The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-04-02
trains. and was about leaving when |

| trains. and was about leaving when /
saw her enter the waiting room. She
was closely yelled, but / knew her fig-
ure, and reasoned that she had given
tho widow very short notice. It was
not impossible that this new girl was a
thief, and determined to speak to her
and ascertain her reasons for leaving.
As / started toward her she sprang up
and rushed out doors. That was a
sign of guilt which / could not disre-
gard, and | gave chase. She led me
sharp run for half mile, and when
collared her she struck out from the
shoulder, and gave me beautiful black
eye. In return | put the handouts on
her wrists, and they had scarcely
snapped together, when she said:
"Well, old chap. I suppose the jig is
up. What kind of a second girl do I
make, anyhow
"'You'll come back to the house, and
be searched replied. not yet tum-
bling to it.
"FThe housed I've got the money
on me, and, of course, Ihave to go back
to Peoria. You don't take me for a
spoon thief, | hope?"
lit was Albright, and no mistake.
He had left Peoria in the evening, dis
guised as a female, and his makeup
and appearance were so deceiying that
he made two or three mashes before
reaching Decatur. He knew that no
effort would be spared to hunt him
down, and be had the cheek to take
employment as second girl, hoping TO
have a secure retreat until the hunt
had grown cold. Ny coming to the
house was what had sent him away.
He didn't believe / knew him, but he
saw me watching him, and he argued
that I would soon drop on his dis
guise.
IT wouldn't be strange if luck had
also helped me out occasionally, for |
have been in this business over twenty
years. said the third man as he
scombed his long goatee with his fin
gers. Zone of the most striking in
stances occurred last fall. A rich old
fellow named Sumner, living near
Louisville, was found dead in his bed
one morning. He had been married
twice, and had two sets of children,
and you can readily understand what
happened. 1t was known for fact
that he had made a will 1t was a
stranger fact that the will could not be
found. The heirs tainted each other
with having stolen the will, and pretty
soon the law and the lawyers were
called in, and there was a biz fight
over the estate, valued, believe, at
about 100000. One of the heirs by
the first wife engaged my services in
the case. He was sure that one of the
heirs by the second wife, who was
known to have visited the old man the
day before his death, had stolen and
destroyed the will. AS he could show
that the provisions of the will left the
bulk of the estate to the first set of
children, his charge was a reasonable
one, and went to work to see what I
could do. The alleged offender was
pretty hard case, and all the informa-
ton | could acquire went to show that
he was none too good to do stroke Of
the sort.
81 spent month on the case with
out getting any thing definite and then
dropped it. The estate went into
court, each side retaining enough law
yers to eat up every dollar, and I took
up the chase of horse-thief. He had
stolen several horses in Ohio and run
them into Kentucky. His headquar-
tiers were at Elizabethtown, and | had
been there for couple of weeks, seek.
ing for the right clue to bring him up
standing, when, one afternoon, | had
to visit farmer living several miles
north of the town. This man had pur-
chased one of the stolen horses, and
had it taken away from him, and was
ready to give ME all aid and informal
ton. After a talk at the house we
went to the barn to look over his stock,
and in the yard | noticed tin peddler's
wagon with a wheel missing.
g i can't imagine what has become
of the owner of that rig explained the
farmer. He broke down just out here
all OF two months ago, and 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.
GAS we went into the barn we passed
six or eight sacks of paper rags piled
up in a loose manner, There were
score or more of loose papers on the
pile, and I picked up one, which
proved to be a Confederate bond.
pocketed it as a relic, and picked up
what | thought was another, but as I
opened it out | read: Last will and
testament of James Yancy Sumner 1t
was the will of the old man who had
died near Louisville, and it's production
not only put an end to all further liti-
CATION, but brought me a reward of
three thousand dollars. / found the
owner of the peddler's outfit at Leban-
on, which place was his home, and
where he had been very ill of fever for
many weeks. He had bought rags of
the old man, and through some care
lessness the will had got mixed in
There was still another detective in
the group, and after bit he began:
"About two years ago | was at
Stockton, Cal, to which place l had
pursued an express robber from Madi-
son, Wis. 1t was an old trail had been
following, and when lost it entirely at
Stockton didn't feel so badly put out
as | should if there had been a 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 full
month before reached there, and as
there was no trace of the direction
taken, gave up the hunt in disgust.
When | got back to Omaha had to
take a 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
| noticed was that he held the sheet
close to his face. The first name of
the robber had been chasing was
George. As advanced to the bar
said: