The Goldsboro star. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1881-18??, 1881-10-29
actress, who7got d separation from him
five years ago because he systematically

| ~SJ
five years ago because esystehatically
robbed her Of her earnings as soon as
she laid hands on them. Another is q
Bostonian, aged 40, a Harvard graduate
who was educatsd for The ministfye and
went astray. You might mistruHtl the
/ lfEnglishman on account of his style, hut
would defy even detective who did
not know him to suspect the American
Of doing anything but what he repre-
"How about HIP egpmen?"
"The women ale Easier to pick allkE
than the men. They talk too much,
and make too many promises. Still
there are some among them who are
very successful. One of them is the
widow Of thief who was shot dead in
the commission OF a crime in the house
Of Richmond, Va, banker. She is O
woman Of great intelligence, has been
an actress, lecturer, and practiced as a
physician, and is now perhaps the most
dangerous clearinghouse thief we have.
But she drinks, and that impairs her
powers OF harm very materially. ~
"A very dangerous boarding.house
thief is a fellow known as the piano
doctor. He has served O couple of short
terms, bat is now at large, and expect
to hear from him every day. He is a
Dane, but passes for German, and is a
most artistic fraud indeed. He calls at
q big boarding house, where there are
certain to be several pianos, and asks if
any of them want tuning. He is so
handsome, gentlemanly and plausible
that he is certain to obtains job if there
is one on hand Equally certain is it
that after he departs something is mis-
sing from the room he worked in, if
there was anything there worth his car
.rying away The only consolation his
victims have is that their pianos are in
tune, for he is o master in that line.
.sBogus mechanics are frightful dep
redators Of our boarding houses. There,
are a, couple of clock regulators and re-
pairers who spend two-thirds of their
time in jail and the other third in get.
ting there, qualifying themselvesfor the
residence, by going through our board
ing g-houses. One Of these is the hero
Of the famous French clock case. Did
you never bear it t2"sse,.~e 2" 4A4 -~s7v ~.
The reporter admitted that he had
not slTft" Aaa
"Well, I thought every one had,"
said the detective, 'though it never has
been in print, to be sure. It occurred
in this way: handspring Mike, as we
call him, called at swell boarding
house in West Thirty fourth street,
looking for what he could find. A lady
had a magnificent French clock which
had been q prize exhibited at the Gen.
tennial Exhibition, where her husband
had paid 81, 100 for it. Like most French
clocks, this one had been fooled with
and admired SO much that it had got
out Of order, and Mike was permitted
to examine 1t. Nls h{ F4e q
"He took stock of it, and decided that
it would have to have O new handspring,
as the old one, was broken. He went
away to get the spring, and was gone SO
long that none supposed he would come
back. The lady had to go out, but she
left word with the servant that if the
clock-mender did return he should be
permitted to 60 to work. Sure enough,
back came Mike with bundle under
his arm, all apologies for having been
detained. He looked around the room
for an houra then went of, saying the
clock was all right and he would come
in for his pay in the evening. When
the lady returned she found her beauti-
full clock ticking away on the mantle,
and was, of course, delighted, So was
her husband when he got home, until
he examined the clock more closely.
s,'Then he discovered that instead Of
magnificent timepiece of gold inlaid
bronze, onyx. black marble and silver,
he had wretched cheap white metal
imitation, made in some factory at the
rate OF % few dollars dozen. Ii seems
that some manufacturer had got a
model of tho French clock at the Exhi-
bition and turned off lot of cheap ones,
exact tcounterparts of itin design, one
Of which Mike remembered having seen
In secondhand shop the minute he
laid eyes on the, original. Another
adroit job of the same mans was per-
formed at the expense OF an old Knick-
erbocker family who own o famous col
lection of antique furniture and brie-a-
brac. he got, through servant whose
favor he won, permission to fix up the
household clocks. Among these was o |
magnificent eight-day Clock, whose
works are said to be the most valuable,
in an antiquarian sense, OF any clock |
machinery in the world, except, per-
haps. the. great time-piece at Strasburg.
Mike contrived to carry these works of,
bodily, leaving The face OF the clock all |
right, and the weights and pendulum |
hanging from hooks in the case. He
got $500 for his spoil from Broadway
antiqlary, and the family never discov-
cred the theft till one of the hooks gave |
way and the pendulum fell out, when |
On investigation was instituted and the |
heirloom discovered to bea mere she'll"
In nine out Of ten cases of theft from
n