Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-10-09

--AeA4AlLg y
Perhaps you read this one day In youI
daily paper:
policeman johnson, OF the Tenth
precinct, last night discovered a complete
kit Of burglars tools on Allen street.
Most OF them were in a satchel, but a
jimmy was found on the pavement, and
the windows Of the wholesale house of
Edwards & Co., dealers in silk, were
partly forced. The policeman met q man
carrying a similar satchel several hours
before, and Police Superintendent
Brown, although he viii not admit as
mulch, is confident from the description
given that the notorious craftsman Bill
Phibbs was surprised in the preparation
Of a robbery"
The police were looking for the man
with the satchel.
This single room with a cot in one
corner and the tattered gamin asleep In
the other is Mr.. Pidbbs' home.
"Back already" cries the boy, sudden
" wakingj 81 thought"
''Never think, said Mr.. Phibbsi "go
for a doctor"
'Oh, I see, Pop" says the boy again;
abduction, Ell all right, Pop, Pm OF,
as Mr.. Phibbs places a senseless child on
the bed. Many strange things had the
ragged boy seen in that room. He had
cen bales Of silk piled on the floor and
Bill Phibb5 standing over 1t cursing
about an old man with a hooked nose.
He bad seen rough men divide piles Of
greenbaczs there, and more than once
had he seen Bill Phibbs tOtter in bruised
and bloody and pale, and many time
had he nursed the burglars wounds.
The boy returns In a minute, and says
softly: "No use, Pop, the doctors
asleep" Bill Phibbs is chatting the little
child's hands. He drops them. looks at
the shining barrel OF his revolver and
murmurs: "ru have to wake him"
An old man returns with Mr.. Phibbs,
ezclaiming as he does so: "And you
thought I wouldn't come. Why, bless
your soul, sir, L was over anxious, SIR.
Even before you stuck your pistol in the
window, sir" Mr.. Phibbs points to the
child, and the doctor hUrries to the
couch.
Through that not summer night a
burglar chafed the hands Of a child and
worried doctor watched. All night
long a burglar watched a white, delicate
face on a pillow, and when the morning
sun had come, the doctor gone, and the
white face Ifelike again, a burglar
thought he saw a smile on a Wrinkled,
careWOrn face that bent over a cradle
ashioned only In memory.
Mr.. Phibbs moved the next day to
another quarter Of the town. Several
men who had called on him scOWled at
the fair child playing with the gamin,
and said that Mr.. Phibbs must give up
keeping a fOndling asylum.
The child was very young and could
not tell its name distinctly, AS near as
Mr.. Phibbs could make il out, the name
was Willie Grounds. 1t did not seem to
mind its new home much, and played
and rOmped as merrily with the ganin
as though it had known him all his life.
The next day Mr.. Phibbs put this notice
in the newspapers:
"PersonBl-A child wearing a plain
gold ring found; parents or guardians
who claina the same may have it by iden-
flying it through these columns"
On the following morning Mr.. Phibbs
read that he would receive a liberal re-
ward by restoring the child to No. --
West -- street. He went back to his
home.
"Come, Willie" said he to the child,
81 am going to take you to your mann
ma" and very tenderly he Patted the
curly head as he spoke. The child's
eyes frightened. He was ANXIOUS to go,
and after kissing the gannin many times,
ne and Mr.. Phibbs set out. He had
grown accustomed to Mr.. Phlbbs and
was not surprised to see the craftsman
wearing big black whiskers as they left
the house. Mr.. Phibbs and the child
were within a block Of the residence
when Mr.. Phibbs paused. A gentleman
was coming down the stOOp and Mr..
Phibbs knew him. He was suPerintend-
ent Of police.
"Ah, my hearty" calculated MIR.
Phibbs, $50 that's your game" and be
fore the child was aware OF the fact, he
was sitting by Mr.. Phibbs' side in
coach and rolling down town.
Allen street is no longer broiling and
baking In the sun The Christmas days
have comel Christmas eve. with all its
legdnes, its ringing bells, its stories Of
ghosts and goblinsl Christmas eve, bright
and cheeryl Christmas eve, ike a bene-
dicion on the landl
Mr.. Phibbs sits before his CRATE; the
gamin plays on the floor and a lost child
plays at a burglars knee. Slowly but
surely, the days are driving from a
child's mind the memory Of an early
home. There were his tin soldiers on
the floor and his rattle by the hearth
stone. Mr.. Phibbs was very much
changed. There was a solemn, settled
look on his face. He never smiled ex-
.cept when he held the child on his knee.
Very sagely the gamin shook his head
and told the old gentleman with the
hooked nose, pops going" pointing to
his head.
MIR. Phibbs went out that night.
There had been TumOrs Of an over-activs
police superintendent, and Mr.. Phibbs
was looking for another boarding house
He found one, and turned back to the
lodgings. The hallway was very dark
and the stairs creaksd. Never before
had a hallway been so dark in the mind
Of 1Ir. Phibbs. and the stairs cEeaked as
though they were saying: "Phibbs,
Phibbs, Phibbs; I've got you now,
Phibbs." He turned the knob OF the
door, swung It open and stood still.
There before him sat the superintendent
OF police, with the child on his knee.
The burglar heard the last words Of the
child; "And Oh papa, papa, he's so
good and so kind, you VIII love him"
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