Connecticut western news., 1879-12-03
BEHIND THE BARS.


won Ie1l you 8 Gnlng II you ar ) going to use my real name, for hay
 relatives and friends East and West wh
 have been disgraced enough already"
 Thus said chunky, black-eyed, in
 telligent female prisoner in the Detroi
 House of Correction to our reporter thu
 other day, and he agreed to refer to he
 as Mrs. Saunders. Her age is abou
 forty, her sentence for several years, an.
 she is there for grand larceny. Tw,
 years ago she lived on @ comfortabl
 farm in this State, and was not only re
 spected by all who knew her, but
 worthy young farmer, who was also
 town constable, was in love with he
 and ready to engage himself in marriage
 The Widow Saunders had no children
 and the hired man employed was hal
 idiot of fellow who minded his owr
 business, even if he acted silly at times
 If he ever had the slightest susp icion oi anything wrong about the place heneve1
 hlnted 1t, and when the lawyers got hold Of him on the widows trial they found more than their match.
 Some three years ago the farmers in the widows neighborhood discovered that they were being robbed. The first theft was that of line full of clothes left out of doors of Monday night. The next was that of 8 dressed hog weighing about 40 pounds. The porker was hanging in woodshed attached to farmhouse, and the thief shouldered 1t, carried it to the highway, and there all trace was lost. The marks of wheels were looked for in vain, simply because the Widow Saunders, who was the thief, mad come on horseback, distance of about three miles. It was the work of @ stout man to take down that meat and pass 1t over the fence and strap it to 8 horse, utthe widow performed the feat.
 Pretty good lug for you?" ,queried the reporter.
 I admit nothing," she quietly re- piled, as she twisted at her apron. ''They said I stole the hog, but don't remember nothing about it p
 The next robbery was that of ten bushels of wheat. A farmers barn was broken open and the bags taken off his loaded wagon, carried to the highway, a distance of live rods, and there loaded into one-horse wagon. They attempted to track the vehicle, but shower came up and rendered all efforts fruitles s. The Widow Saunders was the guilty party. She drove four miles after mid4. night, stole and loaded the wheat, drove home, carried the wheat to the garret, put out the horse and cleaned off the wagon, and at daylight was out milking g COWS when the parties in pursuit of the thieves rode by her house.
 "You must be an awful smart wo. man" said the reporter, as he realized the work she had put in.
 "Thank you, ma'am P she demurely replied, ''but of course I never stole that wheat.''
 The farmers now began to bestir themselves, and the constable picked up all the clues he could, and ''spotted" two or three parties and kept watch of them for many nights. As he was "sparking" the Widow Saunders he took her into his confidence and related his suspicious, and detailed his plant to become second Pinkerton. She encouraged him to renewed vigilance, and the next thing was something else. A farmer brought home new corn sheller and left it in his barn. In the morning it had disappeared-shelled it. self out of sight, as it were. The thief could not get the big doors open, and had therefore gone in at the stable-door, united and turned out a kicking horse, and then brought the machine out through the stall. The corn-sheller was found in the widow Saunders par Tor bedroom, when her house was searched, and she had carried it on her back across the fields full mile.
 The constable was now on his mettle. In one breath he declared his love for the widow, and in the next he vowed by the eternal to nab the robber or die trying. She squeezed his hand, and told him to take Excelsior" for his motto, and go ahead This was about week after the theft of the corn -sheller, and he left her house to put in the bal ance of the night on 8 four-corners. When he reached home soon after day light 1t was to find that some ono had stolen silver-plated harness from his barn.
 "Yes, they found the harness in my house," sighed the widow, as the re- porter put the question, sand I shall always believe that my hired man stole it in his sleep!'
 Highways and barns were guarded for the next two weeks, but nothing occurred to add to the excitement. It was generally agreed that the robber had taken himself to other parts, and farm CTS once more hung up their army mus- kets and took their full allowance of sleep. Then, one night, young farmer returning home at late hour from a neighbours, heard noise in the carriage house and investigated. The door had been broken open, and as he was about to enter he got rap on the head, and some one rushed past him. He followed after as soon as his eyes quit seeing stars, and though not able to overtake the stranger, he picked up one of two robes dropped in the chase. The other was found in the Widow Saunders gar ret.
 The climax was not far away. A farmer brought home barrel of -four. left 1t on the veran1a, chained his watch dog ten feet away, loaded shotgun, and then lay down to rest with the feeling that he shonId nenner a thief