The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-09-28
AUNT ANNIE AND THE BURGLAR.

AUNT ANNIE AND THE BURGLAR.
THE paper says that they've caught
the fellow that has been breaking into so
many houses in this part of the town late.
ly,' said cousin Jennie, one morning, as
We sat at the breakfast-table. Its a
pity he had not come here so that you
could have added another laurel to your
crown, mother, by capturing him.
Wouldn't it have been splendid ii it had
happened so? The family would have
been famous. l should have been intro
duced in society as daughter of Mrs. Van
Stratton, the celebrated burglar-catcher,
and borne the honor with becoming meek
ness and satisfaction. Did mother ever
tell you about catching that awful thief
and probable murderer, Toby Darrell,
years ago, before any of us appeared on
the stage of action?'
No, never heard anything about it,"
answered. Please tell me about it
Aunt Annie
'I've told it so many times" answered
aunt Annie, that I've got rather tired of
it, but suppose you won't let me off,
Aunt Annie smiled across the table at
me in a kind of self-satistied way that
to tell me the story as l was to hear it.
Like all the rest of us aunt Annie was
probably a tritle proud of having done
heroic deed.
1t happened a year after your Uncle
George and l were married. We had Just
begun housekeeping here, when the nei CHI
bOrhOOd began to be troubled over the
frequent deprcdations of some person or
persons whom it was impossible to obtain
any clue of. House after house was
broken into, and money, jewclry and
plate were taken. The police were called
upon, and detectives were put upon the
alert, but to no purpose. The officers de-
cidcd that the thefts were the work of an
old desperate, called Toby Darrell; one
of the worst cases in the whole list of viii
lalnS with whom they had to deal, and one
of the most expert and careful He had
been suspected of murder, and dozens of
other crimes had been traced to him, but
so successful was he in Guiding the Off
GERS of justice that they had succeeded
but twice in arresting him, and on both
of these occasions he had managed to es-
cape. SO frequent had his thefts become,
and so daring, that at last heavy reward
was offered for his arrest
"One day George had to go out of town,
and was left alone with grandfather Van
Stratton, who had come to spend few
days with us. | didn't know where the
two servants we kept had gone to. | drew
down the curtain, as the dusk settled in
the streets. and put some fresh Goals on
the fire, and sat down in our little sitting
room with new book, while grandfather
busted himself over his newspaper In
this way, with occasional remarks, the
evening passed off; when the clock struck
nine grandfather declared that he was so
sleepy that he was going to bed, after
Which declaration of intentions he took
out his big silver snutf-bex and took a
pinch of that fiery Scotch snuff he used to
be so fond of, and, on closing it, instead
of putting it back into his pocket, he set
it down on the little table at my elbow,
and proceeded to warm his feet before 60
ing off to bed. l noticed his putting the
box on the table, and supposed he would
think of it before going to bed. But, after
he had said good night and left me, saw
that he had left his snuff-box behind him.
l took it up and opened it out of idle Gu
riosity, and the faintest scent of its con-
tents set me into paroxysm of snceZing,
and brought tears to my eyes.
THE room was warm and cozy, and
my book was very interesting, and con-
cluded that would read on for an hour
longer before going to bed. l don't know
how long did read, but it couldn't have
been long, for the clock striking eleven
woke me. l woke as people occa-
sionally do, quietly and completely,
without stirring or seeming to wake.
The first thing that 1 became
conscious of was that there were
steps in the room, and they were stealthy,
sinister ones. My face was turned from
hn 7 Low 1oo1 IL,
was in partial shadow. 1 remember of
thinking, in quick kind of logical
reasoning, that didn't trouble itself about
syllogisms, that l could open my eyes
tritlc without betraying the fact that l
wasn't asleep, and discover who and what
my visitor was. was frightened, but
felt that it was the safest way for me to
appear fast asleep. opened my eyes
softly, and saw man standing about six
feet from me. with the flick ering fire
shining full into his face, and it was
the worst and most brutal face l ever
looked into in all my life 1t was with
difficulty that kept from screaming out,
and | often dream of seeing that man
now, and always as l saw him then, stand
ing in the red freight, whose ftful play
lit up his face with the look of demon,
watching me with his cruel, tigerish eyes.
He had sack slung over his shoulder,
and understood at once that he had been
through the honse and plundered it of
everything worth his while to take.
"You know that your uncle George and
I began housekeeping in a modest way:
we had to, for he was working on a salary
in those days, and after paying for the
house, we didn't have great deal left to
purchase other things with. You can
readily understand. then. how angry il
made me to see that great, brutal fellow
standing there with his sack full of arti-
cles whose value represented months of
hard work. have often wondered at it
since, but the feeling of indignation was
SO intense as to almost overcome nv fear
and prudence. But knew from the devil
in his eye that he would not hesitate at
any crime that he might be provoked to
for his own safety, and l think never
stirred muscle. But, oh! l wished I
might cry out for help, and have the
wretch given up to the punishment he SO
richly deserved!
Suddenly his eyes caught sight of
grandfather Van Stratton s silver snuffbox.
standing on the table at my side, and he
tiptoed toward it. had not closed it
when put it down. The lid was open in
such way that the light reflected on it
brightly, and that was what had caught
his attention. My arm lay on the side of
my chair, and my hand was resting on the
table so near to the box that when he
leaned over and reached down to get it,
his fingers touched mine. could not
help shiver at the touch, but he did not
detect it.
"He lifted the box from the table aud