The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1873-02-01
One Hundred Pounds Reward.

can not call myself Il clever luan. But
/ have been brought up in q good
school; and whatever natural slrewd-
ness may have, has, SO to speak, had
a keen edge put on it, in an expert
ence of many years as detective Of
ficer If there is one thing more than
another upon which pride myself, it
is that Of discriminating character,
and being able to at once detect
whether person charged with an Of
fence is innocent or guilty. How far
this pet theory of mine is borne out
by fact, the following story will show.
Some years ago, in the month of
December, was strolling i'll the neigh
borhood of Scotland Yard, when l no
ticed that / was followed by short
thick set man, OF very peculiar ap-
pearance. He looked about three or
four and twenty, and was very shah
billy dressed in clothes which evident
ly had never been made for him.
Each of the garments had the stamp
of having belonged to persons in diff
ferent walks of life. The old court
trousers, much too large, were those
of !. workingman; the vest, which had
been Of a brighter scarlet, was that of
groom or coachman; whilst the sur
tout, patched, out at the elbows as it
was, had the unmistakable cut Of a
west-end tailor. Is struck me- that
we were old acquaintances, for his was
q face, once seen, not easily to be for
gotten. He was very ugly, but had
not what one would cal" ga bad face.'
The greatest peculiarity about him
was the eyes, which were Of dark
hazel and very small, with an extra
ordinary obliqueness of vision, that
made it impossible to tell whether he
was looking you in the face or not.
His head was covered by an old seal
skin cap, under which was much
coarse hair of q golden red, whilst his
face was ornamented with q lu1uriant
! crop of wlliskers of the same fiery hue.
| All this noticed as he twice passed
each time looking as if about to adj
dress me. As he passed the second
time, turned on my heel and fol-
lowed, and, quickly overtal1ing him,
said, "Wel, my man, you seem to
know me.''
ayes, Mr.. Sharpe" he replied, "l
know yon very well, though | dare
say you have forgotten me. Ny name
is Charlie Fox; and you've had me
before the beak more than once when
| was a young 'un."
Why,nI said, "you arc the young
rascal that belonged to the Westmin
ster gang, and used to give us all SC
much trouble
| Yes, guv'nor: but since my moth.
er died, which is a good many year:
now, I've been trying to keep on tn,
square. Eve been to sea, and becl
| working about the docks, or wherevc
l could get /, job. Lately | amt haG
any thing to DO, and I'm almost starv
ing. I knew you directly [ saw you
and I've been following you, thinkin:
you mi ght give me something to ge
some grub. It's hard work, guv'nor
to keep straight after you've once
gone wrong, specially when yonr'
hungry, and lot of pals a-temptin!
| you"
| AS I listened, / thought his stor.
might be true. | remembered hin
as young thief, with a bad mother
but that years ago and knew if h
had beck knocking abont London, ant
up to his old games, must have sec1
Or heard something of him.
"Look here, Fox" / said, $50,
may be telling me q lie, or you ma.
not but if you are hungry, | vii
give you a meal"
| took him into the nearest publ
house, and gave him some cold mea
and bread, and q pint of beer; an
his appetite certainly confirmed on
part of his tale. When he had finishe
his dinner, he said:
"Now, Mr.. Sharpe, you've done m
turn which shan't soon forget, an
I'll do you one i'll return, by putin
you up to a good thing. You kno'
all about the murder Of the woman q
Glasgow, and | can tell you where t
lay hands on the cove that did i
There's a hundred pounds reward
and ! suppose, if l plant you on hin
you'll give me half"
l knew of the murder. 1t was or
Of peculiar atrocity, committed abot
v Il month before, in Glasgow, upon
poor girl, an unfortunate. Hithert
the police had been at fault, and I'll
Home Secretary had offered a rewa1
Of one hundred pounds.
At first it struck me as improbab
that Fox could know any thing abo,
g it; but he further told me that he W;
4 lodging down at the east end, near
. one of the docks and the murdere
:, a sailor, who had been a shipmat
!, was lodging in the same house, az
d had confessed the crime to him. Sti1
: | could not see motive for Fox b
8 traying his friend, and l said, " Nc
d are no doubt very clever, Mr.. Fo,
t but you must not try to make me b
S lieve that, because l have given "
9 something to eat and drink, you a
: willing to round upon pal"
}, His reply did more to convince Il
It than any thing else.
# "You forget, E1r. Sharpe, the h;
! of the reward, which will take me Q
n of the country and give me a fire