The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-07-14
Furnishing A THIEF.
How Burglar Was Very Clever
ly Trapped.

AS member Of the Especial staff" to
whom is intrnsted the duty of dealing
with telegraph business at race meet
ings and other events of irregular and
itinerary occurrence, l have visited
most towns Of any Importance in Eng
land, and have been a spectator of, and
in some cases Il participator in, some
curious incidents, one Of which pro-
pose to relate here. Many of the most
successful meetings, from a racing
mans point of view, are those held at
places otherwise OF very little size or
Importance. AS an example, it will be
sufficient to mention Epson. 1t was to
a town in the Midlands ordinarily con-
tanning about six thousand inha bitants,
that |, with five colleagues, including
supervisor, was ordered in the
autumn of 1877. The event was a two
day race meeting. The first day was
fine. with occasional showers: the
racing was good and as large com
pany was present, we had enough to do
not only at the grand stand, but also
later in the evening at the town office,
whence we dispatched a large quantity
of press-work by means of "Wheat-
>tone,' which had been sent for the
purpose. 1t was eleven o'clock before
we finished, and we then had a good
half-hour's walk to our lodgings.
The second day was awful. Rain fell
in torrents the whole afternoon. OF
course the programme was carried out;
but, beyond official results and ''rc-
ccivcd messages we had very little to
do. 1t is the only day can rcmcmber
during which our boss did not stir out
of the office. He generally contrivcd
to have some business to transact out
side about the time fixed for each race
This day, however, the persistent down
pour was too much for him. After the
third race, he sent me to one of the re-
porters on some business. found my
man in the wcighing-room, a small tenn
porary wooden shed at the back Of Tat
ter>all's ring.
When entered, the jockeys were
being weighed in. and there was APP
parrntly some difficulty or dispute, as
the process was an unusually protracted
on". waited. leaning against the back
wall Of the shed, and as did so, be-
outside. caught the words: "A blol1e
with big rcd nose and one cye;' and
my attcnti,0 was arrested at once, for
this was 4 description Of our counter
clerk. listened attcntivcly and with
increasing astonishlncnt. The voices
were those of two men; and the gist of
their conversation was that plot
which had been formed to rob our office
of the cashbox on the previous day had
failed, owing to the fact that Harper,
our countcr-clerS, had taken the box
into town early in the afternoon, in
stead Of, as was the practice, at the
conclusion of racing. lie had, how
ever, been closely watched, and seen to
place the box in the local postmastcrS
:.fe at the town office. The safe was
in the room in which we worked in the
evening, and was an old-fashioned, al
most obsolete cOntrivance. All our
movements must have been very dill
gently followed, as the men knew not
only the exact position of the safe with
respect to the doors and windows. but
also at what hour we closed the office
and the whereabouts of our lodgings
They had also asccrtaincd that no one
remained during the night in or near
the room where the safe was.
The upshot Of the conversation,
which occupied less time than it has
taken me to relate it, was that the
town office was to be entered that
night as soon after we had gone as
would be considered safe. Entrance
was to be effected from the back yard,
through the window of Il small room
adjoining the larger one in which we
worked. Further details l failed to
overhear, as the dispute at the weigh
ing chair, which had gradually grown
warmer. now waxed loud and furious.
Taking advantage of the noise slipped
out and hurried to the office. Taking
the boss to one side, told him all. He
was for informing the police at once,
and having the place guarded and the
thieves scared off; but, after lot Of
persuasion, talked him over, convinc-
ing him how much more to his credit it
would rebound if he himself captured
the robbers red-handed and unaided by
the police. expounded to him plan,
the main idea of which had struck me
at the first moment, to which he lis
tened attentivcly, and occasionally
smiled approvingly. When l ended he
said: 1T would do very we'll but for
one thing. 1t involves three of us re.
naming concealed in the Office
| asscntcd.
You say they watched us leave last
night lie went on, six of us? What
tonight"
was nonplussed.
II rather like the idca,' resumed the
boss; but think we should hare help.
suppose we get couple of Schinkcn's
men,
Sergeant Schinken was a kind of
semi-public, scmi-privatc officer with a
staff of men, who were largely en-
ploycd by race committees in the task
of preserving order in the Enclosures,
and including bad and doubtful char
actcrs. They travelled about from meet
ing to meeting like ourselves, and in
this way sort of intimacy sprang up
''Oh, they'd just be as bad as the To-
calls" | said. ''Thcy'd want to boss
the whole affair, and very likely spoil
it. I'll tell you what: I'll ask three
young fellows know to come and have
game Of cards at our diggins tonight.
I'll tell them to call for lis at the Office
half an hour or so before we close. At
closing time we can make some excuse,
and send them off with our own three
men, whilst you, Harper and remain"
lie still hesitatcd. l could see he was
again more than half inclined to let the
police deal with the matter. OF course
his responsibility was heavy: and should
anything go wrong, he would certainly
be severely censured. l had, however,
the utmost confidence in my plan, and
would or could see no possibility of fail
ure; SO that, eventually, succeeded in
gaining his consent. This done, l was
only anxious for the racing to conclude.
that we might get down to the town
and prepare our surprise party. At Ave