American citizen., 1875-02-27
A Story OF a Dog and Jackdaw.


On the morning of the day following
Christmas, four years ago, the porter
of the store of Messrs. Root, Anthony &
Co, No. 60 Liberty street, on opening
the front door found everything in con
fusion; the floor was Uttered with tools,
oll-bottles, steel and iron wedges, and
black muslin by the piece. Further cX-
animation justified the suspicion that
burglars had been at work. Keys had
been fitted to the outside locks on the
eve of IA holiday, so that the robbers had
an entire day Sunday and two nights in
which to work Once inside the build
ing they were met with the unexpected
difficulty of deciding which of the five
safes before them contained the prize
Fortunately, the burglars began opera
tions on IA safe which probably never
contained cent of money, being evi
IDENTIFY attracted by its grim appearance,
and the fact that it was hidden away in
Il dark corner of the store. A vast
amount of labor was wasted on this
old safe, and the rage and Gisappoint-
ment of the robbers when they found
out their mistake were vented upon the
harmless books and papers which it con-
tanned. They then began to work on
another safe, which contained in those
times of revenue stamps what was equiv
alent to $17, 900 in greenbacks.
Adjoining the store of Messrs. Root,
Anthony & Co. lives, in his bachelor
rooms, the well-known restaurant keep
er, Mr.. Sutherland, who at the time had
IA pet jackdaw that was more than usual
ly amusing by his antics. He was ever
ready to catch pennies, pick up brilliant
tritles, or indulge in mischief of any
kind. From some cause, either a sudden
CLEAN of intelligence or his chronic de-
sire to meddle in every ones business,
early in the morning the jackdaw, with
loud cries and screams, dartcd out the
window into the backyard of Root, An
thony & Co. The eaciest way for Mr..
Sutherland to obtain his pet was through
the store in which the burglars were still
at work, and, as he thought he had heard
noises on the premises, which he pre-
sumed were made by the porter, he
stepped into the street and tried the store
door. AT the same time he saw man a
few yards off move uneasily away. Af-
ter vigorously shaking the door and
hearing no response he returned to his
own premises, and sent a man to climb
over the wall into the rear of the adjoin-
ing premises and capture the jackdaw
that so provokingly kept beyond reach.
The burglars, now satisfied tn at they were
discovered, precipitately fled, locking
the door after them; and thus the SIT 900
of revenue stamps were saved to their
owners.
On last Christmas morning Mr.. Suther-
land was disturbed in his sleep by the
most extraordinary conduct of his pet
dog Brownie, n little Scotch terrier, IA
great favorite and unusually intelligent
This little creature after business hours
has the run of the entire interior of the
building. On the morning alluded to
MIR. Sutherland was awakened by
Brownie, who officiously poked his cold
nose into his masters face, for which
presumed impertinence he was rudely
brushed on the floor. The dog however
instantly returned to the charge and very
earnestly began opening his masters
eyes with his tOe-nailS. This brought
Sutherland TO his feet and senses and also
to the consciousness that he was partly
suffOcated by hot smoke that filled
the room. Instantly comprehending tie
danger he gave the alarm, when eXami-
nation showed that the fire was under the
floor of the printing office of the adjoin-
ing building, occupied by Messrs. Root,
Anthony Il Co., which fire was soon eX-
tinguished by the local patrol and with,
comparatively speaking, a nominal loss
The first time the premises were pro-
tected from large robbery by the unac-
countablc conduct of a jackdaw; the
second time from destructive fire by the
intelligence of the little pet Brownie
The poor bird has gone to the happy
hunting grounds, but Brownie lives, as
active, mischievous, useful and mical-
ly handsome as ever, waiting for a gold
medal from the Humane Society.-N. Y.
Epeniag Post.