The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-04-06

thirteen hundred thousand six hundret
and forty-three dollars and fifty-cents o.
the other. 1t is rarely that brother caI
be made so useful, dead or alive, especially
with only four quarters.
The next business, after getting his quad
relateral brother home, was to bury hin
without creating suspicion among tn,
neighbors. To account reasonably for hi
death, a servant was sent for some drug
store whisky, under the pretense that Cas-
sim wanted it for medical purposes, so wher
it was given out the next day that tbs
whisky killed him, no one thought any.
thing strange Of the circumstance at all.
There was an old cobbler, who lived on
corner near by, who opened his stall very
early in the morning to accommodate any
one who, having been drinking hard the
night before, wanted an early "cobbler. y
He consented to sew Cassim together for q
consideration, and was accordingly blind
folded and led to the house. He asked If
they wanted yellow fair stitch and divi-
ded, or Just a common ''black welt" but
Ali, who knew nothing of shoemakeA-
lingo, said he thought his brother had been
welted enough already; Just 70 ahead and
sew him up" The cobbler performed .
very neat job, though he left stitch in his
side that Cassim probably never got over.
He offered to hah-sole lnnl, too, and set up
his heels, but further services were de-
clined
Cassim was buried the next day with be-
coming honors, and the various societies to
which he belonged attended the funeral,
each of them holding meetings afterward
and passing resolutions of respect, which
were published the next day in all the pa
pers. Engrossed copies of these resOlu-
tions were presented to the afflicted widow,
but after kicking around the house for
few days they were sold for old rags, the
widow marrying again. 1t Ia impossible,
with the space have, to mlnutely follow
the various stratagems employed by the
robbers to learn who it was that possessed
the secret of the cave. Suffice it to say,
they at length did, and plans were laid for
his destruction. One day the captain of the
Forty Thieves came to Ali Baba's house
Che had moved into Cassim's brown-stone
'front.' and pretended he was dealer in pc
troleum. He had large quantity of nom
explosive oil in casks, which he desired to
store with him for few days. Certainly"
said Ali, who was the soul of hospitality,
roll it right into my parlor, which was
done. Now, some Of these casks contained
non-explosive oil, while the others were
flied with something almost as deadly,
though not quite-murderou robbers. 1t
was shrewdly conjectured by the robber
chief that if the oil did not blow up the
whole family, which was probable, his men
would dispatch them during the night.
The plot failed, however. A servant girl
who had been sitting up pretty late in the
kitchen with her young man, went to one
of the casks to replenish her lamp, which
was getting how, and discovered the rob-
bers. She finished them all by boiling some
oil and pouring it upon them through the
bung- -hole-not the only instance BY any
means where men have been ruined ''in
oil. This narrow escape of the Baba fam
lily from destruction should be warning to
people not to allow strangers to roll casks
of petroleum into their front parlors.
1hs robber-chief, being thus left alone,
advertised in the papers for forty more
thieves, determined to begin business anew,
and hoping by industry and close attention
to business, to merit fair share Of public
patronage. But he was so overrun| with
ex-congressmen, absconding bank officers,
dishonest postmasters, Indian commission
ers, ex-revenue officers, managers Of defunct
gift enterprises, New York city councihmen,
and others, that he was driven nearly dis
tracted. Instead Of forty, there were at
least forty thousand of them, and being
disgusted, he concluded to go out of the
thieving business a together it was get
ting too low.
He persisted in the house of Ali Baba,
where he had penetrated in disguise for the
purpose of settling that old account with
Ali. The servant girl, who performed SO
neat job for his followers, recognized him,
and finished him with carving knife. The
story is supposed TO be lie, but it is no
mC r. Ali than Cassim.
The career Of the Forty Thieves instead
of proving salutary warning, seems to
have inspired emulation, for the number of
thieves is certainly multiplying every day
Washington Capital.