The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-06-25
BECAME RICH nv ROBBERY.
Curious story Told Of . Wealthy Coiored
Man Of New Orleans.

Curious story Told Of . Wealthy Coiored
Man Of New Orleans.
.'Some years ago my father rented q
house In Wethersiield from Captain Will
lard, who was then the warden Of the Con-
necticut state prison. He was afterward
sta bbed to death, a. you may remember.
by one of the prisoners, who was hanged
for the murder" said q Brooklyn lady TO
a New York Sun writer. my fathers
family was very large, but 10 was the old
house, and there was plenty OF DON Tor
us all. The grounds were spacious
and required o great deal OF care.
SO that five or six colored gardeners were
often working on them. These men were
all ~convicts, hired by my father from the
prison, which was about a quarter OF a
mile from our house. Captain Willard
said they were a dangerous lot, n
warned us To watch them closely, and adj
vised my father not To allow any OF us
girls To speak to them or To go near
them alone. l cannot say, however, that
any Of the gang allotted to us ever mis-
behaved, unless, indeed, II was ID n
about whom l am going To speak.
"This was n big, good natured fellow,
very black, n capital hand with the banjo.
and about 40 years old. His wife and
children went to see him In the jail every
visiting day, and they all seemed 10 be
very hopeful Of the future, for the prisoner
was serving a term of only five years. He
was suspected OF having participated I'm n
number of burglaries but was convicted
of but one-the robbery OF ajewelry store
In Hartford. Very little property was
found with him when he was arrested, and
though the store had been completely
emptied of its ~valuablcs, II was supposed
that he had played but n very small part
in the raid upon II, and his sentence was
light.
''But one day the man, to whom my
father had been very kind, told him confl-
dentially that he had been entirely alone
in his last robbery and n dozen others,
and that the day before he was taken
into custody, knowing that his arrest was
imminent, he had buried his booty,
amounting in value, he thought, to close
on TO $4,000, In an unfrequented place.
He offered to tell my father wher the
treasure lay IN share IL equally with him
IL he would unearth IL, turn II into cash
and hold IL until his term of imprison-
ment had elapsed. OF course, my father
refused to listen to such a proposition,
and tried to worm out Of his informant
where the wealth was hidden, but the
prisoner was too cunning for him. He
detected his object and became very re-
ticent.
"About n month after the man had been
released my father received by express a
package containing fully $500 worth of
jewelry, in the shape of ladies' rings and
bracelets. There was no letter with the
bundle, but there vas no doubt about the
accuracy Of the address. The things were
shown te the jeweler who had been
robbed, but he said none of them had ever
belonged 10 him, SO we kept them, subject
10 an original owner'sc claim.
Late last winter l was In New Orleans
with my husband, and one afternoon an
elderly colored man accosted me as ! wal
walking in the street. He was dressed i'm
The most fashionable material, cut i'm the
latest style, and he literally twinkled with
diamonds; but | easily recognized our
old Wethersfield gardner. He was evil
IDENTITY quite rich, and | asked him when
and how he acquired his wealth.
Missy he said, forgetting that | was
an elderly married woman, 1T was befo' i
wcnt 20 prison. | one tole yer pa all bout
il, but he gives me do cole sholdah.'"