The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-09-12
RIDGWAY Pa. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER IL, 1872.


"it's the old game, after all. 1 thought
so; clever woman is always to be
found in conjunction with these fell
lows"
"Well, could forgive the sister; she
may have been led away but as for her
brother"
Lord bless you sir, he is 10 more her
brother than you are; all we have to do
is to sit still, and we shall have the rest
of the gang here. When L left you l
ran off to your store, after setting a
watch on the house, and brought the
porter back with me. | was at stand
still for a moment, as to the best step to
take next, when was told that you had
gone into the house. then scrirbled
the note and sent it up, to enable your
man to take look at the prisoner, as
did not wish to make mistake, and
also to detain you III the room in case
they should attempt to escape. He
swore positively to him, although he
only saw his back, and on his doing so 1
came up myself, and the rest you know,
rs far as this house is concerned. l dis
patched one of my men to make inqui.
ries of several of the leading railway
ticket Offices, and from his report l have
good reason to believe that the whole
party meditated an emigration to some
of the large cities out West tomorrow.
So we have only just had time to put
the stopper upon them"
Mr. Johnson burning with indigna-
ton at discovering the real character OF
the people he had been associating with,
resolved to stay and see the end of the
whole affair.
In the course Of an hour the front
door-bell rang violently, and two young
men, Of eminently gentlemanly exterior,
were ushered into the room. Seeing
two strangers seated there, they we
considerably astonished, and muttered
something about expecting to fiud Mr..
Vaughan.
All right, sir" said the detective {;
II will lead you to him hen l have
had moments conversation with you.
Be kind enough to allow me" and he
advanced with handouts in either hand.
They attempted to bluster; but on being
told that the "game was up" and
Vaughan in custody, they subsidized and
looked very blank indeed In few
moments they were all conveyed to pris-
on, before any intimation of the occur
renee had reached the ears of the neigh
borhood.
One thing remained to be done, and
that was to ascertain the whereabouts of
the stolen property. The amount must
be, all agreed. very great, to have ena-
bled the conspirators to keep up SO good
Il style. This difficulty was easily solved.
One of the policemen on watch had OBJ
served the young men issue from house
few doors distant from the one occu-
pied by Vaughan aaa! his sister, On
repairing thither startling revelations
took place. 1t was found that Mrs.
Wilson had been the manageress of a
baby institLtion, and derived large
profit therefrom. How she obtained the
children is and ever will be mystery.
Certain it is that the police when they
searched the house discovered several
infants, and all the necessary appliances
for many more. The nurse in charge
(ior the babies were well tended) i'm
piled that great number had been sent
away at various times, and the only
probable solution of this strange matter
was that there existed in New York a
class of people who were able and will
ling to pay heavy premiums to any per-
son charitable enough to relieve them
from the trouble of rearing their off
spring. In the lower apartments valu-
ables of all kinds were brought to light,
such as silks, jewelry, gold ornaments,
&C., and for many of them owners We're
found.
The three young thieves are all under
going long sentences, but the implica-
tion of Mrs. Wilson (who was really well
born, and the widow of coloneD was
no easy matter, with such consummate
tact had she acted her part. She did
not, however, escape scot-free, as Mr..
johnson, to his own chagrin, learned
that the fair widow had avaIled herself
of his kind offer few days previously,
and had succeeded in obtaining a guam
tity of goods on credit, that were lost to
him forever.
For obvious reasons we have sup
pressed the real names of the chief ac-
tors in this little comedy; but our read
ers may rest assured that in every other
respect the tale is strictly true.