The Portland daily press., 1880-08-21
THE PRESS.
HOW l GOT PROMOTED.
A DETECTIVES STORY.

A DETECTIVES STORY.
"Tom,'' said the chief, "there has been
rather mysterious robbery at Barrowtown,
and it's likely to give the locals some
trouble. So l wish you to go down as soon
as possible"
This order l received one hot day in Au-
gust, on the day after the robbery had taken
place. OF course did not let much time
pass until was at the station and fairly
quaint, picturesque little town, like many
another in goodly England 1t seems al
most too duh to he able to boast the doubtful
honor of having had full-grown robbery.
Still like the quiet little town, for it Was
there That | gained my first promotion.
was met at the station by the local inspec-
tor, stout, pompous, eXcitable little man,
who looked doubtful as to the prudence of
the Scotland Yard authorities in sending
down such an ordinary looking mortal as
myself. ffH o.
"Oh," he remarked at last, $50 it's you
young man, is it? don't think we are likely
to trouble you much this time. The fact
is. ahem! we have caught the culprt our
selves"
| merely bowed, and expressed wish to
see the prisoner; and we both set off for the
county Jail, perhaps mile or SO away.
Well, it certainly seemed as plain as day
to me that the unhappy wretch, on whom
Inspector Muggridge had laid his fell grasp,
could easily have proved an abb, had not
that worthy officer continually interrupted
him with "better keep all that for your ex-
animation, my good fellow, or it'll all be
brought up against you, my man, you
know"
told him seriously, as soon as 1 could, in
private, that the man he had arrested was
no more guilty than was, but he simply
smiled incredulously, and asked me who
else could be the culprit, as this was the
only really abandoned character of the town,
and it was plainly the work of some one
who knew the place. "Beside," he added,
sit isn't very likely that any one could
beat me on my own ground, where / know
everybody, you know; aud if he didn't do
it who did%' With which really unanswer-
able argument he accompanied me to the
scene OF the robbery, where we were shown
over the premises by the mistress of the
house. & Fk8&& Az
When l saw the ground-foor window by
which access had been gained to the house,
quite agreed with the worthy ''local" that
it was the work of ''new hand,' and that
from the fact that his footprints, wherever
but rather thorough acquaintance with
the grounds, the culprit, whoever he was,
mnst have had some opportunity of visiting
the scene of operations, and probably lived
somewhere in the neighborhood
1t seemed that the thief had entered the
house by a window in the rear, and carried
off a small box of valuables from the room
of the master of the house, who had been
staying at a friends that night Both these
facts showed an intimate knowledge of the
premises on the part of the culprit, and
strengthened our former belief. We were
informed that the lost casket-an ordinary
tin cash-box, had been almost filed with
various articles of jewelry, and therefore
the loss was rather heavy. OF course the
knowledge that there would. be good re-
ward for the recovery Of the missing property
did not abate my zeal Still, in spite of
my eagerness to discover the culprit.
could make but little of the case, and might
even have to come over to the opinion of
the local" but for one very important
fact, namely, the footprints in the garden
bed were all smaller than those of the pris-
oner! Now, although man may wear boots
several sizes too large for him on occasion,
yet he can hardly walk with comfort in
shoes an inch or SO too short
Very much annoyed at my want of sue
cess, and dreading the chaff would be
sure to get when, compelled to give it up, 1
should return to town, was not particu-
larly delighted next morning to see Mr..
Muggridge coming up the road to the house
accompanied by the editor of the Barrow
town Weekly Banner, who had determined !,
he said, to write up the aesount of the rob-
berry himself. But there was no escape; and
So, prepared for a1host Of questions, 1 wa
walking slowly to meet them, when my eve
was caught bv something bright among the
bushes by the roadside Yes, there could
be no doubt of it; there lay the lost box,
empty of course. Without stopping how
ever, walked as calmly as possible on to
the inspector, and was introduced to Mr.
Shears, the editor. 1t was simply wonder
full how obliging l had become. L even,
when Mr.. Mhggridge limited that he was
pressed for time, volunteered myself to
give Mr.. Shears the information he wished,
and to go over the premises with him.
Once left alone with the jealous representa-
tive of the press, / gave that gentleman all
the points of the case, and a few more as
you shall see. s
Ine next forenoon. as soon as COPY of
the Banner came to the house where the
robbery had occurred-I had for the last
two days spent from the forenoon until
dusk there-I turned to the end of
the column devoted to the 'sGreat
Robbery, and read, with a chuckIe, the
announcement that s'the loss of the Jewels
would be less felt had there not been be-
tween the two bottoms of the box almost
two hundred pounds in bank notes, of
which, unfortunately the numbers had not
been taken."z - aN
Probably the intelligent reader sees my
plan; but certainly Ldid not choose to ex-
plain it to Mr.. Muggridge, when, an hour
later. that worthy but eXtitable gentleman
rode, very hot and very red, up the shade
less road, to complain of my having 'made
confounded mess of the account, you
know" l simply advised him to wait for a
few days, and then would be happy to ex-
plain everything.
That evening, as usual l left the grounds
at dusk, after spending the most of the day
in watching apparently engaged in
something else-whether any one went near
the spot, few hundred wards from the
grounds, where lay the box on which 1 es
pecially depended as bait to hook the thief.
By walking slowly, l managed to let the
shades of evening close around me before
was far beyond the spot where l had made
up my mind to watch and wait
Eight! Nine! Were they never coming?
and was my trap laid and baited in vain?
Ten! surely they should have come by this
time. Still. Was that a sound on the
roadF les, ana coming from the village,
too There were evidently several of them,
and began to regret not having brought
some help. Nearer they came, laughing and
talking, as cautiously drew farther back
from the road. And now they were oppos.
lite the spot where the box lay hid But
what! They've gone by; and in the hearty
guffaw of the man farthest away of the
three recognize Farmer Lobbins, an hon
est fellow; whose acquaintance had made
during my short stay. After this SELL had
almost given up, and was actually making
up my mind to abandon the affair, when a
faint sound from down the road made me
crouch as low as possible once more. 1t
was no hoax this time. A short, thin man,
whom / easily recognized as man-of-all-
work who had been helping the gardener
that day, was creeping stealthily down the
road, close to the bushes. As soon as he
reached the spot where the box had been
thrown, he lit small lantern to aid him in
his search. This time felt sure; and so.
when the man blew out the light, after Sc
curing the supposed treasure, the capture
was made.
'Oh! why yes," observed the worthy Mr..
htnr Ann xrI.nx 10, 81.