Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-01-26
A POLITE THIEF.
Tricks of the Graft.


The cashier of the firm of Hargous 8
! Co, 33 South sire 1t, was on Tuesday, be
tween the hours { l and 2, sitting at his
desk in the Office, busily engaged in WI
ting. While thus occupied, he saw gen
tleman enter the room, who was in all re
spects most neatly and elegantly dressed
A silk hat of the latest fashion was on his
! head, and fine, blue broadcloth coat upoI
his back. He coolly passed through the
railing that separated the desks from thS
rest Of the room, and, approaching The
cashier, begged his pardon for disturbing
him, and asked him in the poltest possible
manner for information on some details o
the shipping business of the neighbor
! hood.
The cashier, charmed by the mans ap
! pearance and manner, readily answered
and an entertaining conversation ensued
After some fifteen or twenty minutes had
in this way elapsed, the well dressed stran-
ger asked a sheet of note paper of he cash.
ier, saying he had a let er to write. The
paper was given to him, and he turned 0 q
desk tat stood directly behind the cashier,
| and there began writing. In this desk the
tin box used for taking deposits to the bank
was at that moment standing, and IL IT
were hundred-dollar bill; gold watch
four checks, two for gold and two for cur
rency, signed by the firm but not yet filled
some scrip of the Atlantic Insurance Com
eany; and few other papers OF no great
value OF this tin box, however, the
cashier had for the moment forgotten
The elegantly dressed writer continued
to ply his pen busilyfor about ten minutes,
when another gentleman entered the office.
He was quite respectfully dressed, but not
so well as the first. The cashier requested
to know in what way he could possibly
serve this last conner, and was told that he
merely wished moments conversation
with "tbat man who is writing over there
at the desk near the window" He too
passed through the railing, and the CASH
ier sat down again, with two perfect
strangers at his back.
The last conner seemed to have made the
writing of the other perfectly useless, for
he at once tore up his letter, thanked the
cashier for his kindness, and the two walk
ed out together. Down at the foot of the
stairs, the porter of the firm, one of its
carmen, and Custem House officer were
standing together in the doorway. They
saw the two strangers walk ont and down
the street, laughing and jostlipg each
other as if in the highest spirits. An hour
afterward the cashier had occasion to look
for his tin box, and found it missing. An
advertisement was at once inserted in the
papers, offering a reward of 5000 for the
recovery Of the box. and the untitled checks
were stopped at the bank.
Yesterday morning, at ten minutes past
ten o'clock, a man entered the same office
from which the box had on the previous
day been stolen. He asked if he was right
in supposing this was the office of Hargous
u Co., and icing a sured he was perfectly
| correct on that head, laid neatly-tied
package on the nearest desk. He then
stepped quickly out, fastened down the
street, sprang into q wagon that was in
waiting, and drove rapidly away. The
package he had left was opened, and all the
contents of the box at the time of It's disap-
pearance, except the hundred-dollar bill,
found in it, not even the gold watch being
missing. It Is surprising that the man who
had brought the package did not wait for
his reward. The Messrs. Hargous are SO
pleased at the politeness of the fellow who
stole the box and Of him who returned its
contents that they would like the affair to
occur again every once in WHILE merely
to witness such good behavior.
1t is supposed the men had been hanging
about the Office for some time, and knowing
that the stolen box often contained large
amounts of money, had made that the OBJ
| ject Of their manauvres.