The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1869-09-18
a Quaker Detective.
BY JUDGE CLARK.

| 5 -. = z
We were. five passengers in all two
ladies on the back scat, a middlc-aged
gentleman aud a Quaker in he middle
and myself on the other n front. E
The two 1adieslaight have been mother
and daughter. aunt and niece,s governess
and charge, or might have sustained any
other relationship which made ii proper
for tvs ladies' to travel alone and unat-
tended
| The middle.agod gentleman was
sprightly and talkativs. He soon struck
i up an acquaintaace with the ladies,
toward whom in his zeal to do, he rather
more oyerdid than was perfectly agreea-
BILE, bowing and smiling and chatting
over his shoulder in way painfully
suggestive, at his time of life, of a sscrick''
in his neck. He was evidently a gray
Lotharie.
The Quaker wore the uniform of his
sect, and confined his speech, as many a
parliameutarian would save credit by
doing, to simple s.yeas' and nays AS
for myself, | make it an invariable rule
of the road to be merely looker.on and
| listener.
Toward evening I was aroused from
one of those reveries which a young man,
without being either a poet or a lover,
sometimes falls into, by the startling aud
rather abrupt query Of the talkative
gentleman:
ssAre you armed :"
/ II am not, I answered, astonished,
no doubt visibly, at.the question
81 am sorry to hear it, he replied,
ssfor before reaching our next stopping
place it will be several hours into the
! night, and we must pass over portion
| Of the road on which more than one rob-
berry is reported to have been lately COM
| mitted.o
The ladies turned pale, but the stran-
ger didohis best to re-assure them.
"Not that I think there is the slightest
danger at present. he resumed, ssonly
when one is responsible for the safety of
ladies, you know, such thing as a pis-
tol within reach would materially add to
ones confidence. :,
Your principles, my friend, ad-
dressing the Quaker, 81 presume, are as
much opposed to carrying as using carnal
weapons
YEA was the response.
.Have, the villains murdered any of
their victims 7" the elder lady nervously
inquired.
.sOr have they contented themselves
with-with- ssering them ?' added
the younger, ina timorous voice.
Decidedly the latter the amiable
gentleman hastcned to give assurance
sand as none of US are prepared to offer
resistance in case Of attack, nothing
worse than robbery can possibly befall
u.s.
Then, after blaming his thoughtles
ness in having introduced disagreeable
subject, the gentleman quite excelled
himself In his efforts to raise the spirits
of the company, and succeeded so well
by the time night set in, that all had
quite forgotten or only remembered their
fears to laugh at them.
Our genial companion fairly talked
himself hoarse-perceiving which, he
took from his pocket package of newly
invented g cough candy, and, after
passing it first to the ladies, he helped
himself to the balance, and tossed the
paper out of the window
He was in the midst of a high encona-
ium on the new nostrum, more than half
the efficacy of which, he insisted, de-
when shrill whistle was heard, and al ]
nosb ImmtaialSly M6 lQPPSu3S " y cl IVY
faces, hideonsly blacked presented them
selves, one at each window.
ssSorry to trouble you, said the man
on the right, acknowledging with q bow
two lady-like screams from the back
seat, but business is business, and ours
will soen be over if things go smoothly"
aOf course, gentlemen, you viii spare,
as far as consistent with your disagreed
BILE duty, the feelings of these ladies'"
appealed the polite passenger in his
blandest manner.
aOh, certainly i they shall be attended
to first, and shall not be required to
leave their seats, Or submit to search
unless their conduct renders it neces-
sary.0
SAnd now, ladies' continued the
robber, the barrel Of his pistol glittering
in the light Of the coach lamp, be SO
good as to pass out your purses, watches,
and such otber trinkets as may be acces-
sible without too much trouble.'
The ladies' came down handsomely, /
and were no furfher molested.
One BY one the rest of us were COM
PEELED to get out, the middle-aged gem
tleman's turn coming first. He sub
mitted with = winning grace, and was
robbed like . very Chesterfield.
Ny own affair, like the sum I lost, is
scarcely worth mentioning. The Qua
kcr's turn cane next. He quietly
handed over His pooket-book and watch.
and when as<ed if be had any other val
uables, said
4 Quakerz word i god even among |