Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1891-10-15
THE LEISURE BURGLAR.

Have you never heard Of our Mr..
ForrestP NoP Why" he continued.
rubbing his hands together exultingly.
''he is a man the likes Of which wager
you will not lind in another prison in
these statesr'
you are proud OF him, ehl''
Proud Of himl Proud Of hint Well,
now, you may believe IT, Ah, | tell
YOU. sir. he is none Of your common
every-day-sort Of scamps. No, indeed
not bel He is a gentleman. every inch
Of him. But you would like to see
himan
Certainly" / answered. III he be
as interesting as you would make
out"
"And moro so, sir assure you" be
said. enthusiastically.
Where do you Keep himP" in
quired.
I'VE set him at work in the library.
and a good man he is there. too
And leading the way he brought me
20 the door leading to the library.
Pausing a moment, he leaned over to
me and said;
'Sir. If you can. you must get him
60 tell you of his last piece OF work.
A very artistic thing il was, and bold.
too. He's in for five years"
And he opened the door. Sitting mt
a table reading some paper was very
pleasant. affable-looking gentleman.
When | say gentleman, l mean that
he could not possibly be taken for any
thing else. His looks, his bearing.
the courtly manner in which he rose to
greet us as we entered. aud the CHEEKY
smile with Which he recognized our in
PRODUCTION stamped him at once as one
born a gentleman; and that he was
we'll educated and possessed OF an in
tellect far above mediocrity was APP
parent before seft.
The warden leaving a moment later
TO attend TO his duties, we spoke casual
ly on several topics. | avoiding any
mention of the fact that be there as a
prisoner and wondering how he ever
came to commit the crimes-for lad
found that mis- last crime was not his
first one. but that all his life he had
been a burglar, and had, until the
present time, successfully eluded the
search and vigilance of the officers
which had brought him into his pres
ent position. aud given him the unen-
viable reputation he enjoyed; for, when
at last did bring myself TO tne point
and somewhat timidly broached the
topic, his interest heightened. aud. iu-
stead of appearing downcast and
shamefaced. he rather bristled some
whas with pride, and found no Diff
Guilty in inducing him TO give me a
detailed account OF the piece of work
at which he was caught He said:
II had absiained from anv work for
over half year. owing mostly to the
onerous duties imposed upon me BY
society; but my desire increased until
could restrain il no longer. and one
night on a sudden impulse | set out.
taking with me but few tools, which
/ carried in my pocket Il was early.
very early not later than 10 o'clock.
while operations are usually most sue
cessfully conducted between 3 aud or
8.
However. did not have the pa
tience to wait. but Immediately began
looking about for some house whose
appearances was prepossessng. By
1880 had found my house. and fixed
upon my way Of ingress, which was to
be at n window facing south near the
ground. waited impatiently for the
people to retire, which thoy did slow
ly.
Finally the only person still up
was man. evidently the man of the
house. who was smoking "A cigar aud
reading paper. | stationed myself
at tree aud waited looking at my
watch from time TO time. and uttering
imprecations on the man for keeping
me so long in the cold; 1t was near win
ter. and some snow was already on |
the ground.
Soon l saw that the man was get |
ting sleepy, and finally. with yawn.
he threw away his cigar. laid down his |
paper. and. taking his lamp with him. /
went to another room. Changing my /
position | saw the light reappear on |
the west side. he having. TO the best of /
my calculation. passed through room /
adjoining the room where he first was.
and from that into his bedroom. Soon
the light went out. aud, waiting about 1
half an hour for him to get drowsy. l /
went 10 work.
81 had no trouble with the window,
and opening IL lightly crawied into the
room. Right ahead of me saw a ]
stove, BY the light OF which saw that
! was In little recess used for the
placing Of flowers, which had now been
removed. As it was yet much too
early 10 begin work. sat down on a
chair which found conveniently near
aud waited. The room was comfort
ably warm the fire giving u CHEEKY
glow. aud soon found myself grow
ing drOwsy. Remembering the cigars
4 4 Al ]
table, aud to my delight found there
on a box. some Of which Immediately
appropriated. They proved TO be
very good smoke. and / contentedly
resumed my former occupation Of gaz-
ing at the Goals As fast as one cigar
was used up l would light another. and
believe that / must have smoked
some twenty or thirty cigars that night.
And TO that aud 10 that ouly. can /
attribute the fact of my being here.
But that comes later.
''As sat there noises on the streets
grew less aud less. aud soon an was
silent except the ticking of clock in
the room IN which 1 was sitting. /
beard the old timekeeper strike ~ ia
SLOW, sOmber tones. aud then I. | be-
gan 20 be interested Ia tho beat Of tho
pendulum. aud unconsciously con
slruelcd rhymes that repeated to my
self 1'hen 4 noticed that every few
minutes u would lose beat followed
ly two close together. then lose
lnolher. As the time went on this H.
regularity increased aud / came 10 the
lonolusiou that MY host had forgotten
o wind his clock
AS had already acquired an ailee-
ion for II, wcut up to tae manlei on
yhich L stood. aud opening the door
n|i inside for key. This soon found
na hosan Wlndlng the noise Of which
1used tfhocs 10 ring over Tho whole
,oln. However, ! was noi 10 be de-
,rfed. aud lluishod ny selfimpoNcd
lth md nRnlu nnl down IA