Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-04-22
mis- SCElLANE GU s.
BRITzRR HIS OWN DEFECTIVE.

the only store of any consequence in the place.
Like all country store>keepers. Jacob kept for
sale dry and moist goods of every description,
aud both village and suburban gossips made
his place their centre and ,ilting>ground-
To this the trader did not object, because ho
was himself of social turn, and because
these hangers-on werc 0il customers. Occa,
sioually Jacob missed certain articles from his
shelves and counters which he knew had not
been sold, and he could only Imagine that
they had been stolen. This thing eontiu-
ued for more than year, and Britzer, with
all his watching, was unable tn detect the
thief There were several whom he deemed
| capable of the deed, but he could not fix tho
crime upon either of them.
At length, one Monday morning, Jacob
Hritzer entered his store, aud upon removing
the heavy wooden shutters from the front
windows he discovered that the large glass
top showcase, near the main entrance, had
been robbed of nearly all its conteuts At
least three hundred dollars worth Of fancy
goods had been stolen-a large amount for
the country store. keeper to lose. Jacob had
locked up his store Saturday night. and
had not visited it since until now, nor had
the keys been out of his keeping For
brief space he was thnnder>struck-thep. for
another brief space, lie collected his thoughts.
and reflected. His course of action was re-
solved upon. His first decided movement
was to lock tho door by which ho had en-
tered, and draw the curtains over tho win-
dows Next ho replenishcd tho show. case
from fresh stock whinh be chanced to have
on hand, making it look So nearly as it looked
on Saturday evening that not even his clerk
was likely to detect any change. Thus tho
matter, so fnr 50 he and his store were cons
cerned. was locked in his own breast. md so
he meant 81 keep it. Having aacer,aiped
that the thieI had gained entrance by rear
cellar window, and having 40 covered the
tracks of the guilty one that his clerk would
not observe them, he opened his store. and
prepared for business Half an hour later
the clerk came, and detected nothing out of
the way. (This clerk, we may remark. was
Jacobs own sony.
The day passcd-cusomers c1me and went
as usual-the gossips chatted over their beer
and cheese, while old jacob was attentive and
affabIe. never betrnying by word or -ipn that
anything had happened nmss. In the eva.
ming Peter Hawks ca,ae in. This Peter
Hawks was farmer. owning quite a place
near the outskirts Of the village, who had of
late heeu lending a life rather nimles, and
thriftless. 1t had been Peters custom to
spend good part or the day in the store. but
on this Monday he had not put in an appear.
ance until after tea. and even when he did
come he failed to talk with his usual voIu>
hility, but remained for the most part silent,
watching what others had to say
At length the hour grew late, and one by
one the eossips dropped away until Peter was
left alone with Jacob and his son The soil.
tarv customer arose from his chair, md after
little nervous hesitstiou he approached tho
storekecprr with
"Ah, Jacob that qnise loss you net
| with. Have ye anv idee who did itl"
"Who did whnt?" a-ked Jacob, dropping
the piece of cloth which he was folding, and
looking mp
"Who robbed yer show-cn cnss last nigh.7"
eyes" answered Jacob with stern prompt.
nesa-"I know exactly who did it?
"Eh. who?"
{" Tou did it?"
"Me!" gasped Peter, nniveringIy.
"Aye-yo~ dd IL. hno,o~ you did it
and thus far the secret is entirely between you
and me. You ara the only other living man
besides myself who knows that have been
robbed at all !"
And then Jacob went on TO explain to his
customer low he had managed to detect the
thief Peter Hawks was forced to own up;
aud in consideration of his returning the goods
last stolen, and paying for those stolen on
previous occasions. and also promising to steal
no more, he was let off But he did not re-
main much longer in Bucksport Having
settled With Jacob Britzer, he made all haste
to sell his farm and remove to parts where the
| story of his shortcomings was not known