White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1859-05-05

explained. That the carpenter had him
self pledged the silver plate with tn
wood merchant, without having received
it from Nicholas, was now likely enough
he had accused him, probably. only tt
screen himself. But how came Nicholas
handkerchief to be found by the side o
the hedge? How came the excise receipt
which belonged to him. to be used as I
match by the thieves The carpentel
and his comrades declared that as to thest
facts they knew nothing and as they had
now no inducement to conceal the truth
there could be no reasonable doubt that
their statement might, in the particulars,
be depended upon.
The suspicion again arose that other
accomplices must be concerned in the az
fair; and the subject of the letter from
the corporal who had deserted, became
anew the subject of attention. If not
written by himself, it might have been
written by another at his suggestion, and
in one way or other it might have a con-
nection with the mysterious subject ofthe
robbery.
In fact, while the proceedings against
the carpenter and his associates were in
progress, an incident had occurred. which
could not fail to awaken curiosity and
attention with regard to this letter. The
schoolmaster of o village about league
from the town presented himself before
the authorities, exhibited scrap of paper,
on which nothing appeared but the name
of Joseph Christian Ruhler, and inquired
whether, shortly before, letter in this
handwriting, and subscribed with this
name, had not been transmitted to the
court? On comparing the handwriting
of the letter with the paper exhibited by
the schoolmaster, it was unqueStionable
that both were the production of the same
hand.
The statement of the schooImaster was
this -
In the village where he resided, there
was q deaf and dumb young man, named
Henry Hechting, who had been sent by the
parish to the schoolmaster for board and
education. He hal succeeded in impart-
ing to the unfortunate youth the art Of
writing so perfectly, indeed, that he
could communicate with any one by
means of slate and slate-pencil, which
he always carried about with him. He
also wrote so fair hand, that he was
employed by many persons, and even
sometimes by the authorities, to transcribe
or copy writings for them. Some time
before, an unknown person had appeared
in the village, and inquired after the deaf
and dumb young man in the schoolmas-
ter's absence, and had taken him with
him to the ale-house, to write something
for him. The unknown had called for a
private room, ordered a bottle of wine,
and by means of the slate, gave him to
understand that he wanted him to make a
clean copy of draft of letter which he
produced. Hechting did so at once with
ont suspicion. Still, the contents of the
letter appeared to him of peculiar and
questionable kind, and the whole demean-
or of the stranger evinced restlessness
and anxiety When he came, however,
to add the address of the letter, ''To Herr
Van der R, Burgomaster of M"
he hesitated to do so, and yielded only to
the pressing entreaties of the stranger,
who paid him gulden for his trouble,
requesting him to preserve strict silence
as to the whole affair.
The deaf and dumb young man. when
he began to reflect on the matter, felt
more aud more convinced that he had I'M
consciously been made party to some
illegal transaction. He at last confessed
the whole to his instructor, who at once
perceived that there existed close con-
nection between the incident which had
occurred, and the criminal procedure in
the noted case of the robbery The letter
of the corporal had already got into cir
culation in the neighSorheod, and was
plainly the one which his pupil had been
employed to copy. The schoolmaster. at
his own hand, set on foot a small prelim-
mary inquiry. He FASTENED to the inn
keeper of the village inn, and asked him
if he could recolleet the stranger who
some DAYS before had ordered a private
room and bottle of wine, and who had
been for some time shut up with the deaf
and dumb lad. The host remembered
tie circumstance, but did not know the
man. His wife, however, reeollected that
she had seen him talking on terms of cor
dial familiarity with the corn-miller,
Overblink, as he was resting at the inn
with his carts. The schoolmaster repair
ed on the spot to 0verblink, inquired who
was the man with whom he had conversed
and shaken hands some days before at
the inn and the miller, without mach
hesitation, answered, that he remembered
the day, the circumstance. and the man,
very we'll; and that the latter was his old
acuuaintance, the baker, H, from the
town. The schoolmaster FASTENED to lay
these particulars before the authorities.
How, then, was the well-known baker,
H, implicated in this affair, which
seemed gradually to be expanding itself
SO strangely? The facts as to the rob
bery itself, seemed exhausted by the con-
fessions ofthe carpenter and his associates.
They alone had broken into the house
thew alone had carried of and appropria-
ted the stolen articles. And yet, if the
bakef,was entirely unconnected with the
matter. what could be his motive for
mixing himself up with. the transaction,
and writing letters, as If to avert suspi-
cion from those who had been first accu-
sed ? Was his motive simply compass