The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-02-20
From the Milwaukee Wisconsin, Feb. 3. ]
A Child SOmnambulist- Singular Dis
cOvery Of Stolen Property.

| Stockholm, Iowa, was in the city yes
terday, in search of young man
named Casper Schmidth, who was
wanted out in his section on suspicion
of having committed a robbery there
some three months ago The robbery
and the attendant circumstances are OF
| a peculiar nature, and as we have
them from Sheriff Peterson are as fol
lows;
Some three months ago farmer
named knuteson, living a few miles
| from New Stockholm, went away from
his house, leaving at home daughter
about thirteen years of age. and the
only occupant Of the house. Upon the
return of Knuteson he found his little
girl lying on the bed in a halfinsensible
state. From marks about the girls
neck it appeared that she had been
severely choked and sadly frightened
AS soon as she had in degree re-
covered, she told her father that shortly
after he had left the house man came
/ in, went to bureau, in a drawer Of
which was pocket book containing
two 500 and one $50 Government
bonds and papers of value, and took
the book with its contents. Upon Sc
curing these the man grasped the child
by the throat and made her swear by
all the solemn oaths he could think OF
not to tell her father or anybody else
who he was, or give hint which
might lead to his detection. Aside
from the bonds, the book contained pa
pers which were of Importance to the
farmer, and the loss of which he
severely felt The girl acknowledged
that she knew the man well, but she
could not tell who he was, as she had
promised not to. She seemed to feel
the greatest regret at the sorrow of her
father over the loss of papers so valua-
BILE to him but despite all this she
could not be induced to give the name
of the thief. Whenever urged to do so,
with tears she said she could not-she
had given her promise and she could
not break it.
The grief of the girl at the sorrow of
the father, and the excitement through
which she passed, were the means of
throwing her into severe fever, and
for many days she was quite of out Of
her head. In her delirium she talked
necessarily of the robbery, but the only
word she uttered that in any way gave
clue to the robbery, was an occasional
appeal to Caspar" to spare her, and
she would not tell. AS Caspar Schmidth
was a young man who formerly worked
for her father on the farm, and was we'll
known by the girl, suspicion turned to-
wards him, as he had been tracked
from New Stockholm to this CITY, the
officer came here in search for him.
AS it was shown that Casper had re-
manned in Milwaukee but a few DAYS
and left, the search was Intellectual.
When the child had nearly recovered
| from her illness, and was able to walk
about little, its mother, who slept with
it, awoke just at daylight one morning
to find the bed empty. Calling, and re-
ceiving no answer, the mother gave
the alarm to the father, who arose and
fastened out of the house. In the
light snow that had fallen, he saw
tracks of the child's feet leading to the
barn, and followed them. Entering the
barn the father saw sight which pa
ralyzed him. A single timber stretch
ed from scaffolding to a small plat
form high up, and on this timber the
girl was slowly working her way along.
The position was dangerous one, and
the father was aware that few persons,
even with steady nerves, would care to
take it, as misstep would cause fall
of at least twenty feet. The father, not
daring to speak, and fairly holding his
breath from fear, watched the girl as
she made her way across the timber,
and breathed easier when he saw her
at length reach the platform and secure
firm ,foothold Then she reached
among some old boxes, and drew out
the lost pocket-book. As she did so
she uttered Il cry of joy, and Immediately
after a cry of alright.
The farmer did not stop, but reached
the platform by ladder and when
there found the girl holding the lost
pocket-book in her hand and trembling
with fear. The girl was in her night
clothes, and was soon taken from her
position and into the house and to bed
She could give no account of
how she reached the platform, only that
she had been thinking very hard of the
fathers loss, and had dreamed one
night that the thief had gone to the
barn, and up to the scaffolding and
across the timber, and had hidden the
stolen article among the old boxes.
She had dreamed, too, of following him
and recovering it, and it was under
stood that she had made the perilous
trip in her sleep.
The pocket-pook was found to contain all
the papers lost excepting the bonds, and
the finding was to those about another evil
dence Of the guilt of the young man Cas-
per, he having frequently walked across the
timber preferring the dangerous route to
the more easy one of ascending the ladder,
when he had business among the old boxes
CALIFORNIA TIN MINEs.-California
is about to add to her mineral wealth a
n, q tario1 item in tho choDo Of +;,, Tho