The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-04-29
FAIRLY CAUGHT.

FAIRLY CAUGHT.
= Ny employment is that of carver in
I 7ftne. Many years ago, soon after had
learned my business, the firm in whose
employ I was undertook the erection Of
gentieman's mansion, aud was sent
to doEthe ornamental work. The viii
lage near to which the mansion was
built,was on the shore of an estuary OF
the Bay of Morecombe, not far from the
market town whose name / need not
give. Asmy work would keep me from
homeseyerdl weeks, a good lodging was
mcst desirable thing; but, although |
tried to get accommodation in a private
house, failed, and was forced to lodge
in the village inn, the Lord Admiral.
Among those who were in the habit OF
frequenting the aforesaid hostelry was
man of singular habits and odd tenn
per. His home was about mile from
tbe village, on the side of lane leading
to couple of farms. His house, like
himself, was a queer one. Originally it
had been built for the storage Of corn,
the produce of fields at. a distance from
the farmstead. Somehow it had ceased
to be needed for that purpose, 50 the
owner turned il into a dwelling house,
and assueh It was now occupied by the
aforesaid strange man. 1t was divided
in.o three apartments on the ground
floor, one of which, very large one,
was set apart and used as O kind of
museum, It's occupant being stuffer of
birds and quadrupe6s. When he had
no work of this sort for other persons he
worked for stock, and this large room
was his warehouse.
He was man. of ill-temper and loose
habits, and for some time had borne a
dubious character. When people were
asked why, he, was suspected, they could
not gixe.aa satisfactory renly. .s He
lives" they would say, "without doing
work equal to his expenditure, which
looks bad.,' AS I got to know him
found that he had an unamiable temper
was morose, sour, and at times passion.
ate. He was also fond of display, given
to betting, and like all such led loose
uneven life, oftenersoitering about than
at work. SO I did not wonder that well
meaning people did not like him.
He mostly came on wet nights to the
Lord Admiral. As we became ac
quainted he invited me to look over hi:
collection of birds and quadrupeds.
was pleased with what / saw. He had
indeed, good collection, and, as well
as could judge, did his work well. lie
had also good assortment of butterflies
and moths, and in corner, close to the
ceiling, had what he called butterfly
breeding box, which he said belonged tc
his son, a young man of my own age
also given to bird-stufing amusements
But l was most taken up with two
animals which differed from the rest
One eEas-a-beautiful dog, and the oshe,
a iusiB ndtur6-a lamb, with the rudi
ments of fifth leg, and some other alb
normal characteristic which I have for
gotten. The old man said he had stuffed
both for their original owners, who had
somehow, failed to lake them away
They were placed at one end of the room
one in each corner, away from. the win
dow, and close to the wall, where. ex
cept in strong daylight, they could no
be easily seen. The connection of thes,
particulars with my story will be seer
in the sequel. 5zF sos iEs1
1 had been in the village about 81,
weeks when the neighborhood wa
aroused and alarmed one morning b,
the report of the robbery of a jeweler'
shop inthe market town already referre,
to, that had been effected during tn
preceding night. Much valuable proper
ty had been taken. This robbery hat
been effected IN such a way as led to tn
belief that gang of practiced thieve
had done it. The prevailing question
was: "Do the robbers live among us, O
have they come from distance p Thi
query was still going from mouth /,
mouth when we were startled, astounded
indeed, by a report of second robber,
-af4the same premises, and on the nigh
following by the breaking into. and pur
Joining of provision warehouse in ou
own village. Were | writing fiction,
would not have made the robbers nav 8,
soon aFsecond visit to the jewelers.. a
such an act would have been deemed
preposterous, but | am relating wha
really occurred, and SO am forced to ga,
what have said.
The jeweler had been SO taken ND b,
efforts to find out the thieves and regaij
his first loss, that he had not placed ad
ditional guard over what was left: be
sides, he was sure, he said, that. thieve
would not think of revisiting for Ion,
time. As for tine provision dealer, b
said in my hearing that he. had no fea
of his place being entered, as he be
lieved robbers would not care to touc
property so bulky and of such inferio
value as his. But he had reckoned witt
out his host; for he had lost a fine ham
a large dot of tea, deal of spices, a fe,
boxes of cigars, and indeed portion O
most he dealt in. The excitement an
alarm occasioned by these robberie
were great and widespread.
The patches of detectives, one fror
Lancaster, and one from CendaI. cam
to our village to see what they coul
fnd out They were not short of que,
tions, l mind; but they took care whs
sort of questions they answered. ]
was easy to see that one of their aim
was to make it appear that they believe
the robbers came from a distance,
order to put the thieves off their guard
for their own opinion was the opposit
of this. :
No event, however serious, can kee
hold of peoples minds beyond certai
time; and these robberies were begil
ming to give place TO some other sui
ject. when the next act in the drama b.