Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-01-20
One morning in May, after had be

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dark room of my own in the attic,
Lester and sailed out with our
cameras, for no other purpose than
to secure q half dozen snap shots when
ever desirable ones might present them
selves.
1t was an ideal day for picture tak-
ing Rain had fallen the night before
and had left the atmosphere clear
land brilliant, with none of that dim
haze which is the camerist's Nemesis
so often.
We had strolled along the road, per-
haps two miles out of the village, and
had caugh. three or four very pretty
views.
None had presented themselves, how
ever for some time, when, by turn of
the road, we came upon man drink
ing from a spring at the side of the
road. He was but a few feet away,
and was STOPPING down with his back
toward us.
Lets get him." said l, in low tone.
"All right" replied Lester; you do
it, though. I've only got one plate
left"
manning in my camera, SO pointed the
box toward the man and pressed the
button Just at the instant when the
shutter must have operated, the man
heard us and turned his head, facing us
squarely.
He evidently understood what we
were about. for he scowled deeply and
walked rapidly away through the
woods, without, however, offering to
molest us He carried a small black
grip with him.
AS the mans retreating figure disap-
peared through the trees, Lester and
drew long breath OF relief, for we
felt like criminals detected in a crime,
and we were trifie afraid of the fell
low besides.
We wandered on a little further,
swapping few more wayside pictures.
and then turned toward home and re-
traced our steps
That afternoon Lester came over to
my fathers house to witness the devel-
opment of the mornings pictures
AS, one by one, we put the plates
through the developer, majority came
out well. One or two were trifie un-
der-exposed and there were minor de-
were very good.
The star negative Of the lot however,
was that of the stranger whom l had
photographed drinking, and who had
turned his head and caught me in the
act That was perfect. Everything
was brilliantly sharp, and the shutter
had caught the mans full face. In the
negative, even so small an object as
his eyes stood out beautifully
We made a blue print of this mega
tive, and both Lester and myself rec
ognized the faithfulness of the likeness,
notwithstanding the fact that we had
seen the man but moment
About the middle of the afternoon
my father returned from the neigh bor-
ing to wn, ten miles away, in one of
the banks of which he was clerk. He
seemed to be much excited and per-
turbed about something. My mother
noticed it also. and Immediately in
quired as to the cause of his uneasiness.
THE bank was robbed last night"
he answered, land over fifty thousand
dollars stolen. Every cent had in the
world is gone with the rest"
fiy mother made an exclamation Of
dismay.
And the worst of it is" went on my
father, that we are almost certain
who the thief is, but we haven't thing
in the world to trace HIM by-not a
vestige of a photograph or anything
like it, which we could give to de-
tectives to guide them in the hunt. The
mans gone and the money with him" I"
And my father sank despondently
into a chair.
Meanwhile Lester and l stood By,
listening silently, the still wet blue
print in my hand. After a minute
went and pressed the print out fiat
upon the table. on which my fathers
arm was leaning. A: any other time |
would have proudly exhibited it to him.
and would have been sure of his inter-
est and appreciation, but l did not feel
like intruding upon his present wo-ri-
ment
AS l laid. the picture face upward
upon the table, my father turned his
head and looked at it indifferently.
Suddenly he pushed ine aside and bent
over the print so closely that his face
almost touched it.
recovered nv balance with difficult
ty, and stared at him in frightened be-
wilderment. My father had never act
ed in this manner before, and was al
most afraid he had gone mad.
Great Scott" he exclaimed "The
very thingl'
Then, wheeling around. he grasped
me by the shoulders, and wanted to
know where got that picture.
/ was far too dazed by his strange
actions to answer word; SO Lester In
terposed and told my father. in as few
words as possible, of our morning ex-
pedition, and of the man whom we had
photographed in the act of drinking.
"Bless the camerar' calculated my
father, excitedly, that's Eli Parker,
the thiefI And the best likeness of
him / ever saw. too"
Then he questioned US closely as to
the direction the man had taken when
discovered, and ended by coniscating
the print and the negative, and rush
ing out of the house to take the next
train back to town. Lester and !
talked about it all the afternoon, and
felt ourselves quite heroes for having
the temerity to stand before a real
bank robber.
Fifty prints were Immediately struck
off from the negative, and these were
given to the detectives, who secured
the country in every direction. After
a two days search, those nearest home
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