Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-22

I AlNhOuku " as q CACI-
getic professional man, it could never be
said that ae sought fame. Fame came TO
him, and the only sorrows in his life were
caused by its arrival. II he had ever had
his business cards printed, which he did
not, both on account of his surprising
mOdesty and the confidential nature Of
his affairs, they would have necessarily
read very much like this:
b. PHIBBS,
Burglar.
All Business Strictly Confidential
Banks a Specially.
Mr.. Phibbs was indeed Of a retiring de
position. Moreover, he stood 50 high in his
profession that despite its frequent inter
ruptions he was beyond the fever and heat
of mercenary competition. On a certain
night Mr.. Phibbs was plodding his way
through Allen street in reply TO profes-
sional call A dark, dismal street it was,
on which burning sun had beamed down
all day long, bakers oven that had been
roasting rich and poor and was now cool
ing off, while the chimes of the far away
church bells sang themselves to rest; a
black cavern of street, fit, You would
think, only for murder and rapine. Mr..
L llOOs W a. III IT, anu tlc5, NCEl snhEps
black eyes set in dark caves of sockets,
with lashes like bushes above them. wan
dered up and down the great stOrehouses.
He was we'll built man, with very
long nose and an over lip that was al
ways being bitten by his white teeth as
though it had done wrong
On this night he carried sachel in his
hand Who could tell his thoughts as his
Ia
We're they of all the precious things stored
within, of the fabrics dainty and rare, or
of the tired, weary hands that had made
them and could never touch them again,
Mr.. Phibbs stopped at the door of one He
smOOthed the iron bolts gently and sOOth-
ingly as though the bolts had no one to
blame but themselves for not knowing
him sooner. He ran his hand up and
down the iron shutter also in a reproach-
ful manner. How still and calm the
great street is, like a cathedral when the
organ is hushed. Quickly the sachel is
opened and bar of steel is In the hand
Of the burglar. 1t rests on the iron shut
ter. Hark! Wha: was that, A step
No, only the sobbing of the wind. The
bar cuts into the iron deeper and deeper
Again the sound lower and fainter, but
mans left hand and cleaning revolver
in his right, when the sound comes again.
this time from his very feet The moon
draws down her veil of cloud and the
white light shines down on a little childish
face there at the cracksman's feet
Mr.. Phibbs, from the nature Of his pro-
fession, was accustomed TO surprises. He
bent his glance and saw that the face be-
ipxxy hin, Of AIlan asr
a tender face-only to be kissed by a moth
er's lips. On the little finger Of the left
hand cleaned a tiny gold ring. The col
lar at the throat was of lace, and the
other garments Of rich texture Mr. Phibbs |
read the story in a second. He knew some
mamma shopping in Grand street had
lost her child, and he knew that the bak-
ing sun had almost stilled the life beat in
the little one. He felt the pulse. 1t had !
almost ceased to beat. What would he
do' Let it die 1t would only be one more |
little unfortunate swallowed up by the |
streets, or perchance cast on the bosom of /
the river. II he were to give il to police |
man he might as well say he was Mr.. |
Phibbs at once. Let it die, Had he not |
seen others prettier and fairer smother |
and starye in the tenements' There is a /
steady footsteps, and Mr.. Phibbs knows |
they belong TO a man in blue uniform. |
Would he escape himself and trust the |
policeman TO find the childs The foot |
steps are nearer A memory comes over a /
mans mind; an indistincS strange mem |
ory and a face wrinkIed and careworn |
comes with it. A face it is looking very |
calm, and Mr.. Phibbs sees a rocking |
cradle and-whst is that! The face bends !
down and kisses the one in the cradle. |
How like and unlike a burglar. Like |
a weird shadow man is noiselessly 4
speeding down Allen street At his /
breast is the face Of a child. Beyond the /
great warehouses flies the man; beyond |
the shuffiing men and noisy women on a |
lighted street; beyond the dark forms /
sleeping in the thoroughfare down where
the houses are thickest, but never beyond |
that wrinkled, careworn face, nor the
rocking cradle fashioned only in memory. /
Perhaps you read this one day in your
daily paper:
policeman johnson Of the Tenth pre-
cinct, last night, discovered q complete
kit of burglars tools on Allen street.
Most of them were in a sachel, but a
jimmy was found on the pavement, and
the windows of the wholesale house of
& Co, dealers in silks, were
partly forced. The policeman met a man
carl ying a similar sachel several hours be-
fore, and Police Superintendent Brown,
he will not admit as much, is
from the description given that
the notorious cracksman Bill Phibbs was
in the preparation of a rob
berry"
The police were looking for the man
With the sachel
This single room with the cot in one
corner and the tattered gamin asleep in
he other is Mr. Phibb's home.
Back Already cries the boy, suddenly
waking; ~why thought
Never think, says Mr.. Phibbs, go for
4 doctor"
~Oh, see, Pop" saws the boy again, "a
luction, eh! all right, Pop, Pm of, as
Mr.. Phibbs places a senseless child on the
Jed Many strange things had the ragged
10Y seen in that room. He had seen the
Dales Of silk piled on the floor and Bill
Phibbs standing over it cursing about an
I'D man with a hooked nose. He had
'een rough men divide piles of greenbacks
here, and more than once had seen Bill
phibbs totter in bruised and bloody and
,ale. and many a time had he nuzsed the
burglars wounds. The boy returns in a
minute and says softly. NO use, Pop, the
loctor's asleep" Bill Phibbs is chatting
he child's hands. He drops them, looks
It the shining barrel of his revolyers, and
nurmurs, I'll have to wake him" II
An old man returns with Mr.. Phibbs, {
as he does so, ~and You
hOught / wouldn't come. Why, bless
Iour soul, sir, WAS over anxious, sir