The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-04-02
A LADY'S NERVE.
DeQuincy's Story of ePhe AVen-
ger Surpassed.
Hartford Times


kno"ledged leaders OF fashion Of
Mobile, can certainly boast of the
possession OF as much nerve and
true moral courage as are often
vouehsafed to any of her sex.
| On the evening of September 10th
she was in her bondoir. putting away
same articles of jewelry. when she
noticed that the peculiar position of
ailbrary lamp, that was burning up
on a chair in the back part of the
room, had thrown upon the floor, al
most under her feet, the shadow of a
man wh0 was crouching under a
broad-topped ornamental table in the
center of the room. She also re-
marked that the open hand Of the
shadow had but two fingers, and re-
membered that several desperate
burglaries had recently been COM
mitted in the neighborhood, suppo-
sitiously by negro desperate, who
was notorious as having lost two
fingers of his right hand.
Mr.. Middleton was absent from
the city, and, besides herself in the
house, there was but single maid.
servant. Instead of fainting with
fear or shrieking for help, the brave
lady seated herself at the very table
underneath which the miscreant was
crouched, and rang for the servant.
'Hand me writing materials. Bird
get" said she, with perfect calmness.
81 want you to take a note this in.
slant to Mr.. Forfair, the jeweler,
and have him send you back with my
diamond necklace and ear.drops,
which l left there for repairs several
days ago. Bring them with you, no
matter if fully repaired or not. They
are by twenty fold the most valuable
articles of jewelry that l possess,
and do not wish to pass another
night without having them in my
bureau drawer"
The note was at once written and
dispatched but, instead of being in
the tenor that she had signiied (on
purpose for the concealed robber to
overhear, for she had no jeWelry I'M
der repair, it was a hasty note to
the jeweler, an intimate friend, in
which she succinctly stated her ter
rible position, and urged him to has
ten to her relief, with the requisite
police assistance, Immediately on re-
ceipt Of the missive.
The agonies which that refined
and delicate woman underwent when
left alone in the house, with the
consciousness of the presence of that
desperate robber, perhaps assassin
as we'll, crouched under the very ia
bic upon which she leaned, and per-
haps touched by her very skirts, can
only be left to the readers magma
ton but her iron nerve sustained
her through the ordeal. She yawned,
hummed an operate air, turned over
the leaves of a novel, and in other
ways lulled the lurker into a sense
of perfect security and expectancy,
and waited, waited with a wildly
beating heart, her eyes fastened up
on the hands Of her little ormolu
clock with a greedy, feverish gaze
At last, however, came the prayer |
for relief. There was ring at the
door-bell, and she strolled carelessly |
into the hall and. down stairs to open
it. The ruse had been a success.
She not only admitted Bridget, but
also Mr.. Forfair and three stalwart
policemen. The latter passed steal
thily upstairs and into the boudoir,
where they suddenly pounced upon
the concealed burglar so unexpected
Iy as to secure him with hardly
The prisoner proved to be negro
criminal named Chapman, but mostly
znewn as 1.-TWO Fingered JEFF" who
vas in great request about that time
'or several robberies committed in
he neighborhood a short time before,
md he is now serving a twenty years.
ientence in the Alabama State
Prison.
The Inhabitants of Madagascar