Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-11-29

tion he had taken from Charlotte A score
of people turned out and secured the coun-
try, but no trace of him could be found
At midnight, with most of the searchers
camped on the highways and in the fields,
still believing that the r0bber was hidden
In the woods, snow began to fall and the
wind to rise, and at daylight a gale was
sweeping over the country.
Uncle Jim, as everybody called the old
man whose real name was James White,
had lived for many years in the outskirts
of the village of Charlotte He was what
people call "fated man." He married
in 1860 and had just got settled in home
when the house took fire and burned
down, and he lost everything. The next
year his wife was killed by accident. Six
months later he was badly hurt while at
work. When he recovered, he enlisted as
soldier, but had only reached the front
when the accidental discharge Of a cannon
deprived him of his right arm and most of
his left hand. He had not been home two
months when he was run over by a vehicle
and SO injured that his left leg had to come
off at the knee. With his pension money
he bought an acre of ground, with poor
old house and tumble down barn on it,
hoping to make his living by growing
fruits and vegetables, and for a time he
got along reasonably well.
Then his health gave out, his pension
was stopped on the grounds that he had
given a wrong date in his application and
on THANKSGIVING morning, which dawn
ed bleak and drear enough for the happi-
est in the village, Uncle Jim had two call
ers.
One was from villager who held a
mortgage on his real estate and had called
to tell him that it must be foreclosed, and
the other was a county official who tried
to tell him in kindly way that the mat
ter had been talked over and it had been
decided to send him to the poorhouse for
the winter.
When the callers had gone their ways,
Uncle Jim sat down and ate his meager
breakfast and looked out of back win
dow upon the dreary landscape and reflect
ed and wept Fate had followed him for
years and downed him at last. The eli
max had now come, and as the old man
sat down to face it alone he could find
but one way out of it. He would never 60
to the poorhouse, and he would never hob
BILE around the country as professional
mendicant The alternative was suicide
and he would accept it. While other vii
layers prepared their Thanksgiving dinner
or sat in the churches and listened to the
sermons prepared for the day his dead body
would be swinging at the end of rope in
the old barn on the back end Of his lot.
Yes, he would hang himself. He had not
entered the barn for month, but he knew
there was stout rope coiled on peg out
there, and the beams and braces offered
better chances to secure the free end than
hook in his humble cabin. After an
hours thought Uncle Jim got up, put on
his hat, looked around to bid his home
farewell and started for the barn. He
knew that gale was sweeping over the
country. but he did not realize its strength
until clear of the house. Half way be-
tween the kitchen door and the barn a sud
den gust caught him up and flung him
down, and at the same instant the old
barn tumbled in with crash
The old man got up dazed and bewilder
ed. The fall of the barn frightened him
and temporarily drove away all thoughts
of suicide. He had turned to re enter the
house. when he heard faint cries for help
from the debris of the barn, and in state
of great amazement he hobbled out of the
wreckage to investigate. He soon discov
cred man held down by beams and
| planks and as he worked to release him
he came across a satchel The man had a
broken leg and soon after being found be-
came unconscious Uncle Jim, almost
helpless and very badly frightened, shout
ed for help, and it was an hour after the
victim of the accident had been released
that his identity was known. and people
told the old ex-soldier that fortune had
smiled on him at last.
The bank robber had not hidden in the
woods. Instead of going beyond Charlotte
he had secreted himself in Uncle Jim's old
barn to wait for pursuit to cool and fa-
vorable moment to steal another horse.
Davids & Davids had offered reward Of
$5, 600 for the man and his plumber, and
at noon of Thanksgiving day both were in
the kitchen of the old cripple's shanty
home and being well guarded by officers
of the law. The burglar who turned out
to be a professional Of no mean reputation,
was very badly injured and it was months
before he could be tried and given his just
deserts, but Thanksgiving sun had not
yet gone down when Uncle Jim had been
provided with all the comforts of life and
had thanked his God score of times that
out of the bitterness of poverty and the
climax Of misfortune had arisen a gale to
prevent self murder and bring happiness
and plenty in the same breath.