The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-09-07
was net cowed or taken abaek az all,
he ,ssyS 'do YOU think I should be such
3 bern fool as to rob myseifH' - q.

hs siys: "do yoe think Ishould be such
bern fool as to rob mysetfr' %" 81
"That's another plain question: 30 if
| You want another plain answer, here it
is: not yourself exactly but your cred
itors. That's abont the breadth of it,,
Then he began to bluster again. In
the midst Of which I left him and
walked after Driver, who said :''What
| were q jawiog with tho cove about :
Twas his own oraok."
Right you are,' said / !; saud what's
more I told him so."
"You see, sir" said the detective 10
explanation, "the marks on tho window.
sill were ali made from the inside"
It will astonish the unsophisticated
reader to learn that the proceeds Of
robbery are ofton not recovered because
it would not pay to rooover them. A
detective is sent for the day following q
burglary. He receives description VI
the spoil. He knows by What channel
-as we shall presently ehow-intelli-
genee may be conveyed to the present
holder of the booty that the person
robbed will give so much for the restora.
tion of his valuables. But where moth
ing Is offered tho plato goes to the limbo
Of the melting pot.
With watches, the rogues melt the
cases, and having erased name aud mum.
Der on tho works, put them into fresh
cases. Rings or bracelets they denude
of stones, which they dispose Of on the
continent, or even at home, except in
some cases, when they send them as
they are, if bearing no name, crest, or
mark, to the richer colonies. Indeed,
it is a we'll known fact that the wife OF q
very high official had bracelet offered
to her in one Of the FIRST shops in Mel
bourne that had been stolen from her
house in Park Lane, London, but fifteen
months before.
Even bank notes, though stopped, can
be got rid Of; aud there is plenty Of ma
chinery for doing so. A stranger lost
several Bank of England notes for fifty
pounds each IN certain provincial
town. Notice was given to the branch
Bank of England in the same place Of
the loss, the number of the notes being
also supplied to the district manager
Now, Bank Of England notes, when once
paid into Threadneedle street, are never
reissued, even if they have only left the
bank new the same day.
No fear was felt Of their getting
abroad again if they once went "home";
80 a duplicate list Of the lost notes was
forwarded more leisurely to town. In
about six weeks news was sent down to
tho provincial town to the effect that the
notes had reached home. The police
noxt set about tracing the notes. They
had been paid by q bank in the provin-
cial town to their city agents. The
country bank had received them from
a professional gentleman, and they had
been paid to him by "a tradesman in a
large way of business, who had been
long suspected by the police Of being
abruptly stopped, aud could be pursued
no further.
The tradesman said he could not tell
whom he had the note from. Invited
by the police to attend before the magis
trato he repeated the same tale
Asked particularly by the magistrates
clerk if he took so many 6fty.pound
notes in day that he could not tell
whence they came, he replied, genor.
ally, that he often took fifty. pound
notes without endorsing them, and this
must be one ; and he positively could
not tell how the note had come into his
hands, except that he knew it must
have been in the regular course Of
trade. And 80 it ended.
Now, if this had been man in
small way of business be could not have
got of by such an excuse. The police
were morally sure tho tradcslman had
bought the fifty pound note, but they
could not prove it. The vastness Of his
business protected this man; whereas
the petty trader, being unable to urge
such plea, would have been caught
and trounccd.