Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-02-26
. LADYs WONDERFUL NERVE
De0uiRcy's Story Of "The Avengsr
Surpassed.

Hartford Tines
Mrs. Isadoro Middleton, a very
beautiful woman, and one of the ae-
knOwledged leaders Of fashion of
Mobile, can certainly boast of the
possession of as much nerve and true
moral courage as are often vouchsafed
TO any of her sex.
On the evening Of September 10Th
she was in her boudoir, putting away
some articles of jewelry, when she
noticed hal the peculiar position of a
library lamp, that was burning upon a
chair in the back pert of the room,
had thrown upon the floor, almost
under her feet, the shadow of a man
who was erouching under a broad
topped ornamental table in the center
of the room. She also remarked that
the open hand of the shadow had but
two fingers, and remembered that
several desperate burglaries had re-
Gently been committed in the neigh
borhood, suppositiously by a negro
desperate, who was notorious as hav-
ing lost two fingers of his right hand,
Mr.. Middleton was absent from the
city, and, besides herself in the house,
there was a single maid servant. In
stead of fainting with fear or Shrek
ing for help, the brave lady seated
herself at the very table underneath
which the miscreant was concealed,
and rang for the servant.
Hand me writing materials,
Bridget, said she, with perfect calm
ness. | want you to take a note this
instant to Mr.. Forfar, the jeweler,
and have him send you back with my
diamond necklace and ear-drops,
which | 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 | possess, and
| do not want 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 signihed Ton
purpose for the concealed robber to
Overhear, for she had no jewelry under
repair), it was a hasty note to the
ieweler, an intimate friend, in which
she succinctly stated her terrible pO-
%sition, and urged him to hasten to her
relief, with the requisite police assis-
lance, Immediately on receipt Of the
missive.
The agonies which that refined and
delicate woman underwent when left
alone 10 the house, with the conscious
ness Of the presence Of that desperate
robber, perhaps assassin as well,
crouched under the very table upon
which she leaned and perhaps touched
by her very skirts, can only be left to
the readers imagination but her iron
nerve sustained her through the
ordeal. She yawned, hummcd an
operate air, turned over the leaves
Of novel and in other ways lullcd the
lurker into a sense of perfect security
and expectancy, and waited, waited
with a wildly beating heart, and her
eyes fastened upon the hands of her
little ormolu clock with a greedy, few
erish gaze.
At last, however, came the prayer
for relief. There was a ring at the
| door-bell, and she strolled carelessly
into the hall and down stairs to open
liz. The rusc had been a success. She
not only admitted Bridget, but also
Mr.. Forfar and three stalwart police
men. The latter passed stealthiIy up
stairs and into the boudoir, where they
suddenly bounced upon the concealed
burglar so unexpectedly as to secure
him with hardly a struggle.
The prisoner proved to be a Negro
criminal named Chaplain, but mostly
known as 1.-TWO Fingered jeff who
was in great request about that time
for several robberies committed in the
neighborhood a short time before, and
he is now serving a twenty years.
sentence in the Alabama State prison.