Litchfield enquirer., 1872-03-21

lore Cefl"fIgLL cane dp, he hau gone down passage into the bar to settle the bill which he Il incurred for the last two days Not aware of this Circumstance, ] Cartwright, in the hustle which prevailed, went up stairs to Mir. Haryey's bedroom ! and parlor, i'll neither of which, to his surprise, did he find the occupant; and he 1 turned away discomfited. Passing along ! towards the chief staircase, he preeieged ! a room of which the door was open, and ! that on the table there lay gold watch and appendages. Nobody was in the i apartment: the gentleman who occupied ] 1t bad only few moments before gone to ] his bed-chamber for brief space. Quick as lightning 8 diabohcal thought flashed i through the brain of the villain, who had i been baffied in his original intentions. He cecollected that he had seen trunk : in Harveys room, and that the keys hung in the lock. An inconceivably short space of time served for him to siege the watch, to deposit it at the bottom Of Harvey's trunk, and to qnit the hotel by back stair, which led by short cut to the har- Dor. The whole transaction Was done un percieved, and the wretch at least depart ed unnoticed.
 Having finished his business at the bar, MT. Harvey repaired to his room, locked his trunk, which, being of small and handy size, he mounted on his shoulder, and proceeded to leave the house by the back stair, in order to get it as quickly as possible to the vessel. Little rocked he of the interruption which was to be pre- sented to his departure. He had got as 1 far as the foot of the stair with his bur den, when he was overtaken by waiter, who declared that he was going to leave tho al | accounts. It Is proper to mention that MT. Harvey had incurred the enmity of this particular waiter ill consequence of having, out of his slender resources, giv- en him too small gratuity on the oc- casion of paying former bill, and not aware of the second bill being settled, the waiter was rather glad to have an op | portunity of charging him with fraudu- lent design. In vain Mr. Harvey remOn- strated, saying he had paid for every thing. The waiter would not believe his statement, and detained him ''till he should hear better about it.
 '.Let me go, fellow; I insist upon it," said Mir. Harvey, burning with indigna- tion. 'I am already too late"
 Not a step, till I ask master if &C., counts are squared"
 At this moment, while the altercation was at the hottest. a terrible ringing of bells was heard, and above stairs was a loud noise of voices, and of feet running to and fro. A chamber maid came hurriedly down the stair, exclaiming that some one had stolen gold watch from No. IT, and that nobody ought to leave the house till 1t was found. The landlord also, moved by the hurricane which had been raised, made his appearance at the spot where JI :.A ~Ao1 |
 "What on earth is all this noise about, John?" inquired the landlord of the wait CT.
 "Why, sir, I thought it rather strange for any gentleman to leave the house by the back way, carrying his own portman- teau, and so I was making little breeze about it, fearing he had not paid his bill, when all of sudden Sally rushes down the stairs and says as how No. IT hAs missed his gold watch, and that no one should quit the hotel"
 No. IT, an old, dry-looking military gentleman, in a particularly high passion, now showed himself on the scene, uttering terrible threats of legal proceedings against the house for the loss he had sus- tained
 Harvey was supplied and indignant, yet he could hardly help smiling at the bother. 'sWhat," said he, sshaye I to do with all this? I have paid for everything; I am surely entitled to go away if I like Remember, that if I lose my passage to Boston, you shall answer for it.''
 'I very much regret detaining you, sir" replied the keeper of the hotel; ''but you hear there has been a robbery com mitted within the last few minutes, and as it will be proper to search every one in the house, surely you, who are on the point of departure, will have no objections to be searched first, and then be at liberty to go?"
 There was something so perfectly req sonable in all this, that Harvey stepped into an adjoining parlor, and threw open his trunk for inspection, never doubting that his innocence would be immediately manifest
 r The waiter, whose mean raracity had been the cause of the detention, acted as examiner. He pulled one article after an- other out of the trunk, and at length horror of horrors!-held up the missing watch with 8 look of triumph and scorn!
 "Who put that there?" cried Harvey in an agony of mind better imagined than described. "Who has done me this griev- ous wrong? I.know nothing as to how OAAO WopSA SdAAAO A4AVO bA u4A
 No one answered this appeal All pres ent stood for 8 moment in gloomy silence
 ''Sir," said the landlord to Harvey on recovering from his surprise, ''I. am sor- " for you. For the sake of miserable tritle, you have brought ruin and disgrace on yourself. This is matter which con- cerns the honor of my house, and cannot stop here. However much 1t is against ,,,xu foo11nnrc trate."
 "By all means" added No. IT, with the importance of an injured man. s'A pretty thing that ones watch is not safe in a house like this!''
 "John, send Boots for a constable" said the landlord.
 Harvey sat with his head leaning on his hand. A deadly cold precipitation trickled down his brow. His heart swelled and beat as if it would burst. What should he dc? His whole prospects were in an instant blighted. ssOh GodI do not de- sert a frail and unhappy being: give me strength to face this new and terrible misfortune, was a prayer he internally uttered. A little revived, he started to his feet, and addressing himself to the landlord, he said, s'Take me to a magis- trate instantly, and let us have this dia- bolical plot unraveled. court inquiry into my character and conduct"
 "It is no use saying any more about it, " answered the landlord; .shere is Boots with constable, and let us all go away together to the nearest magistrate. Boots, carry that trunk. John and Sally, you can follow us" l
 And so the party, trunk and all, under the constable as conductor, adjourned to the house of g magistrate in an adjacent street. There the matter was so clear case of felony-robbery in a dwelling house-that all protestations to the con- trary, was fully committed for trial at the ensuing March assizes, then but few days distant. sis a aas ts At the period at which these incidents occurred, I was young man going on my first circuits. had not as yet been honored with perhaps more than three or 1~s1