The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-06-28

ness which no words of mine could ex-
press. turned for a moment, as eros
sed the threshold, for last look at my
opponent lying motionless across the
hearth, and as | did so my eye fell on
she portmanteau, and acting on the i'm
pulse of the moment, | seized it, and
finging it over my shoulder, closed the
door behind me and hurried away into
the silent streets.
To the first constable whom I met, I
gave myself and the portmanteau in
charge, and was by him hurried off to
the station, where l told my strange story
in as few words as possible; and four
constables were despatched to the house,
which was at once recognized from my
description. as it had long been looked on
with suspicion. When they returned, it
was in company Of two out of the three
inmates of the house but the stout man
had got clear away before their arrival
The slim man who had recovered his wits
by this time, finding The game up, voun-
tcered a confession, the details oe which
were afterwards found to be substantially
correct, and the chief points of which
will now give you as briefly as may be.
The jewelry, &C., contained in the
portmanteau had been stolen from the
establishment of Bellingham & Co, the
great jewellers and dsiversmiths of Melting
shall Mr.. Bellngham's chief assistant
and confidential servant was one Matthew
Lamplough-he who has hitherto been
designated as the slim mana person
who had gradually worked himself up
from the position ofshop-boy, till he had
become practically the manager of the
whole concern, for Mr.. Bellingham was
getting old, and glad 10 move some of
the cares of business on to more youthful
shoulders. But Lamplough's ambition
at last overstepped his prudence, as he
found to his cost, when he one day asked
the old man to give him his daughters
hand in marriage-his daughter, who
was 50 handsome and SO accomplished,
and would some day have thirty thousand
pounds to call her own. The old mans
reply, as soon as amazcment would let
him speak, WAS premptory refusal, ac
companied by some disparaging remarks
on the vileness of Matthews origin he
had gone to Bcllingham e Co.'S from the
workhuuse-an followed up by the in
timation that he, Matthew should retain
his confidential post no longer, but be put
back 10 the position Of AN ordinary as-is-
tant n the establishment. Matthew
vowed to be revcnged and he kept his
II a. Il
that he made the acquaintance of an in
dividual going by the name of Captain
de Naux-tne stout man Of my narrative
"A gay da>hing fellow of insinuating
manner, who was staying for few
weeks at the best hotel in Mellingshall.
De Naux was not long before he wormed
into Matthew's confidence. and heard
from his lips the narrative of his wrongs.
as he deemed them TO be and then by
slow degrees he untolded plan by which
Lamplougr might both revenge and en-
rich himeelf at the same time. Matthew
stared aghast at the proposal when it was
first unfolded to him; but the cunning
De Naux gradually familiarized him
with the idea, till at length he seized il
with avidily. The first thing to do was
to obtain duplicate keys of the strong
boxes in which the stock of Bellingham
& Co. was stored in the cellars below the
shop. Wax impressions of the genuine
keys were easily obtained by Matthew,
from which Da Vaux had real keys man.
uiactured After these had been tried
ana found 10 answer, the time for theiI
enterprise was fixed, and all needtul pre-.
parations made by Dc Vauy for its sue
ces,tul issue.
Mr.. liellingha,i always left town on
: Saturday evenings, to spend Sunday al
his villa in the country, the premises be-
ing left in charge of Matthew and two
other assistants. 1t was agreed that
Matthew should ask for leave of absence
from Saturday night TILL Monday morning
and that after the departure of Mr.. Bel
linsham, he should 90 down into the Gel,
lars, open the safes with his false keys,
load his portmanteau with the most val
uable property he could find, relock the
safes and then quietly take his departure,
as though he were going on his proposed
journey. All this was safely accomplish.
ed. Lamplough got out of the house
without being suspected by his fellow-ser-
wants, but not till half an hour past the
time agreed on, so that when he and De
, Vaux reached the station, they found that
the last north train had been gone five
minutes. Their plan had been to get
down by train to the station nearest De
, Vaux house, then take she cab which
, would be in waiting for them, and SC
reach home about one o'clock in the
morning. Here the spoil was to be divi-
ded, the necessary disguises assumed
and by six O'Clock on Sunday morning,
, they were to be on board one of the for
eign steamers which started at that hour
from a neighboring port, by which means
. they would be safe out of England before
} the robbery was discovered. The rest
tyou know.
, The old man was too cunning TO allow
himself TO be implicated in any way
Captain de Vaux was merely his lodger,
he said; as to what his pursuits were he
J knew nothing; and he had been requested
to take care of me as being a mild luna
tic, whom De Vaux was about to conduct
TO private asylum, i may mention
that in hia vounuar 1ava tho oil ,,,a,, a., 4