Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-03
COULDN'T BE A THIEF.
An Ex-Exhorter Steals a Farmers
Horse and Sells It to a Stranger.
HIS CONSCIENCE sMITES HIM.
Then He Returns the Animal and Hangs
Himself in the Barn.
HIS LAST EFFORTS TO MAKE AMENDS

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
HARRISBURG, Nov. AT Coalton ten
days ago valuable young horse was stolen
from barn on the John Blake farm, near
that village. Elmer Jones, who had
worked for Blake several years and had a
local reputation as religious exhorter,
was also missing No one suspected him of
theft, though, until the following day, when
his unusual absence from the farm forced
the belief on Farmer Blake that he had sud-
denly turned horse thief He had covered
up his tracks well, for, although thorough
search was made in every direction, no
trace of horse or thief could be found.
A curious circumstance connected with
Jones' astounding disappearance was made
known to Farmer Blake by Justice of the
Peace Ware, who said that the day before
the theft of the horse Jones executed will
in the presence of the Justice and his wife,
by which he bequeathed everything he pos
sessed to Farmer Blake.
Farmer Blake Treated to . Surprise.
On Friday morning Blake went out to do
his work at the barn, and the first thing that
attracted his attention was the words, in
large letters, made with chalk on the side of
the barn: "Pray for me-" The farmer went
to the barn and found his stolen horse in
the stall from which it had been taken ten
DAYS before.
Farmer Blake was about to run to the
house with the good news, when he was
rooted to the spot by the sight of man
hanging by the neck on rope fastened to
beam. The man was Elmer Jones, and he
was dead.
Ill To-
In the dead mans pockets were found $50
in $40 bills, and the will he had made in
favor of Farmer Blake enclosed with which
were two mortgages on neighboring farms,
one for $500 and one for $500. While the
formal investigation of the suicide was be-
ing held at Blake's stranger drove up to
the place. He had evidently driven long
and hard. He told Farmer Blake that
he was on the track of horse that had been
stolen from his barn two days before, and
described the animal.
Another Claimant for the Horse.
He gave an exact description of the horse
that had been stolen from Blake and re-
turned so mysteriously. He took the
stranger to the barn, and the latter declared
that the. horse was the one that had been
stolen from him.
ST bought the horse of stranger" he
said, "for $50, and it was stolen from me the
same night"
He described the man who sold him the
horse, and the description was that of Elmer
Jones. Farmer Blake then told the
stranger the story of the horse and of the
man who had stolen it, sold it, and, beyond
doubt, stolen it again. returned it to its
legal owner and then hanged himself The
stranger looked at the dead mans face and
identified it as that Of the man from whom
he had purchased the horse. The $50 found
in Jones' pocket were also satisfactorily de-
scribed by the stranger and were returned
to him.
Jones was about 55 years of age, and it is
recalled now that about 35 years ago he and
three others we're convicted of being MEM
bers of gang of horse thieves, and he was
sentenced to term in State prison. 1t was
not until after the war that he returned to
his old locality, where he lived an indus
trious and upright life ever since. His re-
lapse into the ways of his criminal days is
explained only by the theory that he had
become insane.