Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-07-26
sIoaY Or 4 MFE.
N Oh Asissssly That Fss,st u assssia nsr
sAal.

sAal.
Il noticed in the yorssaL the other
morning MENTION N the antique safe which
Mr. 4. b. wari has at his store. : remarked
Deynsy Sheriff Libby to JorRyH report
| er Frsisy morning. aiding --perhsps I
might relate az interesting anec'iese con
ewfning that came safe
Th~ JpgHsaf, you'd be piesssd TO learn
Of the snecsioee Mr.. Libby
Well ~on't mention any nanes but
this OLD safe in question was At one time the
property Of ~ shre~d If ass the shrewdess
nssn that ever soia the ardent IN Augusta
Time AMI time again the officers maize an
saeeessful attempt. to capture bifn.
But the Incident have 10 nind
occurred IN i.so. Joshua b. Heath
| a ssnnri, Temperance maH. was eits
| marshal a, tha, sinns The arxt year was
marshal continuing in that Office throughout
the war. Well. Heath especially wanted To
catch this old fellow, ~ everyone knew be-
| so,a rum AMI no one had been able to catch
him.
His plare u bnsinss. At tina, time an
Old store on the East Side. Well call him
smith but that wasn't his name. Hes lead
ss~. In this store the only contents were
| this OH safe which Was in one corner, and
the chair in which Smith sat. II came 10 BE-
the general opinion that he kept bis rum in
nov possesses.
The more Marshal Heath ponslered th,.
matter the more he bseasns. convinced that
in this obi receptacle the ram sas stored.
lie had tried almost every known expedieni
TO trap Smith and failed and be- nov made up
his mind Ia estci, tive old fetlow al all hazards
Accordingly one morning The marshal sni
vent over 10 Smiths place AMI found him
@ittiay there a. usual. Good ~ cucumber
he vas alway. cool, and the marshal toh
l,itn that he hal come to the conclusion thai
there was rum stored in the old safe and he
must have il opened. Upon this Smith got
terribly indignant The marshal was eK
reeding hi, authority he said and he wouIi
defend his property, He vas large man
aud when he began to demonstrate hi,
opinions by Hourishing a big ease knife
there was in the place. mat
ters wore rather dangerous aspect.
i;u, all this only served to excite Marshal
Heath NJ last h. felt he had GO, the man
whom We hal been trying 80 long a time
to trap. He sent over town aud hal Mr..
Leland, a black smith, come over 10 break
open the safe.
When Leland arrived, AMI proceeded to
business. Smiths manner changed. Well,
he said i suppose You're bound to yet
into that strong box of mine any way.
me TO open III he said turning TO the mar
.hal.
IN give you two dollar-. spoke up the
marshal quickly He now -mellei -"i-
cure close at hand.
smith took the two dollars ,uuloekcd thu
loor. swung 1t open. and We looked in.
Well that old safe : interior was As empty
As dude. hat. There was nothing in it,
Heath looked iumbfoundtd and pre-
.ums lid A. We afterwards found out,
he sold his liquors at his house in file rear
Of the store anil this storc and safe were
used rs a blind. We couldn't then search
| his house for the law at that time prescribed
private dwelling 1t was necessary 10 get two
witnesses to swear they had purchased
liquor on the premises and smith was very
careful to whom he sold
''Onc occasion after this feature Of the Law
had been changed and the officers were
making thorough search of the premises
He had his rum. as was afterwards learned
concealed in the partition between his ell
and stable and the officers were humping
on this partition TO find some suspicious
sound When they got almost to the place
where the concealed opening was Smith,
who had kept perfectly cool ran ont into
the ward cxclaiming, There goes a run
away. That woman will he killed. tt
course the officers ran ont into the yard
but could see no runaway. When they re
turned to the search they failed to tiud the
hiding place.
remember, too. that when finally
caught the old fellow and got him con
yic.e,i. he got half-hour's conversation
with the judge, and told hi, honor such
ptiful tale that only fine was imposed.
He was the shrewdest rumseller | ever
knew, and when | saw that old safe, il
concluded Mr.. Libby.