The Bessemer indicator., 1893-12-30
ron a CHRISTMAS Tree.
rhs Douation Of hvans ard sontas to =
Church In CalifofnIni

rhs Donation Of hvans and sontae to
Church In CaIifornis.
Alb out two years Ago the. pastor Of
tho Methodist church south. OF Wis.,
slia, Cal. found on the doorsteps OF
his church q japsnned tin box full OF
watches, says the San Francisco Ex-
aminer. The church was preparing
an elaborate festival for Christmas.
A splendid tree WAS among the foat-
nres OF tho proposed festival, and the
good people OF Visalia were lavish
with their donations that were TO
hang on the branches Of that big
evergreen at the church. But that
box OF watches was much the biggest
contribution Of gifts with which to
stock the Christmas tree. Even the
unsuspicious minister was startled
by tho generosity OF the unknown
friend Of the church. Befdp he
hung the watches on the evet reen
boughs among the colored wax ,oers
and bon bons and threaded pot orn
and Sunday school books he tod, Sthe
precautIon to give notice in the pa-
pers that certain undescribed Jew
elry had been found, and that
the owner could recover the same by
proving property and paying for the
advertisement Some of Wells, Far
go & Co.'S men saw tho notice and
went around to tho minister's. He
had put the casket containing the
watches inside d cigar box. The ex-
press company's men told him that
II tho jewelry was that for which
they were looking. the box cor tanned
u number OF watches and they told
him the numbers of the timepieces
and described them. They added the
information that the box was part OF
the plumber secured by robbers who
months before had held up South
ern Pacific train near Goshen. They
paid for the advertisement and the
preacher surrendered tho timepicces
The cigar box was sealed and placed
in tho bank at Yisalia They were
keeping it against the time of the
apprehension of the train robbers.
All this was long before tho robbery
at Coils attracted attention to Chris
Evans and tho two Sontags. Evans
was only known as n hard working.
sorious-mindcd farmer and his two
friends were able bodied young men
who hewed logs and drove teams.
When George Sontag made his con-
fession he was asked il he knew any
thing about the box of watches that
the parson found on the church door
step.
Ibid Chris or John ever say any
thing to yor about thcm?" asked
Detective Hume.
Yes" answered George, "I think
that was in the Goshen robbery that
they took that box Of watches. They
wrote on the box train robbers and
put it on the steps of the preachers
house in Visalia, and l think that's
where they found it. the preacher or
the janttor of the church"
"Who did it?" was the next ques-
tion.
"I don't know who it was; 1t was
either Chris or John. They didn't
want to handle any jewelry."
The detective announced that he
proposed to test the truth OF George
Sontag's confession. and the box OF
watches suggested a way. He tele-
yraphed the express agent there to
examine the box in the back vault
to see If it bore out George Sontag's
story. Tho watches were found all
tight, and scratched on the bottom
Of the case were the words train
robbers" 1t was only scratched in
lightly and had escaped the eye OF
the parson. No one knew OF the
words on the box until George Son
tag told about it.