News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-12-18
A LONG.LOST WAGON FOUND.
Gang of Horse Thieves Lead n Sheriff a
Chase Through Three states.

A letter from Binghampton, N. Y,
says: One night in August, 1879, team
of horses was stolen from a barn in the
village of Hawley, in Wayne County,
Pa. The same night wagon of peculiar
construction was taken from the prem
ises of a farmer living near the village.
No trace of the missing property could
| be found. Horse thieves were oper-
ating extensively in that portion of New
York and Western Pennsylvania at that
| time, and one night in October a valuable
horse and carriage were stolen from a
farmer named Swan, living near the
city. The present Sheriff Black was
then deputy sheriff of the county and
he started in pursuit of the thieves.
After a chase of three days he came up
with the thieves and property in Rah-
way, N. J., capturing the former and re-
covering the latter.
The thieves were an old man, Isaac
Van Nortwick, and young man by the
name of James Voorhees,. They were
brought to the city, and are now serving
out nine. years sentence in the Pen
itentiary. The capture of the thieves
was published in the local papers, and
the account was read by the Penn
sylvania man who had lost his team the
previous August. In the name of Isaac
Van Nortwick he recognized that of an
old man who formerly lived in the village
FROM which the horses had been stolen,
and he at once suspected that the old
man was concerned in this robbery also.
He was identified in the Binghampton
Jail by the owner of the missing prop
erty, who employed Deputy Black
to work up the case. The officer went
to Railway, where he got a clue to the
team and wagon. He found one Of the
horses in Orange and recovered it. He
learned that Van Nortwick was well
known in that part of New Jersey as a
travelling dealer in horses and wagons.
A trace OF tie other horse and the
wagon was 65und in Orange. They
were followed up through New Jersey,
into Orange County, n. Y. and from
there into Ulster County, where the
other horse was found in village among
the CatskiIl Mountains. The possessor
of the horse gave it up upon its identity
being shown. The wagon had been
disposed of in the vicinity. 1t was
traced across Ulster County into Sulli-
van, and across that county into Wayne
OOuAG1 dll VI IL hCAO
lost within twenty miles of the spot
where it had been stolen, and all subse-
quent search in the neighborhood failed
to reveal any trace of It's whereabouts.
One morning last week the person
who had lost the wagon five years ago
went out to feed his stock when he saw
a strange wagon standing under his
shed-the same shed from which his
wagon had been stolen in 1874. Upon
examining the wagon he discovered that
il was none other but the long missing
conveyance itself, somewhat dilapidated
and much the worse for wear. Lying
on the seat with small stone on it to
keep it from blowing away was a piece
of paper. The owner of the wagon took
it up. On the paper was scrawled the
following in an unknown hand:
"This has been a good wagon, but it
wants considerable fixing up now, and I
have just traded for a new one, and it
amt worth while for me to pay for fixing
it up. think SIS will make it as good
as new, and you can use it for long
time if you keep it in your barn and
lock it up nights
All efforts to find out where the wagon
came from or who left it in its old place
under the shed have been in vain, and
the temperance of the wagon is as
great a mystery as its whereabouts for
the past five years has been.