The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-08-13

just Is he commenced carefully to draw
one leg behind the other, he stopped,
rolled his eyes eagarly round, and then
remained so motionless he ]. scarcely
breathed. E,s .! tts5 ta5ztg i -, |.sG x,zt ~ 8.
With step almost noiseless-but} not
quite SO for such . listener ears-a man
glided round the angle of = counter close
by, and, standing close by Lowcliffo,
paused, stopped. looked along the floor in
every direction, then sat upon an ada.
cent pedestal, and, leaning against the
legs of q Hercules, listened. If the pro.
cess Of perspiration were not wholly
silent. one, Lowcliffe would have been be-
trayed. Tor the cold beads came upon his
forehead as he saw how near he was to a
discovery.
The man was sitting upon the very
next PEDESTAL, block which almost
touched his own. There he waited quiet
~ for awhile, not very long, but long
enough to insure himself that no patrol
was coming that way; then he rose, and
in few steps was at the nearest counter
and had tried key in the lock; Que or.
two attempts failed, but at last door
opened, and his head and shoulders were
lost to sight; he re-appeared with
small box, which he placed on the ground
before him, and then tried one or two
keys. Again the box yielded, the lid was
thrown back, and few articles we're rap.
idly transferred to the man s pocket.
Some object, however, seemed un-
known to him. and he held it up against
the dim light, endeavoring to make out
what it was. To his horror one Of the
statutes sprang from its pedestal toward
him. 1t was instantaneous, but the flash
was enough; the figure all in white
moved, and leaped upon him; then, with
fearful yell, which rang from end to
end of the building, the thief fell in fit
upon the floor.
Alarmed by the scream, two or three
officers were speedily at the spot, and turn.
ing on their lanterns, were nearly as much
astonished in their turn to see white.
sheeted figure standing by the side of a
man in convulsions.
When their momentary surprise had
ceased upon their discovering who the
sheeted figure was, they proceeded to I'M.
fasten the PROSTATE mans scarf and collar,
sprinkled him with water, and lifted him
from the ground; his struggles ceased,
and few long brcaths announced that he
was looming to-
Il don't know him. said one of the
constables,
II do, though - exclaimed Lowcliffe.
swell Of all parties as could have sup.
posed, | never could have supposed him.
Why, it's that blessed Glisser, from the
stall next to old Baselton; fellow that
looks like if butter wouldn't melt in his
MOUTH
"Where am I ?--who are ycu?" said
the miserable convict.
''Oh, we're particular friends Of yours"
returned the officer.
'But l saw--I saw one Of those things
move, replied the man, looking timidly
around with a dreadful shudder.
Lowcliffe had stripped off his white
raiment by this time, and so did not
shock the wretched Glisser's eyes.
"We'll tell you all about that in the
morning. said the constable. 'What
you have got to do is to come along with
u.s.
1t was so-he had to "come along"
and directly the exhibitors and the staff
mustered in the building, the intelligence
flew like wild-firc that Mr.. Glisser was in
| custody for breaking into stalls at night.
1t was a shock to large circle Of his
acquaintance and admirers. who could
hardly believe it, and when, on his lodg-
ings being searched, the bulk of the ar.
ticles missing from the counters was found,
the thing seemed more incredible still.
Mr.. Baselton was especially astounded
because he had made quite a confident of
the young man, and had the modification
Of remembering how he himself had re-
vealed to Mr.. Glisser the various plans for
detecting the thief: and that, if it had
not been for Lowclliffe insisting on the ruse
of attributing the pilfering to the after
noon instead of the night, he probably
would have put the young man on his
guard against the scheme which had prov
ed successful. He recovered his watch
and other articles, paid his flO0 pounds
cheerfu]iy, and gained reputation with
the "(orce" for the extreme readiness
with which he put his name down to their
subscriptions for deserving objects.
Mr.. Glisser's proved very bad case,
and he was lost to sight for many years
after the date of the exhibition of 1867
Chambers Journal.