The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-05-19
Al SNAKE STORY.

benevolent old gentleman as he glanced
at a placard posted in the car in which
he was riding. "Dear me, hew sad that
such a warning should be necessary in a
christian land!"
eyes, sir" said the young mh next
to him, but it's best to be careful, for
there may be pickpockets in this very
car. I know all about that, sir. I've
been rescS9ed from the lowest depths.
was a p~ickpecket once, sir"
"Dear mel" said the old gentleman,
starting.
"Im a respectable person new. Yes,
sir, I'm very respectable; ask anybody
about Jim Tilks and they'll tell you
that; butt was brought up a thief. l
was born among thieves, and took to the
trade naturally, and l used to pick
pockets when I was ten years old. You
needn't look at yours, if you please, sir.
I've been converted since, and 60 to
meeting regular. You could trust me
with untold gold now.
"But as / said, / was a thief, and l
might have been n yet if it hadn't
been for what happened at Rickady
station, where I was sitting waiting for
any old lady's reticuIe, or any torgetful
persons parcel, or even an umbrella, or
a pocket-handkerchief, Is might be
dropped by chance. For folks that's
anxious about gettin' on the right train
at the right time, and nobody to do any
thing but snub 'em, which is what the
officials are apparently paid to do, amt
as careful of their portable property as
they would be otherwise. When | was
| a wicked sinner, / used to take advan-
tage Of that, you know. You couldn't
bribe me to do it noaO.-oh5 no.
; "But as I said, / was a-lounging about
1 there, and in came a gentleman with a
: long basket. 1t was the curiusest bas-
ket I ever saw. Had two handles and q
paddock. Never saw such a basket.
There was a cord about it, too. He put
= it down in the corner as he looked tor
= his pocket.book, and he spoke to a gen.
tleman who was standing near, and
=. seemed to know him.
q "'Got it, he said, AMI it's cost me
. enough, 1 can tell you, but 1 wanted il
for the collection; couldn't do without
it. So proud of it I brought it along
= myself. Whew! five minutes only, anc
I haven't my ticket and he rushed
, toward the Office.
1 "That other man looks at the baskef
. a minute, and then walked away, ant
N that was my time. | crept up to tn
" basket and took it up and walked ava.
. in another direction. Nobody noticed
y me. I didn't run, of course. ] jus
~ went out of the station and down unde
' the trees, and what / meant to do was t
- take the valuables out of the basket an
~ leave it there.
N "Td made up my mind that it Wa
?. something very valuable, but what
49, could be I couldn't guess. / took o
the cord first, and then I took the Ike
~ that hung beside the paddock and III
locked that, and lifted up the cover
little. Just then there was a noise, an
- I turned my head.
"Wheu [ found it was nothing to
g. afraid of, I turned back and opened tt
ne cover wider and peeped in; but theI
was nothing there; the basket was empt
OF not a thing in it.
lis "Why, gracious me-! says I; on]
}" not in them words-I was a wicked 81
AT ner then hat does this mean? A
lot empty basket! And what did he mes
by talking of its being valuable Ar
there was I, running a risk for nothin
- "a risk. Why, 1 was done for, f
,rL nothing for here were the police aft
~. me; at least, a big arm went around n
waist, all of q sudden like and when
jerked it only held me closer and VIII
was thet-another arm?
"We1l, sir, / thought I should ju
give up that minute, for there and tn
I knew what was twisting about me W
something worse than even a policeman
arm to such as I was then.
Tho at was a snake-a great snake-t
kind they put in menageries. Boa-co
strictor-yes, sir-that was the kind
boa constructor ; and now | remember
the face of the gentleman who had t
basket-he was the menagerie man. ]
,nr stolen a basket with a snake in it, and
had slipped out when / opened the COW
and now it had me.
in eight, sir, was no word. 1t v
ire. twisted around me until / had very lit
ma breath left, but with what / did bav'
to set up a yell. Would you believe
our sir, the first person that heard me y
ub. that m~enagerie man he was looking
era, his snake, / suppose.
"tBless my heart" says he, when
at saw me-'bless my heart. Well,
bites bit, if ever it happened. You st
OF the basket, my friend, and out of it ca,
$40, the thiet-catcher. Now keep still; do,
l IN move Tor your life. There's just c
'oV' chance for you
Asn' Essays /: Hurry, please, sir; I'm
ehokin'.'