Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-04-08
q 1 can't imagine what has become

L can't imagine what has become
of the owner of that rig. explained tae
farmer. He broke down just out here
all of two months ago. and Z let him
draw his wagon in here and store his
bales of rags in the barn. He was to
return in day or two, but he hasn't
shown up since
las we went into the barn we passed
SIX or eight sacks Of paper rags piled
up in loose manner. There were
score or more of loose papers on the
pile, and picked up one. which
proved to be Confederate bond.
pOeketed it as relic. and picked up
wha. l thought was another, but as I
opened it out read: Last will and
testament of James Yaney Sumner 1t
was the will of the old man who had
died near Louisville, and its production
not only put an end to all further liti-
CATION, but brought me reward of
three thousand dollars. found tie
owner of the peddler's outfit at Leban-
on, which place was his home. and
where he had been very HI of fever for
many weeks. He had bought rags of
the old man, and through some care
lessness the will had got mixed i'm
There was still another detective in
| the group, and after bit he began:
about two years ago l was at
pursued an express robber from Madi-
son, Wis. 1t was an old trail had been
following. and when l lost it entirely at
Stockton didn't feel SO badly put out
as should if there had been fair
show for me to overhaul the chap. l
had photograph of the man, and was
| also posted as to certain points in his
description. He had one front tooth
which had been filled with gold; he
stammered little in his speech when
confused; he was near-sighted. He
had been gone from Stockton a full
| month before l reached there. and as
there was no trace of the direction
taken. / gave up the hunt in disgust.
| When got back to Omaha bad to
| take 3 man to Topeka, Kan, to see
about an embezzlement, and on the
night of my arrival entered bar
room in search of Tom and Jerry.
The barkeeper was leaning on the bar
and reading paper. The first thing
l noticed was that he held the sheet
| close to his face. The first name of
the robber 1 had been chasing was
George. As advanced to the bar
said:
"'Come, George, Tom and Jerry
Il don't know why said it, but the
| speech was spontaneous. and was ut
tered before l really knew that l was
speaking.
".W-hat! W-w-hat's th-that?' he
staEmered, as he let the paper fall,
and turned as white as chalk.
'.At the same instant l caught the
CLEAN of gold in his teeth. and l put
my hand on his shoulder and said:
George johnson, you are my
prisoner
"'H-how d-did you f-find me?' he
queried. holding on to prevent himself
from falling.
well, sir. he owned up like little
man, and held out his hands for tho
darbies. Out of the eight thousand
dollars he stole l received all but
thousand dollars. He went to Stock
ton. as had trailed him, and after 4
day or two he disguised himself as q
machinist and returned to the East,
and brought up in Topeka. He had
not purchased the saloon, not daring
to use his money yet, but had got en-
ployment for a few days as Il matter of
charity. In making the run back from
California he had stopped off five diff
ferent times and adopted new dis
guises, and he had no more idea of be-
ing arrested in Topeka than in Alaska.
OF course / didn't admit that l had
Numbered in on him, and to this day
he believes that l trailed him step by
step all those hundreds of miles. Yes,
Il detective to be lucky must count
more or less on luck, and there goes
midnight and it's time We were in
bed. ~. Y Sun.