Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-10-06
HOW A WOMAN CAUGHT A THIEF.
1t Was on Shipbosrd. and She Nearly
Scratched His Ewes Out.

| When YOU can't set thief to catch q
| thief the next best thing to put on his
trail is woman. A woman who has
recently returned from Rio Janeiro tells
with great glee how during the voyage
to this port she caught a thief who had
been pilfering all the passengers cabins,
and until she took him in hand had sue
cessfully eluded the detective tactics of
| the entire crew, from the captain down
to the cabin boy.
I'VE had about thirty passengers on
board when we left Rio, said this anna
teur detective, 'and a very nice lot of
people they were too. For the first two
or three days out everybody was so busy
getting seasick that we hadn't time to
think of anything else.
But after that, when we were COM
mencing to revive bit, first one woman
and then another would come on deck
with face as long as your arm and re-
port that some one had been in her cabin
during the night and had stolen some of
her jewelry. For day or two the cap
tain pooh poohed the idea, but finally
the complaints became so frequent that
there was no gainsaying them. The
thief, whoever he was, seemed to have
passion for rings.
by the end of the first week there
was scarcely woman on board except
myself who wasn't mourning the loss of
at least one. A watch was set and every
possible precaution taken, but without
the slightest effect. Every morning at
least one passenger would report another
loss. The men Jared scarcely better than
the women. At last things reached such
a pass that every woman on board used
to go to bed at night with all her jew
elry on.
"One fat old Spanish woman, whose
husband owned gold mine somewhere,
used to go to bed in regular blaze of
glory. Her fingers and arms, almost up
to her elbows, were covered with gems,
and she used to put on her diamond cor
onet and then wind towel about her
brow, SO that the robber couldn't posi-
bly, drag the coronet off without taking
her head as well. | used to hear the
poor old thing groaning all through the
night. She must have been dreadfully
uncomfortable. Well, finally one night
my turn came. had cabin to myself
and had taken the upper berth from
choice. One night l awoke and felt GER
tain l heard some one moving about the
room.
"My right arm was hanging over the
side of the berth when / woke up, and
by this time l was in such stage of
fright that l didn't care to move it. /
don't believe l moved a muscle. And
all this time, mind you, l felt instinc-
lively that this man, or whoever it was
that was in the room, was gradually
drawing nearer and nearer. Suddenly
/ felt hand touch my hand and pull
gently at one Of my rings. For about an
instant thought I'd die. Then all of a
sudden something inside Of me seemed
to say, Scream and scratchP Just then
the man let go of my hand for me-
ment.
"The rings. he evidently saw, were
pretty tight fit, and it would take some
time and skill to get them off without
waking me. waited brekthlessly, say
ing my prayers to myself oves and over.
1t must have been fully five minutes be-
fore he touched my hand again, and
during that time, in spite of my fright,
l had sense enough left to comprehend
that IL I wanted to catch the thief !
must scratch first and scream afterward.
And that's just what / did. l waited
until he had got his operation well under
way again. Then l nerved myself.
81 knew the direction in which his
face was, because could feel his breath
on my hand as he leaned over it. Idrew
a long breath, and letting my hand fly
out / scratched him with all my might
across the face, and then shrieked with
all my lungs. The next instant every
body came tumbling into my room, but
the thief had vanished. We could not
find SO much as trace of him. After
the excitement had subsidized ] took the
captain aside and told him to look out
for man with scratches on his face the
next morning At breakfast everybody
turned up except one very engaging
young man, who had been quite the lion
of the ship. He had been suddenly taken
i'll, the steward said.
1.-The steward also reported that he lay
in his berth with his face turned toward
the wall.
"'Ah, har said the captain, tipping me
the wink, I'm something Of doctor.
think I'll go and have look at this
young man.
"Well, he went, and there on his face.
sure enough, were the scratches, four of
them, and fine long, deep ones the cap
tain said they were too. Subsequently
the young fellow broke down and made
a confession, and restored all the articles
he had stolen. He was put in irons and
handed over to the police as soon as we
arrived here. By this time l suppose
the poor fellow is in Sing Sing."-New
York Evening Sun.