Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-09-04
HONOR AMONG THIEVES.
A CASE OF CLEVER ROGUERY TOLD
BY AN OLD DETECTIVE.

Scheme of Some Rascals to Prove the
Honesty of One of Their Number.
Have ! met with much honor in nv
career?" replied an old detective to a report
er's question the other day.
Eyes, honor"
"What kind of honor and where?"
among thieves"
"Oh, that kind" said the rogue catcher
with a laugh. Eyes, l have met with q
good deal of that characteristic you mean
when you say Honor among thieves but
it's not honor. it's only selfshness, self
interest, self preservation, and it willis
whenever it pays better to cast it aside.
But l have just heard of a rather re-
markable display of this sort of honor.
which occurred in this city not long ago.
"An elderly man, a typical hayseed, who
1ad come to town to see the sights, accost-
I'd a policeman on the Boweryan told him
with tears in his voice that he must have
been robbed Of all his money, eighty dol
lars, for he could not find it in any of his
pockets, and he did not know just where
or when he had last seen it.
"The old boy had been poking about in
some of the worst dives and dens of the
city, and the wonder was that in his green
ness he had not met with something
rougher than a mere ~pickpocket. Nothing
could be done, however, so the old fellow
was advised to pawn his watch, all he had
left, for enough money to buy a return
ticket and in future to keep away from the
wickedness of the metropolis.
'The old man set out from the police
station for the p%awnshop in wild despair,
but in a few hours time burst in upon the
police sergeant behind the desk with the
shout:
"'I've been robbed againp
"'Againl exclaimed the sergeant angrily;
Have you been into the dives again2 Did
you pawn your watch?'
ROBBED AGAIN.
"'No,' cried old Hayseed; just as I was
going into the %pawnshop q man touched
me on the arm and said he was a detective
in plain clothes, sent by the police to help
me to get back my money, and if l would
60 with him he would have it returned
to mer'
"'And were you fool enough to go with
himp exclaimed the sergeant.
"'Of course l went said Hayseed.
"Then you deserved to be robbed of
your watch toop
"'My watch?
"'Yes, your watch
"'My watch is all rightp
"'You said you had been robbed again.
$50 l have
ago you said you had nothing but you
watch
"'Neither l had
"'What in the mischief could they steal
from you then?'
my money
"'You're drunk, you old idiot; 1Il lock
you in the cooler for a while till you can
talk sense
"'Gosh all fishooks, l am talking sense,
captainl Don't lock me up, but let me tell
you the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. so help me George Washing
ton
$50 on, then,' said the sergeant, threat
eningly, but cut it short; I've wasted
more than enough time over you already
'"Then the old fellow told how he had
followed the bogus detective, by devious
ways and dark alleys, into a room on the
top floor of a crowded tenement house.
There his conductor introduced him to an
other fictitious detective, who appeared to
the old man to be of higher rank than his
guide, owing to the bullying way in which
he spoke and the Difference paid him. This
fellow produced the old mans eighty dol
lars from a drawer and counted it out
slowly to him.
""There's your money, III man,' he said,
and the vigilance of the finest police force
on earth is once more attested. No other
power could nave recovered it for you.
Now tell me, is that every cen you lost2
Be particular and do not trifle with me, as
you value your liberty. We're you robbed
of one cent more than the eighty dollarsp'
"'No,' replied the old man, trembling
with delight at the recovery of his money.
That is all, captain, eighty dollars
GENEROSITY EXPLAINED.
flake it and co. said the fellow, and
be careful to let the same officer who
brought you here conduct you to the rail
way station. Speak to no one but him,
till you are safe again on your way to your
country home, and leave the wicked city
to city folk and the all watchful police
"The old man and his guide bowed them
selves out and departed. They had not
gone far when a burning thirst seized the
conductor, and the overjoyed old fellow
was not slow to appease it. More drinks
followed, and the way to the railroad sta
ton began to grow %tortuous. Presently
Hayseed missed his guide altogether in a
crown, anu uO euOrUS Ou us pdrC awaited TO
find him. The old man got on a horse car,
and when he put his hand in his pocket to
pay his fare he found that his money was
gone again.
"He did not understand the case at all,
ever then, and it took the police sergeant
a long time to make him see that he had
been played for a sucker of the rankest
kind. Finally he took it in and then he
exclaimed: We'll, gosh darn it all. Idunno
which is the slickest, the rascals that done
me or the police that can see through their
tricks
You see," added the detective by way of
explanation, lone of the organized bands
of criminals had spotted the old fellow the
minute they set eyes on his toggery and his
guileless manner. They set one of their
light fingered members, the n who played
the guide afterward, to rob him. The
sway eighty dollars, was much less than
they had expected to get, and they sus-
pected the man who had robbed him Of q
lack of honor among thieves and accused
him of keeping back part of the plumber.
He had undertaken to show them that he
wa square, and you have heard the clever
way in which he led his simple old victim