The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-05-06


two of his small "force" in pursuit of
them, and hence there was the more need
for his personal vigilance.
"I shall be back at two, as usual, my
dear, if not before" said Mr.. John StOtt.
About two a. m, from long habit, the
wife of the chiefcOnstable was accustom-
ed to awake and presently to hear her hus-
bands heavy football coming up the stairs i;
but upon the present occasion there was
no such welcome sound. She sat up in
bed with her night cap tucked behind her
ears, and listened attentively, but In vain,
for him. notwithstanding his precarious
calling, Mr. Stott was model of punctu-
ality, and as Time (which in her opinion
was almost the only thing that could do
it) went on without him, she began to be
seriously alarmed lest this admirable man.
whom human ingenuity had never yet
baffied, had been overwhelmed by euvi-
Gus Fate. There had been thunder in the
air that Eight. and a bolt might have
struck him. But at daylight she heard the
front-dOOr open, and slow tread come
up the stairs. The wife of a chiefconsta-
BILE should be above the suspicion of trepi-
datiOn, but it was so unlike his ordinary
step, that it made her heart 60 pitapat.
However, it soas her husband, whose noble
spirit something had evidently cast down.
Instead of kicking his boots across the
room, as usual, he drew them of, and then
sat in his stockings, thinking.
"John" said she, in much confusion and
alarm, "what is the matter, my dear !?
Have you not caught them albatrosses? p
mean albinos."
"Yes, ma'sm, they're safe enough, but
the deuce of it is that-in their absence
there has been another burglary.
Mrs. Colonel Peewit's house has been
broken into just in the same way-through
the second floor back window. It's moth
ing less than magic, for that had mignO-
nette- box, and there is no mark of lad
der to be found there neither. I've had
nv bulls eye over every square inch of
it."
"Lor, John!"
"There was nobody in the room," went
on the chiefconstable, musing, land the
window was open, so that the thing might
have been done easy enough, when he
had once got there. But how he ever did
get there, that's the question, ,-unless the
devil had wings"
"But the Devil las wingsH was Mrs.
StOtt's involuntary exclamation the good
lady was so flustered by her late anxiety,
that for once she spoke in a hurry.
"You will presently cause me to imag-
inc that / have made second mistake in
my life, ma'am,-in the having married q
fool" was her husbands stern rejoinder.
Then he went on soliloouizing. "The
thief, who ever he was, took the same
things,-rings and pins, and such-like,-
but he also took plated inkstand. That
locks as if he did not know his trade.
And vet, to have effected an entrance just
where nobody would have thought such
thing practicable, he must have been most
uncommon cunning. Cunning? No, for
then l should see the thing as plain as the
church tower. It's downright unaccounta-
BILE. How is it humanity possible that
things can he stole out of a second floor
window without a ladder, or anything to
climb up by, unless it's q water-spOut,-
that's what [ want to know. And what's
more, even if he got up, how did he ever
get down AGAIN."
Hearing these remarks put aloud, and in
an interrOgative form, Mrs. StOtt thought
1t incumbent upon her to speak, and the
more so, as she had ingeniously elabor-
ated theory of her own to account for
the whole mystery.
"If nobody could have got in from the
outside, John, people as was inside
could have done it easy enough. 1t was
one of them trapesing servant girls, who
dresses so fine, and is always wanting
money to buy gewgaws, you may take my
word for it,"
~ don't suppose, ma'am," returned the
chief constable, with supreme contempt,
"that the Bench of Justices would take
your word for it, even if was weak
enough to do sO,-which | am not. The
servants are all aboVe suspicion, both at
Sir Roberts and Mrs. Peewit's, that was
the first thing as We looked to, of course.
But even if it were otherwise, do you sup
pose that thieving is an epidemic, that it
should break out in one household to-day,
and in another tomorrow, as this has
done? You had better go to sleep, ma'am,
and leave me to think the matter out
alone" Which, accordingly, this great
man, having drawn his night cap on, the
better to consider in, proceeded to do.
Two burglaries on two following nights,
in town under his personal superinteD-
dence, and nobody yet in custody! He
had never imagined that such plot could
befall his 'scutcheon 1t was not impossi-
BILE, in town so slenderly guarded, that a
ladder might have been employed without
detection, but, most certainly in neither of
these cases had such an instrument been
used The flower boxes had, in both in
stances, projected beyond the sill, so that
the top of any ladder must have rested on
them, and left its mark. There was also
no trace of the foot of it in the soil below,
or sign of an attempt to remove such
trace, - although, in the case of Sir
Roberts house, there was a flower bed i'm
mediately beneath the window" Mr..
Stott, in short, brought all his intelligence
to bear upon this problem in vain, and
nothing came of it but headache.
Next day, the whole town was
in state of intense alarm. The
previous robbery had created much
excitement among the inhabitants,
but not so much on account of the crime
as of the sagacious manner in which thei
chief-constable had discovered the model
depreciation but now, not only had a &c
ona outrage been committed, but theiact
of its occurrence while the acrobatswere
away had proved theiI innocence this
particular Offense (though the magistrates,
not knowing how else to account or their
seizure, committed them for ponth, as
rogues and vagabOnds), and negaived MT
John Stott's solution of the riddle Alto
pether. The chairman of the Bench, who
had been accustomed to suck that ofcia!s
brains before addressing his audiece In
the Town hall, had nothing to sayupon
the subject except to recommend people
to shut their second-hoor windowswhich,
since it was very warm weather, td most
of them cultivated flower boxes did not
give general satisfaction.
The next night, the mayors IN house
was robbed in precisely simir manner
1t was on Friday, and the lsal papers,