Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1868-06-26
Crime.
A HIGH.TONED HOUSE-BREAKER.
The Amenities OF burglary.

IRWIN the Alta tailtorhia, o"hO VI
The other night q well-to-do citizen was
reused from his slumbers by something
stirring In his room, and starting suddenly
to his feet stood face to face with genuine
live burglar.
ht@t tne - are you uoinB hoio
demanded the proprietor of the house, with
voice that trembled a little with honest
rage and natural excitement Thereupon
the burglar presented very ugly-iooking
knife, as the citizen discovered
''By the misty moonbeam's struggling light,
And the tstreet) lantern dimly burning,
and thus delivered himself "Gently, my
good friend, gently! don't want to hurt
you, / assure you, and as 1 have got thro'
with my work for the night, am prepared
to leave you in peace but don't attempt
to touch me; if you do, / must act on the
first great law of nature. That law need
hardly say is self-preservation. 1 am, sir,
gentleman reduced to follow the business
at which you have surprised me, by I'M
toward circumstances. 1 have seen better
days, and am not thief by choice or nat
ural depravity of heart. If 1 had my
choice, / should be conducting bank
with capital of eight or ten millions of dol
lars but financial operations of that extent
are at this time little beyond my means.
Now, don't stir or attempt to call for help
before l get out of hearing, or 1T Will be
worse for you. 1t is painful TO me to be
compelled to put you to this trouble, but
circumstances over which / have no con-
troll compel me to do it. Good night, or,
rather, should say, good morning, sir J!
and he quietly backed to the door, bowed
solemnly, and departed as he came, our
friend not having the heart to hurt the feel
ings of such a gentlemanly and hlgh-toned
burglar, under the circumstances. 1t
is needless to say that the gentleman who
had seen better days carried on everything
of value which fell in his reach that night.
A few mornings later wealthy member
of the medical faculty, who resides in the
immediate vicinity. discovered, on rising in
the morning, that the lower part of his
house was all open, and that somebody
who had no legal right to be there had
| been through it. There was nothing miss
ing, save fancy plated candelabra nom
the mantel which was found wrapped up
! in cloth and thrown into the nelghbOr1ng
premises, and fancy Japanese cabinet. =
| Next day, the front door bell was rang, and
on going to the door, the servant found
the cabinet, wrapped in cloth covered
with sand dust, standing on the door step.
On the top of the cabinet was letter,
written in faultless hand, and grammatlc-
ally worded, as follows. We copy verbatim
SAN Francisco, May 1, 1868
| MADAM: called, uninvted, at your resi-
dence this morning. Having spent the pre-
! yious portion of the night cOnvivially, all my
ideas were confused and, TO my chagrin, day
dawned as l entered your dining room. This
is the reason that | did not explore your
sleeping apartments for money, watches, ct
cetera, and took your gem of Japanese art
from pique at my disappointment, and hid 1T
under the sidewalk i'll the sand, as people
were gazing curiously at it.
| If [ had got to business at a. M, your
house and that of your neighbors adjoining
would have been stripped by a. M; as 1t is,
| 1 have furnished another illustration OF the
| folly of attending to business after pleasure.
Seeing the well-selected books on your
shelves and the Bible on your etagere, the
portrait of the immortal Webster on your
mantel, Judge that you are neither for
eigner nor democrat, hence return your
property, and pledge my honor never to annoy
| you more.
came to California firmly resolved to be
honest in strange land; hunger and cold
forced me back into my old career: but when
| 1 have got out of the present scrape will cut
my throat rather than steal again.
! 1fyou are pious, pray for me, for have a
mother whose gray hairs would so down in
sorrow TO the grave if she knew of my mis-
cradle fate. Yours, lsHMAEL.