The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-05-11

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investigations proved that was correct
In belleveing so. There was another
thing. The man had torn up the carpet
of the bedroom In several places had
got cut the bible and looked between It's
covers, had taken down and searched
| the clothing In the closet and had
been 80 cool and thorough In his search
that knew he was no ordinary Offend
er. A common thief would have fled
| after committing murder or at most
| stopped only long enough to search the
bureau. Whoever the man was he had
not secured dollar In money. He
had, however, taken away an old-fash-
ioned gold watch belonging to Arnold,
which was out of repair, and here was
something which If found, might prove
good clue.
l did not expect to get much out of
the boy, owing to his youth. Taking
him on my knee, made his acqualnt
ance, gave him some pennies, and then
asked him what he saw.
" You see," began the child very
gravely, Il heard grandpa talking and
getting up, and then | saw big robber
jump up and hit him with the axe
Then grandpa fell down, and the big
man went over and struck grandma
Then he looked In the bureau, on the
bed, in grandpa's box, In the closet, and
then went off, and then | went to Sleep
l dreaded to ask him how the man
looked, for much depended on his an
swer. But he was ready with his reply,
and all my cross questioning could not
alter his statement.
Big MANFRED collar (necktie) on
great big breast pin-red whiskers like
Mr.. Johnson there--shiny ring on his
finger-one eye most shut"
tried to make little Jack believe that
the murderer had black hair, and was
little man, but he stuck to his story.
Then one of the constables talked to him
about something else for ten minutes,
and then questioned him as to the ap-
pearance of the man but the story was
the same as he told me at first. Several
of us wrote it down, and charged the
child to remember it.
/ was convinced that the murderer
was stranger in that part of the
country. No one had seen him come or
go; no one knew the hour of his ar
rival or departure, and he had left no
clue behind-nothing but my theory
that the thumb was missing from the
left hand. l rode out to the toll-gates,
but he had not been seen to pass. l
questioned the stage drivers, but they
could give no satisfaction. l went to
the railroad station, but no one could
remember having remarked the presence
of stranger on that night. The MUIR
derer had arrived and departed like
bird.
was considerably discouraged in not
striking his trail, but L was determined
to pursue the case until there was no
longer any hope, or until had found
the criminal. Visiting Pittsburgh and
Harrisburg laid my plans to trap him
if he tried to dispose of the watch.
wrote letters to various officials, and
l.
months j had the case uppermost in my
mind;ewhile transacting other detective
business, but 1 had failed to find the
least clue. Then one day got trace.
1 was riding on the cars of the Penn
sylvania Central railroad, when L OBJ
served an old lady shaking gold watch
| in her hand and then holding it to her
ear to see if it would run. Crossing
over to her, L asked to look at the watch
and she handed it over with the remark:
cit isn't much good, but 1 don't
know as it ought to be. My husband
only paid $40 for it,"
found out that her name was Allen
that she lived within a dozen miles of
where the Arnolds had been murdered;
that on the morning after the murder,
as near as she could remember, her hus-
band had purchased the watch of a
traveller on the highway, who was look.
ing for work aud out of money. She
remembered that the man was a large
man, had red hair and full beard of the
same color, but could not say that she
had observed anything suspicious in his
actions.
found by questioning that the stran-
ger had continued on the road to the
west, and that if he kept on he must
have struck the railroad after an hours
travelling. was convinced that this
was the murderer, and that he had
made long journey on the highway in