The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-01-30
Thief Caught.

"A Bold Thief on the War:pdth-he tg'
nores all Persons, and euen Infringes upon
the Rights of a Parson-Pursued in "John
Gapen" Style and Ouertaken-Safsly
Gagged.
If, on thu beautiful morning Of last
Thursday, sentinel had stood upon the
top of Capt. Burdell's outer dwelling
and said; "Watchman, what of the
night ?" and if truth had responded to
his call, it would have been, "All things
are crooked, and the devil is to pay
generally" So it was, for as the Capt.
arose from his peaceful slumbers and
began to take his accustomed round, he
soon found that the hand of the thief
had laid its hold upon what he had no
right to, and that he was no longer in
possession of sundry and divers articles
which we're his on the preceding night
when quietly he laid aside his boots and
clothing to surrender himself to the
sweet embrace of Morpheus. The little
blue wagon was no longer in the yard,
the cowhides which had rested for
months in the loft had passed away, and
fodder. hay &c., as if on a spree, did
not occupy their accustomed places.
Such was the pleasing spectacle that
presented itself to our friend when first
he rubbed his eyes and took his morn
ing look. To say that the Captain was
angry, or that be did a little swearing,
of course bis usual amiabilitY forbids-
but we do say that We would as lief al
most to have been half way to Hades as
to have been the in place of that thief.
With that spirit which is a part and
parcel of John Burdell's nature, be lost
no time 10 moving on in his rapid pur-
suit of the deprsdator. Winding tracks,
bending here and there, a by-road now,
and straight one this time, was not to
delude him, for the scoundrel he meant
to have, let come what would. Onward
and onward he moved-6rst here and
then there, untila at last the track Of the
little blue wagon III found, and although
no little brown jug was in it, as far as
we know, that track was enough, and
no lion on the scent of blood ever pur-
sued With more keenuess and avidity
the path of his victim than Capt. Bur-
dell did this Infamous rascal, and we
say this to his eternal honor, for if there
is ore man living who is an enemy of
such human nature it is our esteemed
friend .'. -' .'-'
At 9! o'clock he is at Albert's mill;
an hour later he is ten miles further,
and not a great while longer the spires
of the great buildings in Columbia
reach his eye. The track grows warmer
and warmer3tbe coveted birds.is not far
in the distance. and dosbtloss Il. an un-..
known uau had sat by tie road between
this place and Columbia who didn't know
,be'iuteuse pursuer, he might have i'm
agined that John Gilpeu himself had
been brought to life again: He loses
no time. First, aud intuitively, to the
lanyard; there are the hides, "old Mays"
is recognized. the butt horn bulls is
there too, and II tell you these are
nv hides and intend to have them"
is the stentorian voice of the Capt. The
thief, however, is hotly pursued, aud it
is not long before he is found in the
waters of the Oongaree attempting to
escape, but alas too late: lie is freed,
and like uncle Toms coon, he comes
down without even shot being fired.
He surrenders. He has done his all,
His fight is ended. The wagon and
horse are retaken. The hides are iden-
tilted, aud all is lovely for Capt. John.
We doubt if he ever did feel much
happier, although he says that be wishes
he had overtaken him between this and
Columbia. The william is inearcerated,
and turns out to be an old bird from
the penitentiary, ard had it not been for
the indefatigable and untiring energy
of our friend he would, perhaps, to-day
have been basking in his rascality; and
here we desire to correct our friends Of
1.-THE Register when they attempt to give
the credit to their chief of police, Mr..
Radcliffe. 1t was, as We have stated,
due to Capt. Burdell, and no one else.
In this connection, too, We will not fail
to notice the fact that Justice Marshall
required of Capt. Burdell bond of
$500 for the prosecution Of the case.
This strikes us very much as being
bound up with deal Of red tape, and
although there was no difficulty in the
Capt. giving it, still We can see no rea-
sons for such exactions, unless We take