied myself that
it was Clara Luton, and supposed that
she must be after something for her fa-
ther. But no. She moved directly to
the door Of the strangers room, and
placed her ear to the key hole, and at the
end Of a minute she glided back as she
had come.
4 began to be interested. What could
that girl be doing out there at such a
time? There was not much time for re-
Election. Very soon the sound of the
carefully opened door came again. and in
few seconds another object presented
itself. This object was tall and dark, and
moved with cat>like noiseless tread,
and from single ray of light which shot
out before knew that it must boar
dark lantern. Who could it be? Surely
not DR.. Adams, for he went away before
"oou. Du' ~ was euouSn LOT me 10 90 10
watch the PERSONS movements. He-for
it was man-stooped downito to the lock
of the door, and ere long he had it open.
He entered the room beyond-the room
where my new guest slept-without hav-
ing, as yet, made sound which could
be heard since passing his own door,
determined to wait until he came out and
then confront him. -
THE minutes passed on-twenty of
them at least-and finally the man re an.