Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-11-28

In this way; Packages Of mall matter
came to the Paris Hlll post Once adj
dressed TO names Of persons unknown
there. Il Was coon discovered By the
postmistress, Miss Jeapnie Hubbard,
that these packages were mystcriously
disappearing from the ONCE between tho
time Of its being closed at night and
opened In the morning, and Miss Hub
bard reasoned naturally that some per.
son must have key to her once ana
make use OF it In her absence.
Mr.. william Il. Perkins II tho proprte-
tor OF the Paris Hill and South Paris
stage line and on the morning Of Oct.
18th letter addressed TO him and post
marked at this ONCE made tt appear
ance In his box In the post once all un-
beknowu to Miss Hubbard, the post
mistress. This was what It contained
Paris Ne Oct iothm
ono. q. So. Ps!l.. IL. for f Fac Or BaSSs
Az I; r.s..
Ne.
Pa. i.hsrs !. anything 70 Pay please drop
p'''-' u ''' and md o SM ALL
II was afterwards discovered that this
letter was written upon paper evident
" taken from Mr.. Atwood's desk 10 the
Democrat Office and probably written
by Thorne at the Same desk in the
night.
f'his letter was followed about Oct.
18th by the mysterious appearance 10
Mr.. Perkins box OF postal In the same
handwriting bearing these words:
Paris Oct 18th %
or for a. 4. Iurysy. YOU VIII md il marked
A. K. Lowey by mistake. and obhss -,
Mr.. Perkins then found the package
aud brought It up and had q postal left In
In the miscellaneous box "L" informing
Mr. I.urvey that his package had arrived
and was at his house aud that the express
charges would be twenty cents. In few
nights after that the package disappeared
from Perkins shed likewise the postal for
T.urvey from the post office and 10 Per-
kins' box appeared q letter containing
tw enty cents and q bit OF paper on
which WAS written:
n. -. LOVELY
tOxfori Co) Maine
Enclosed ind ESQ
Received Package all right
with many thanks
Soon after package came from
Portland by mall addressed to one G..
w. Ames, Paris, Ne. As there 10 no
patron Of this Office by the name Of
Ames this aroused the suspicion that
Ames was probably an alias OF Lurvey
and the order was requested from the
Portland man from whom the package
came and whose business card It bore on
the address label. This order was OBJ
tsined. It's dated Oct. 18th and u
found to be In exactly the same hand
writing ne that OF Lurvey, and 90 the
mystery grew, and what gave 1t more
flavor OF crime was the fact that one OF
the packages which 80 mysteriously dis
appeared from the Office was 90 crushed
ss TO expose the contents and II was
seen to contain among other things q set
of false whlskers which have slnce been
identified as the ones lost by the burglar
who committed the crime OF last week
here.
Now, then, the handwriting, compost
ton and general arrangement OF these
letters and orders strongly indicated the
work ola boy and the question was
What boy writes like this? The post.
mistress then tells the story OF the gold
dollar and the men at work on the case
obtained some OF the writing OF Abner
Thorne, when 10! II II Identical 10
every particular with that Of Lurvey
and Ames! Here's good clew!
Now, Mr.. Garland sets at work to as
certain what sort Of boy Abner Thornt
IL and by good and successful detective
work weaves the web which nearly led
to his arrest several days before thi'
tragedy.
Garland's detective work dlscloses the
fact that Thorne has great number oil
keys many of which lit buildings on
Paris Hill. That no hasa dark Lantern
ard certain burglar accessories. THAI
he appeared to have much more none!
and tools than his circumstances would
warrant II he was an honest boy. ThaI
he worked nights making keys, ETC., II
fact that he was q "cro0k" all unbe
known to everybody. A warrant wal
| 0TNWu up IOT nis hrTctt vi tic huutsuol
before the tragedy of Saturday morning
but good counsel advised the moyinl
parties that by waiting they could los,
none of the evidence accumulated
against him and might gain more.
TO catch him In the act was the bes'
evidence and so Mr.. Garland aud MIR
Harry whitman were employed to watcl
In the Democrat Office on the Friday
night OF the tragedy, and from there
saw the light fash out OF Newelrs
store. The sequel IL too we'll known Il
need repeating. You can now see why
officer Garland made straight for Abnel
Thorne after the tragedy, and the cool
ness of the boy when charged with ths
crime completely bafiied suspicion. liz
showed nerve most appalling for one
30 young and his confession was only
made when confronted with evidence
which was lndisputsble. The false
whiskers, the hat and even the bag
dropped by the burglar were all point
lug to Abner ID. Thorne as their proprie'
tor, and the great quantities OF money
and stolen goods found 10 his Ingenious
hiding places aud Identified by Mr.,
Newell rs coming from his store were
more than straws connecting him with
the crime Of last week.