The Van Buren press., 1895-03-02


Celia Thaxter, in Chicago Interior.
--a-
"A BURGLARS CATS PAW.
Jimmy Thimble's Ingenious Meth
Cd Of lmparting g Information.
In the basement Of the police court
buildings at Woolford there is room
containing collection Of curious OBJ
jects, none of which, perhaps, would
appeal to the tastes Of an antiquary on
q collector Of bric-a-brac, but of which
every separate specimen has some
more or less remarkable history at
tached to II. ! know the history Of
most Of the remarkable objects col.
lected together In our police museum
which to my mind Is one Of the most
interesting .show-places to be found
In the town. The fine set Of burglars
tools arranged on the table under. the
window belonged to q noted swell.
mobsman who was caught red-handed
by myself and another officer. The re.
volver hanging against the clock over
the fireplace, and looking harmless
enough in its present position, Is the
very weapon with which o famous
criminal shot and killed an unfortu.
nate constable who was endcavoring to
apprehend him. The knife which
hangs near it. But this Is not cata.
logue Of our collection, and must pro
coed with my story.
have said that each Of the various
objects preserved In our museum has
some history attached to 1t. Some OF
these histories are commonplace and
ordinary; but others are more interest
ing than many a startling piece Of fic-
tion. They serve to show the wonder
ful resource and ingenuity Of the
habitual criminal, and none more SO
thnn that which attaches to the little
brown book which stands on the chin
ncy.piece between two pairs Of dilap-
dated handouts. No one who notices
Il In q casual way would see anything
remarkable about 1t. It Is, to all out
ward appearances, an ordinary copy of
the "Pilgrim's Progress" small enough
In size to be carried about In the
pocket and apparently possessing no
value In any way. Nevertheless, the
possession Of that pocket edition Of
Bunyan's immortal work was once
worth large amount Of money; and
the lucky chance which threw 1t into
my hands not only brought me hand
some pecuniary reward, but secured
me my promotion to the rank Of in
spector.
Ten years ago the town Of Woolford
was thrown into commotion one fine
morning by news Of o skillfully-
planned burglary. 1t was the early
part Of November, and the newly
elected mayor Of Woolford had cele-
brated his accession to civic power by
giving grand ball at his private resi-
dence, Just outside the town. He was
an exceedingly wealthy man, and his
wife was the fortunate possessor Of o
very fine set Of diamonds It was pop
ularly understood that these vera
worth at least ten Thousand pounds,
and popular opinion in this respect was
not far wrong. On the morning after
the ball, however, the mayoress dis
covered that her diamonds were miss
ing. Instead Of locking them up when
she retired to rest, she had carelessly
left them lying on her dressing table
When she woke, the diamonds had dis
appeared. ~
Then followed fine to-do. Three
or four Of us, supposed to be the clev-
crest and sharpest officers in the
force, were put In charge of the mat
ter and told to do our best. Our best,
however, resulted In ignominious de-
feat. We followed the old methods
suspected the servants, examining
their rooms and boxes, watched their
movements, and finally confessed that
they must oil be completely exon
Grated. We invented plausible the
ories and could put none Of them into
practice. In the end we concluded
that the diamonds had been stolen by
an experienced burglar, who must
have been very well acquainted with
the house, and who had succeeded in
doing his work In the most ac-
complished fashion. After that there
was no more to be done. The mayor
offered very handsome reward for
the recovery Of the missing jewels, and
many mans mouth watered as he
read the amount promised. But Us
there was not even clew to the thief,
the prospect of claiming the reward
seemed very far away to every police
man.
Az soon as heard Of the burglary
made guess-mentally Of course-at
the burglars name. It was Jimmy
Timble. / felt confident Of 1t. knew
of no local criminal accomplished
enough to carry out so daring theft
except Jimmy. And Jimmy had just
come home from Portland, where he
had spent nearly six years in penal
servitude. That was not his first Pc
riod of Incarceration, nor his second.
Jimmy had been thief from boyhood,
and those who knew him felt persuaded
that nothing would make him give up
his onreer OF crime. 1t was this belief,
coupled with my knowledge of Jimmy's
return to Woolford, that made me sus-
pect him of taking the diamonds.
When Jimmy was not in prison, he
worked as bricklayer's paddy" and
made his home at one Of the big COM
mon lodging-houses in a low part Of
the town. Two or three days after the
diamond robbery went one evening
towards his house, intending to have
an interview with Jimmy and hear
what he had to say for himself. BY