Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-05-06
INTEREsfINa CASE.
Do 81 EDT-Ar---tH 10 u I
How a Mississippi Darky
Came An Possession Of
and spent $4,000.
A BeaI-streeter Receives Two
$500 Bills for $50
Worth Of Goods.
The Case I'm the Hands Of
the Detectives, and
$500 Recovered.


On Thursday last Mr. W. c. Page, re-
siding on Linden street, missed the
amount Of $780,, which he supposed to
have been stolen from his residence
The amount consisted Of two bills OF the
denomination of $1,000, two Of the
denomination of $500, and several bills
of smaller value, making in oil $500.
Some days before its disappearance was
discovered Mr.. P. had given the sum to
his wife for safe keeping, and by her 1t
had been inclosed in an envelope and
deposited under a clothes basket, in one
Of the apartments Of the house Here II
remained unknown to anyone for several
days, and in the meantime Mr.. r dis
posed Of his place and prepared to
move with his family out Of the
city. In the process of moving he hired
two negro men to assist him in taking up
and shaking his carpets, one ofwhom was
named Aaron Luster, while the name OF
the other he failed to ascertain. The
carpets were taken up and taken out to
be shaken, and among them was that on
the floor of the room in which the $4,000
had been deposited by Mrs. P.,and which,
by some oversight or thoughtlessness,
the lady had forgotten to remove before
setting the darkies at work. Conse-
quently, on taking the carpet out into
the yard the money under the basket was
taken with it, and, it would seem, was
picked up by the negro Luster, who put
it in his pocket, quite ignorant OF
the amount the envelope contained,
Their work over, the two darkies
then left the premises, and not
until they were out of sight did it occur
to Mrs. P. that she had forgotten to take
the money from under the basket A
search in the room and in the yard was
at once made, but in vain; the treasure
was nowhere to be found, and suppos
ing it to have been stolen by the two
negroes who had been employed to
shake the carpets, Mr.. Page at once
hurried to police headquarters and stated
the circumstances of the case to Colonel
Beaumont, who without delay put de-
tectives Hastings and McCune on the
track of the supposed thieves. This was
Thursday evening, and up to Friday
noon the detectives had failed to ascer-
tain any clue whatever to the where
abouts of the missing money or the
missing negroes in whose possession
it was supposed to be. The next
step to be taken was that OF
notifying the banks and brokers Of
fees of the city of the theft, and eau
tioning them against receiving bills Of
the denominations named from unknown
or irresponsible parties. This notice
was given without delay, aud the result
we shall presently see. In the meantime
we will return to the negro Luster, who
had left Mr.. Pages house with the funds.
From Mr.. Pages he at once proceeded
to the house of Archer Anderson, another
darby, living on the corner of Main and
Talbot streets. There he spent the
night, and, on rising in the morn
ing, rewarded the hospitality Of his
host by giving him bill
of the denomination of $500, and his
daughter another note oftwice that value
This done, he and Archie started out to
purchase family supplies, and here we
may mention that Luster was only in
the city on a visit, having left his family
at Carriers station, in Mississippi. The
first shop visited was that of Charles
Levy, on Beal street, near the bayou
bridge. Here Luster bought thirty dol
lars worth of dry goods, and offered in
settlement for the same, two five hun
dred dollar bills, which he evidently
thought to be fifties, mistake Levy took
no pains to correct, as he only re-
turned him 1.-The change that would
be coming to him out of ffties, quietly
slipping the two five hundreds into his
till. This purchase over, the two darkies
next proceeded to the house of Edmonds,
Todd & Co., 3Os Front street, where
Luster bought bill Of staple groceries
amounting to $3.50, which he settled for
and ordered to be shipped to him in Mis-
sissippi. Then visiting Morrison cigar
store, on Main street, he purchased an
assorted stock of goods, amounting to
sl75, in payment for which he handed
Mr.. Morrison $500 bill, receiving back
the right change. This completing his
purchases that evening, Luster started
for his home, taking with him the goods
purchased of Levy, and leaving the bal
ance to be shipped to him. On his way
down the country he spent 75 for a mule,
and finally reached his family with only
1928, out of the $500, in his pocket
And now to return to the detectives
Scarcely half hour had elapsed after
the notification of the bankers by Hast
ings and McCune, when an elderly negro
man made his appearance in the banking
house of Murphy & Cash and applied al
their counter for the change for hun
dred dollar bill, at the same time handing
the teller a note of the denomination
of $1,000. Here evidently was a clue,
and telling the negro to wait until he
4 IL