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 no,
come here so that you could have
added another laurel to your crown,
mother, by capturing him. Would
it not have been splendid If it had
happened so? The family would
have been famous. Ishould have
been introduced in society as a
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
of action?"
4 "No, i never heard anything
about it," answered. "Please tell
me about it Aunt Annie.n
''I've told it so many times" said
pnnt Annie, "that I've got rather
red oft, but ] suppose you won't
q me off,"
" Aunt Annie smiled across the table
aat me In kind of self-satisfied way
That assured me that she was quite
- willing to tell me the story as
4 4 was TO hear it. Like all the rest of
rs aunt Annie was probably a trifie
proud Of having done heroic deed.
1t happened year after your
Uncle George and i were married.
We had just began housekeeping
here, when the neighborhood began
Ato be troubled over the frequentdep-
redations of some person or persons
hom 1t was impossible to obtain
my clue of. House after house was
br0ken into, and money, jewelry and
plate were taken. The police were
colIed upon, and detectives were put
up0n the alert, but to no purpose.
Tho officers decided that the thefts
we're the work Of an old desperate,
cailed Toby Darrell; one of the worst
cnees in the whole list of villains
with whom they had to deal, ard
one OF the most expert and careful.
HI had been suspected of murder,
md dozen Of other crimes had been
traced to him, but so. successful was
he III eluding the officers of justice
tlbat they had succeeded but twice in
arresting him, and on both eff these
occasions he had managed to escape.
80 frequent had his thefts become,
and 50 daring, that at last a heavy
reward was offered for his arrest.
ssOne 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. L drew down
the curtain, as the dusk settled Ia
tho streets, and put some Goals on
the fire, aud sat down in our little
sitting-room with new book, while
Grandfather busted himself over his
newspaper. In this way, with occa-
sional remarks, the evening passed
of; 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 go 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
going off to bed. / noticed his put
ting the box on the table, and sup
posed he would think of 1t before
going to bed. But, after he had
said good night and left mo, saw
that he had left his snuff-box behind
him. I took it up and opened 1t out
Of lido curiosity, aud tho faintest
scent Of its contents set me into
paroxysfn of sneezing, and brought
tears 70 my eyes.
ssThs SOON 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 Ii couldn't have been long.
for tho clock striking eleven woke
me. / woke rs people occasionally
do, quietly and completely, without
string 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. My face was turned from
the fire as lay back i'm my chair,
and was in partial shadow. / re-
member of thinking, in quick kind
Of logical reasoning, that didn't
trouble itself about syllogisms, that
Icould open my eyes triHe without
betraying the fact that i wasn't
asleep, and discover who and what
my visitor was. / was frightened,
but felt that IL 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 the fiickering fire shining full
Into his face, and IL was the worst
aud most brutal face i ever looked
into In all my life. 1t was with diff
ficuIty that could keep form