Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-09-29
THE BUCKEYE.
Thrilling Account of n Piece OF Dc
tective Work.

1t is strongly suspected that the man
who wrote the following had read The
Moonstone," and that in order to write
a great detective story, he closely follow
| ed the truly sensational Mr.. Collins:
Mn name is Gid Wetterage. L am
the overseer on the Bailey plantation,
| and am therefore able to write cor
rect account of the buckeye. The buck
] eye of which am going to write. and
| which was the cause of such sensation
| in Mrs. Bailey's household, should nev-
| er have been taken from the negroes
| who owned it. 1t was very highly
| priced by them and was employed as a
| charm at ''crap" table. The company
| that owned it could beat any other COM
pany throwing dice; consequently Its
value was great. This is the way iu
| which it was stolen. Bill Squarls, a
cousin of Mrs. Bailey, went into the
| cabin where it was kept. Seeing that
| as the negroes were half drunk, no one
was keeping a strict watch of the buck
| eye, he slipped it into his pocket. From
that time until Bill gave the buckeye TO
Miss Bailey, with whom he was much
| in love, three of the negroes never
| allowed him TO get out of their sight.
1t was Miss Bailey's birthday, and we
were all sitting out on the porch when
Bill said:
''Polly I've got present for you"
'What is it?'' she asked.
"The celebrated crap-table buckeye"
| "You don't tell me SOL"
''That's what 1 do. Here ii is.
He placed the buckeye in her hand.
Just then three negroes passed through
the yard. l thought that we ought to
have them arrested but Bill said no.
Miss Bailey was delighted with the
buckeye and seemed never to grow tired
| of holding it in her hand. Mrs. Bailey
| cautioned her. my daughter" said she
''you must be more careful with your
buckeye. Somebody might steal it..
Trust me- Miss Bailey replied. Il
shall not allow it to get out of my sight.
See that little box?''-pointing TO box
covered with shells-"Well, Pm going
| TO put Z in there to night"
Just at that moment German girl
who worked for us turned pale. She
was not handsome girl, but up to that
moment my confidence in her had re-
mained mistaken. We all saw Miss
Bailey put the buckeye in the box.
was the last one to go to bed that night,
for curious impression that something
was going TO happen had taken posses
sion of me. Late at night l heard foot
steps in Miss Bailey's room. Going out
into the hallway caught sight of the
German girl, hastily retreating. l did
not want 10 alarm the house so l went
back TO my own room and lighted my
pipe. Early in the morning L was
awakened by an unusual noise. Just
then Mrs. Bailey violently knocked on
my door and exclaimed: "Oh, Nr. Wet
terage, my daughters buckeye is sto-
len."
rushed into the hall as soon as
could. There l found Miss Polly and
Bill. They were much excited, and
Bill was swearing that he would have
the three negroes arrested, which he did
without delay. We sent TO town for a
detective. He came and questioned
everyone, especially the German girl.
He proved himself to be wonderfully
shrewd man. He measured the depth
of our well, and picked up rusty nail
which he found lying on the ground un-
der the water shelf. He did not stop at
this, but went out into the garden, soon
returning with lap-ring an artichoke
and a piece of yellow ash. We all
eagerly watched, to see what he would
do next. He surprised us by finding an
old shoe at the cOrrsor of the house.
His next move was to question the Ger
man girl again. 1 give few of the |
questions and answers 60 show what an :,
investigatiye mind the officer possessed !
"How long have you been In this
country?"
Five years"
"How old are you?"
Eighteen"
"How much do you weigh?n
"One hundred and forty pounds"
''Have you got sister Kate that can
skater"
"Yes sir"
He riveted his piercing eyes upon her
and asked this startling question:
''Do you like cheeSe?"
The girl blushed, and the great detec-
tive whistled softly. Taking me to one
side, he said:
'Wettsrage, the buckeye has been
stolen"
"You don't say SOL"
"That'S what.n
no 90 you thlnk got lt!'
''The German girl"
"What makes you think so?"
''Didn't you see how she blushed
when l asked her about the cheese?''
That's fact. l am sorry for her.n
"Why?"
Because fowe her fifty cents"
Deserving of some pity, must say"
he replied.
''Do you think that we shall recover
the buckeye?'' l asked.
The detective took up an old dipper
handle, examined it closely, but made |
no reply. / knew that the German girl
did not steal the buckeye The detect
i've had caught her in strong network,
yet could not believe her guilty. You
may think that l am unreasonable in
holding out against the detective, but |
notwithstanding my keen appreciation |
of the fellows wonderful shrewdnesS, |
could not believe that the girl stole the |