The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-12-04
LAFAYETFE's WATCH.
resting Test ,MeStIunls-B acII-TracIzin
Rogues Over Halt a Century.
Washington Cor. n. Y. Globe.


h0gues Over Halt Century.
Washington Cor. n. Y. Globe.
Many men have the foibIe of running
fixed iCeas to earth. Some are insane
on postage stamps. Some 90 for old
china. George Selwyn was not happy
unless he Witnessed every execution that
LOOK place. Your correspondents fail
ing IS TO play amateur detective. In
consequence I have to relate the sinpu-
lar adventures which follow, all of
which (barring some few changes of
name and locality are strictly true.
On Friday, 18th June last. nv veneer
aole friend, Sam Hooper, of Massachu-
sets, introduced into the house of rem
resentatives a joint resolution (unani-
mously Passed) appropriating $500 for
the purchase and restoration to the
iamlly OF the Marquis de Lafayette of
Ine watch presented TO him by General
Washington, and lost by General Lafay-
cite during his last visit to this country.
In connection with the resolution was a
statement that the watch was in posses
SION OF John r.. Ward, Esq, of Texas,
who had p1rchased Il four Wears AGO at
q paWnbroker's sale IN Louisville for
the sHn7 of 49,, 1t bears the inscrip-
ton, 4" G. Washington to Gilbert Mot
tiers de Lafayette, Lord Corvallis
capltuIation, Yorktown, October, IL,
l78l. The watch is Of the shape known
as bulls eye" which was the fashion
able one at that period, and is heavily
double-eRsed with gold of high purity.
The exterior ID Ornamented with classic
devices in high relief an armed and
helmebed warrior presents crown to
throned female. The watch bears the
name of the maker, SEE. Halifax, Lon
don, 1863" According to the state
ment of%General Rogers, OF Tennessee,
who was commander of the body-guard
of General Lafayette during his visit 10
Nashville IN 1925, this watch was stolen
from it's owner as that bime and its fate
was unknown, although large reward
was offered for It's return, until it turned
up in the way above described" This
statement was vouched for by Congress
man Horace Maynard as being histori-
cally true the genuipeness of the relic
was vouched for by treasury experts,
the only doubt being created by the in
correct spelling of Lafayette's p8tro-
nyInic, "Motier" doubt quickly dis
PEELED by Messrs. G.. e. Hoar and Gar
field, who said that Washington's ortho-
graphy was none OF the best, and that
even Ben. Franklin used to spell soap
sope.s sEr sfn1 fra1aseE
no sooner read the account of this
in the Congressional Record than was
seized with an irresistible desire to dis
cover the history of the watch from the
time it was stolen, fully persuaded that
quite a romance awaited me. After the
adjournment Of congress 1 proceeded to
accomplish NY purpose. The first
thing to do was to get temporary pos
session. CT the watch, which was IN
the custody of the state department.
found that it would require me to get
through more red tape than I could I'M
tangle in a year to reach it by regular
appro aches and, as I only wanted Il
for a week, I determined to cut the
Gordian knot. But il is a secret toe
dead TO reveal even TO the world how,
by an ingenious combination of hu00er
mugger, influence, "sand trick, I al
last found the venerable jewel in my
hands. Venerable, indeed It hac
rested in G.. ". fob, over his epigas
trium, in those ulphur-colo breaches
with all his beloved seals dangling be
low it. It had been preserved by La
fayette through all the trials and periIt
iailers of Olmutz had spared ito bC
cabbaged at last by a vulgar Nashville
thief But was it taken by any vulgal
thief? I was determined TO seUtle tina
question at once. .f
But how? Tennessee had risen in 1921
in pursuit of the sacrilegious thief 'anC
failed to catch him. Rewards had beer
lavishly offered-a1l in vain. What could
an amateur detective do fifty years later
It was easy to find John r. Ward. Esq
of Texas and through him. the Louis
vile pawnbrOker; but how much neare
would that bring me TO the thief of TIVE
L q
an old German wizard in Baltimore Will
n remarkably happy knack of revealin,
the hiding-places of stolen goods for
consideration. But here the goods wer,
In hand, and it was the thief I wanted
and it is part of the business of finder
of stolen goods to give immunity t.
thieves-and share the swag with them
In short, the business was very com
plicated, yet as I proposed to deal Will
1t, as simple as could be. In short,
was persuaded that by resorting to tht
processes of modern thaumaturgy,
could easily make a dark way plain
Onlne ig1lOt1tDl pro DliTiticO. ha(
never dealt IN person with clairvovants
the spiritists, the mediums, but had
read much of their wonders, and wa
prepared to believe that all / had to d.
was TO consult a genuine clairvoyan
medium in a state of ecstasis to get
clear and graphic retrovision over FL
the events which / was seeking to brinj
to light. It was for this end that
obtained temporary possession Of tn
watch.
Now began a beotless perquisitioi
among the "test" mediums, as they cal
themselves, probably on the principl
of lucas a ss0ss 3esceRdo, because the.
will not bear testing. Mr.. Gregory, Il
his credulous book on " Animal Magne
tism, I" relates that a ring was given 4
one Alexis. a medium of this sort, whel
he at once identified il as having ae
longed to Mary Queen Of Scots who's
history the medium was totally i0noran
of, and as having been given to Rizzio
whose murder was graphically descrih
ed. This was precisely the sort of me
dunn I was In search of, but have no
yet found. This was not my faul
either, for have consulted all the bes
spiritistie and clairvoyant authorities i
this CITY, New York. Boston, and Chi
cago. What j got was mere emptiness
coupled indeed with some appearance o
plausibility, such as might deceive
credulous or an ine1pert person. AL
the mediums gave me voluble descrip
tions of the thief, which / took dow
with great appearance of earnestnes
and satisfaction. The trouble was n
two descriptions tailed in any essentia
partieular and it was hardly possibl
that this number of various individuals
old and young, male and female, ric
and Door, handsome and ugly, tall an,
short. fair and dark, had eonspired 70
the larceny q one poor watch. Some o
the clairvoynnts who had read the ie
Rend on the watch gave me fluent dc