Litchfield enquirer., 1878-12-19

efforts to entrap the Boyd woman into some
 acknON ledgment, and finally sympathized with her in her pretended distress. I again had recourse to the young butchers, who were | far more intelligent. courageous, and much keener in the scent than the detectives. | ar ranged with them to devote some hours each day to an espionage of the woman, whose
 mansion in the country by this time, it isneed. l less to say, had proved veritable chGteGu ca | EspGgne. 1 visited this woman's so-caled l relatives, one of whom was a prominent | physician, but he denied all knowledge of her
 existence. My butcher allies soon reported an interesting state of affairs. . The elegant lady
 had not even servant in the house, excepting
 colored woman, who came during the day, for short time. She would then sally out with her sable attendant, who carried large
 basket. They visited the various retail shops
 along the different avenues, taking each in
 turn. The lady, in her rich attire, would
 seek an interview with the proprietor, and after fnforlS&ng him that she was Mrs. ----,
 would tell him that she was one of the lady
 patronesses of an institution for the care of
 the destitute that their funds were extremely
 low, and that any contribution no matter how ! small, either in money or goods, would be
 most acceptable. By dint of pertinacity, the
 woman seldom failed to fill her basket and
 add materially to her purse. After the lapse
 of few days she would start out on another expedition, with similar success. About
 this time made with an officer one more
 visit of investigation to the house, and found
 that the gas-fxtures throughout the entire
 premises had been removed. The guilty
 knowledge of all the inmates was thus fully confirmed, and caused the rearrest of the
 woman at once but prominent and wealthy
 produce merchant, from South street, present.
 ed himself at the court and gave bail for her
 appearance for trial Between this last indi-
 vidual and the woman it was very evident
 that there existed some mysterious bond
 What it was never could ascertain. He left the scene as suddenly as he had appeared, and
 as he died year or two afterward, presume
 he carried the secret with him to the grave. almost began to despair of ever getting the
 lost property.
 had not included the husband in the sec
 ond arrest, for the reasen that l could not determine in my own mind the nature of his compliclty in the affair. He, however, ap- peared again in court by the side of the wo- man. This man Boyd was peculiar looking individual. What use the Wall-street corpo- ration could have had for such man is an- other mystery to me up to this hour They paid him good salary, and he had decided ly respectable appearance. Yet here he was,
 living in den of impostors liars and thieves, who were destitute of single honest or worn thy impulse. What fatal net had been wove, around him that he could lead two lives so diametrically opposed to each other ? Even in the shameful position that he occupied as a suspected thief, his face wore a placid and unimpressionable aspect that defed scrutiny by the absolutely blank look that yelled all trace of thought or feeling. He was tall and thin, and had a perceptibIe stoop in his shoui- ders, which might have been acquired by bending over desk or by habitual air of deprecatisn. An utterly negative human, being, not helpless or imbecile, but devoid of one spark of individuality, not even enough to be dishonest-a thorough social anomaly.
 As preliminary step to further prOsecu- ton in search for the stolen property, decid- ed to pay Key visit in his cell at the Tombs,
 with the hope of eliciting from him some clue to the whereabouts of my pictures. l found that young rascal already occupied, and ap- parantly much entertained, by the visit of an extremely well-dressed and vivacious young
 xnman, whosstood inst ontsi le the closed grat- Ing of his dungeon, while the adjoining cell of Long was enlivened by similar visitor. The loud laughter of these two damsels who seem ed also on intimate terms with each other. rang throughout the length and breadth of the corridor. pass over any criticism upon the official custodians of this place which such li- cense might naturally provoke, simply adding that a similar indulgence resulted in the es- cape of the murderer Sharkey. Notwithstand- ing the interruption caused by my advent I found Key disposed to be civil and good natur- ed While still protesting that he was mno- cent, he assumed that 1 was in a measure justified in my course by the circumstances of the case, and wished me to understand that he regarded the extraordinary conduct of his friend Long as decidedly ''ungentlemanly." This was what seemed to affect him the most. encouraged his peculiar view of grand larce- ny, and appealed to his feelings as a gentle man. to give me some clue to the whereabouts of the property. This, he insisted he was un- able to do. then questioned him particular ly as to his acquaintance with Long, and, al- though felt that every word the scamp was saying to me was deliberate falsehoOd, l thought it possible that he might drop, by ac- cident something that could be turned to ac- count In fact, I did secure, after a pretty long interview, one piece of information that proved to be most important clue. In the course of the conversation 1 asked him if he knew any of Longs family or had ever seen any of them. He answered that he had only seen his mother once; that she kept a cake shop in Canal street. The moment he said this he evidently regretted it, which convinced me that there was at least some truth in his remark. Whether he saw that this admission was at variance with his previous story of having met Long in ''his set" at Saratoga, or whether he feared that he had put me on the right scent, he hastened to profess his utter ignorance of thls person other than having seen her, and further total ignorance of the loca- tion of the cake store. In fact, he believed after all, that he was mistaken, and that It was net in Canal street, but somewhere else. The shock caused to his feelings by this ig- noble and unjust arrest had so affected him that he could not think of anything but his own wrongs. Finding that could get noth- ing more from him, I left him to the tender mercies of the philanthropic Warden and start ed for Canal street in search of cake vendors Canal street is not place where an epicure could hope to find a very delicate assortment of cakes or confectionery, and l had good many misgivings that after all, 1 was on a wrong scent This belief was almost confirm ed, after long and careful search on both sides of Canal street, from the river to the Bowery had ignored the possibility of such a shop being in cellar, as the whole of that region was originally swamp, and the eel lars hardly fit for storage purposes to say nothing of habitation. Nevertheless, 1 again went over the ground with more care, and af- ter following the south side to the river, 1 was on the north side, when saw, in mal-looking cellar window, near Sullivan street. few s'round hearts" and other cheap cakes. There was no sign or other evidence of the character of the place, excepting the cakes in the window. Descending the steps into this unattractive den, I asked slatternly young woman, whom found in attendanee,n Mrs, Long was in. She said that Mrs. s:,s Long 2 did not live there ssWhat," said l, doesn't Charley Longs mother keep this shop?" ''Oh, yes, she replied ''but her name isn't Long. That might have been her first husbands name" I was evidently developing one fact in my investigation, for the benefit of vital statistics, viz., that in the social sub-stratum widows are prone to seek in speedy new all'-. ances consolation for the loss of the ''dear de- parted" Satisfied with my clue, asked no more questions, but proceeded at one to the Tombs to get search warrant for No Canal street, and an officer to serve. Then came another trip with one of those stereotyp- ed officials, who seem to look upon man who has been robbed as entitled to no considera- ton or service that is not paid for in advance. had determined from the first to pay nothing