Mower County transcript., 1890-07-09

y. NY stt - ss.st 81 ~ E7a ss I
to the superintendent of police, ana mao
him arrested and held until tho neces-
sary papers could be had. It was
Phillips, sure enough, but how chaugodl
He had sacrificed whiskers and
mustache. He had dyed his eyebrows
and has his hair shipped short Ho had
changed his fino clothes for an ordinary
suit, and his beaver for a soft felt
might have sat aud looked at him for
two hours and failed to recognize him,
but his voice had given him away.
In the fall Of 1858 q paymaster belong
Ing to the Western army suddenly
stepped out of sight with s175, 900 in
new, crisp greenbacks He was at
Cairo when he received the money from
the Government, and he put it into .
satchel and lost himself between six
O'Clock in the evening and sunrise
next morning. He had been gono three
days when reached Cairo. He was de-
scribed to me as tall, slim, light-com.
plexioned man, with light side whiskers,
blue eyes, and auburn hair. There was
nothing peculiar about him except =
habit he had OF rubbing the back of the
left hand with the palm of the right
when speaking. This was very slight
clue to work on, but it was all had. I
searched for four days between Cairo
and Chicago, but couldn't strike his
trail. My idea was that he would head
for tho East and seek to get out of tho
country, but he had other plans. Pretty
we'll satisfied that he didn't leave Cairo
by rail, l began hunting among the
steamboats,. I found, after long
search. that a man, who might possibly
have been tho paymaster, took boat
that night up tho river, but how far no
one could say. The information was so
vague that it was like hunting for a
needle in haystack, but went up to
Quincy before making stop. 1t he
showed up at St. Louis no was sure to
be nabbed, as the officers in all the
larger cities had been notified and were
now on the watch. l could hear moth.
ing of my man at Quincy, and after
day or two went on to
Keokuk. 1t was busy times on the
river then, and every body was on
the jump. could hear nothing Of
the paymaster, and was about to
return to Cairo tc take up new line Of
pursuit, when stranger approached me
with proposition. He was farmer,
and perhaps some one had pointed me
out as capitalist or speculator. He
had lot of black walnut timber which
ho wanted to get to market, but needed
money as a starter He offered, in case
( would advance $500, to give mo cor
tain share in tho venture, and, as J
thought we'll of it. drove out to his
place, a distance Of about twelve miles
we reached there at night, and next
morning walked through tho timber. At
about ten o'clock We came upon the
farm which backed against his, and as
we were both thirsty wo went to the
we'll for a drink. Whilo there the
acquainted, camo out, and we all sat
down on side porch for chat. After
two or three minutes a man came out,
and she introduced him as her nephew
from Ohio. He was roughly dressed.
but any ono with half an eye could see
that he was in disguise. He had shaved
clean, the sun had burned his face
and neck, and his hands were not over
clean, and he explained that he had
served year in the army, been dis.
charged for disability, and had como
out West to rough it for a few weeks.
jumped to the conclusion that he was
deserter, but had no idea of troubling
him. It was the business of the pro.
vost marshal to pick up such fellows
We somehow got to talking about some
of the battles on the lower Mississippi,
and as my farmer friend and the
stranger did not exactly agree tho dis
eussion waxed hot. Then, to my great
amazement, the stranger began to rub
the back of his left hand with his right
now compared him with tho descrip-
tion, and allowing for the changes he
had made I saw that he must be my
man. lquietly addressed him by name,
told him who was and what l had
come for, and what do you suppose he
did? He just fell right off his chair in
regular faint, and we worked over him
z quarter Of an hour before he opened
his eyes. He had been planning his
embezzlement for weeks. He was
really the woman's nephew, but she did
not know that he was paymaster. He
had the money in satchel in his room
and had used only about $50 of it. His
plan was to lie in hiding for. several
months and then skip to Europe.-N. Y.