Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-10-05
Aunt Annie and the Burglar

"The papers say they have caught
the fellow who has been breaking in
to so many houses in this part of the
town lately" said cousin Jennie,
one morning, as we sat at the break
fast-table. ats pity he had not
come here SO that you could have
added another laurel to your crown,
mother, by capturing him. Would
it not have been splendid If 1t had
happened so? The family would
have been famous. Ishould have
been introduced in society as q
daughter OF Mrs. Van Stratton, the
celebrated burglar-catcher, and
borne the honor with becoming
meekness and satisfaction. Did
mother ever tell you about catching
] that awful thief and probable muir
derer, Toby Darrell, years ago, be-
fore any of us appeared on the stage
or actiong"
"No, / never heard anything
about it," / answered. "Please tell
me about it Aunt Annie"
s .I've told it SO many times" said
8 unit Annie, shat I've got rather
red oft, but l suppose you won't
IL me off,"
s Aunt Annie smiled across the table
I It me In kind of self-satisfied way
that assured me that she was quite
- willing to tell me the story as
was to hear 1t. Like all the rest of
us aunt Annie was probably trifie
proud of having done a heroic deed.
1T happened year after your
Uncle George and / were married.
We had just began housekeeping
1 here, when the neighborhood began
70 be troubled over the frequent dep
relations Of some person or persons
Whom it was impossible to obtain
o0y clue OF. House after house was
broken into, and money, jewelry and
Plate were taken. The police were
cnlled upon, and detectives were put
upon the alert, but to no purpose.
Tho officers decided that the thefts
we're the work of an old desperate,
called Toby Darrell; one of the worst
cases in the whole list of villains
With whom they had to deal, and
one OF the most expert and careful.
He had been suspected of murder,
and dozen of other crimes had been
traced to him, but so. successful was
he In eluding the officers of justice
that they had succeeded but twice in
arresting him, and on both eff these
occasions he had managed to escape.
So frequent had his thefts become,
and 30 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. l
didn't know where the two servants
we kept had gone to. / drew down
the curtain, rs the dusk settled ia
the streets, and put some 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 occa-
si0nal remarks, the evening passed
off; when the clock struck nine
Grandfather declared he was so
sleepy that he was going to bed,
after which declaration of intentions
he took out his big silver snuff-bok
and took pinch Of that fiery Scotch
snuff he used to be 80 fond of, and,
on closing it, instead of putting 1t
back into his pocket, he set it down
on the little table at my elbow, and
proceeded to warm his feet before
going off to bed. / noticed his put
ting the box on the table, and sup
posed he would think Of it before
going to bed. But, after he had
said good night and left mo, saw
that he had left his snuff-box behind
him. took it up and opened it out
Of idle curiosity, aud the faintest
scent Of its contents set me into
paroxysm of sneezing, and brought
tears to my eyes.
1.-THE Doom was warm and coy,
and my book was very interesting,
and concluded that would read on
for an hour longer before going to
bed. don't know how long did
read, but IL couldn't have been long,
for tho clock striking eleven woke
me. / woke as people occasionally
do, quietly and completely, without
sitring or seeming to wake. The
first thing that became conscious Of
was that there were steps In my
room, and they were stealthy, sinis-
ter ones. Ny face was turned from
the fire as / lay back in my chair,
and was In partial shadow. i re-
member OF thinking, In quick kind
OF logical reasoning, that didn't
trouble itself about syllogisms, that
Icould open my eyes trifie without
betraying the fact that / wasn't
asleep. and discover who and what
my visitor was. l was frightened,
but felt that Ii was the safest way for
me to appear fast asleep. / opened
my eyes softly, and saw a man
standing about six feet form me,
with tho flickering fire shining full
into his face, and ii was the worst
and most brutal face | ever looked
into In all my life. II was with dif-
ficuIty that / could keep form
- n Of