The Placer herald., 1862-11-01


poor man, or that my house has been broken
into at all, SO far as can discover. No, sir
mol The money has been taken--several
times-a bag at time- and nothing has
been disturbed. NV doors and wind ows,
which have always bolted and locked | hsve
never found unbolted or unlocked, which
must have been the case if any one had come
in that way. And then my safe is always
found just as leave it, and the key fastened
to my body by the iron chain. The first
bag of gold missed, (oh heaven, be merci
fulOwas about two months ago, and could
not believe it was gone until | had count
ed the remaining bags over and over, per
haps fifty Times. Then tried to believe
had taken 1t out myself. and mis- aid it, and
| spent two days in searching the whole
hohse--every nook and cranny-every likely
aud unlikely place. Well, sir, a week went
along, aud another bag was missing, Hor
ribe mystery Since that have lost three
more--lhe last one last nght-and human
nature can endure it no more! Oh, sir find
out the thief aud restore me my missing
gold, and | iII-wlI-worship you, sir"
| smiled at getting a miser's worship in
re.urn for my trouble for detecting mystic
rious thief, ,-and restoring the owner large
amount 81 gold; and sad facetiously: "Un
questionaby what you offer is very va liable
in your estimation; but neither a miser's
blessing or curse will pass current for fent,
food, or clothing. No. Mr.-a-"
"Brandish-Stephen Brandsh"
mo, sir, Mr., Brandish, if undertake
this business of detecting secret thief, and
get back your money, or any portion of it, |
mnst be paid in god-gold, sir, gold-tor |,
too like gold-though for what it will buy,
and not to worship"
For long time we could not agree upon
terms; but AT asst having got that matter seti
tied to my satisfaction, | entered with great
zest into the penetration and unraveIment of
what was really a very wonderful mystery.
That night, after dark, | made my appear
ance to the miser's house; and being admit
ted and the door serured; began my in
spection Of The premises. | went up to the
roof, and down to the cellar, searching min
urey all the walls, doors and cell ngs, for
some possible place where a thief might en-
ter or secrete himself The house was an
old, crazy structure, sure enough; but |
found nothing to give me clue to the mys
terry The doors and windows were all fast
ened on the inside, and the bolts, | assured
myself by close examination, were all
sound and in good order. In the cellar was
a wei! from which the old man drew what
water he used and | satisfied myself there
was nothing suspicious about that. Then |
went round the walls and tried every stone
of any size, to see if it might be removed;
but all were fast and solid. At last | came
to the money safe, which was curiousIy
built in the ground, with the iron door up
wards, like trap door, and which was effect
ually concealed by scattering dirt over it.
Il must see the inside of this said |.
ooh, sir" returned the old miser, lremb
ling at the thought of exposing his riches,
'you will not take advantage of an Old man!
You will not beray me! You will promise
ths-you will swear i'll"
might have got offended at this question
of my honesty from any other; but took
INTO consi Grafton the pecuIi'ri,ies of the
afflicted miser, and readily promised all he
required, even going SO far as to take an
oath of secresy. At last, after much hesi
laton and demurring, he ventured to expose
the interior Of the safe to my gaze. 1t con
tained twenty-five heavy bags Of gold, with
a large amount Of silver thrown in loosely;
but the bottom, sides, and all parts of il,
save the iron door, were composed of thick
granite, perfectly cemented, and had never
been disturbed since being put together.
My inspection of the house was now com
pleted, but without gaining tho slightest clue
of the mystery of the robberes. could disl
cover no place where any one could have eni
tered, and there WAS certainly no one now
concealed in the house. | questioned the
mser AS to who had visited him. but he
positively declared that, myself excepted,
WAS the only one he had permitted to cross
his threshold since taking up his solitary
abode there, was at a sand-l knew not
what to suggest. Had but one bag been
missing-or had he only been robbed once
the matter would have seemed susceptible
of some rational solution; but TO be robbed
| five several times at irregular intervals, and
the thief to be so torhearing AS to take only
comparatively small portion at each time,
and then wlhal leave no trace, save the loss,
of his having been there-this it was that
puzzled and perpIexed me exceedingly. |
finally went away, at a late hour, promising
to give the matter my serious consideration,
and the old man agreeing to communicate
with me Immediately on the occurrence of
anything new.
Three days after he again appeared in
halfdistracted state, and declared that the
night previous be had been robbed of anoth-
er bag of gold Again repaired 10 his
house. and made another thorough search,
going from cellar to roof, and from roof to
cellar, examining everything, even to the old
rotten straw bed, but only to end as wise AS
began. made him open his safe again,
and saw with my own eyes that only twenty
four bags remained; and | knew from his
appearance that the money was really lost,
since it was not possible Tor any one TO coun'
terfeit such wretched grief and terror as his
countenance, Iangnage and manner express.