St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-01-26
a s.r or EVIDENCE


"A BIZ Or eVtOEN06-
le Caused the Crook to Nsks . Hufrisa
Departure.
The drumm r had for some time
been watching . fiashy-looking city
crook playing . game o. cards with
man on the sleeper. who might have
been a farmer, and then agaiu who
might have been something else AL
Of sudden. Is tho train pulled up At
the station, the sharper made . wild
break and rushed out OF the car and on
the platform. leaving .rything. The
other man simply Shed and looked
over 1T the drummer.
..What the mischief was the matter
with that party?' asked the drummer.
taking . seat with the smiler.
There's story goes with that. re-
piled the smiler quietly. want to hear
it?''
Indeed do"
"Here she goes then About fivs
years ago, had some cattle to deliver
in Chicago and when l got there |
stopped out by the stock yards in >
hotel found convenient 1t wasn't in
. very good neighborhood, but wasn't
looking for society fixings, so | didn't
care much. had some money and
fine watch, and once or twice during tho
evening, IS / sat around the barroom.I
noticed was being watched by
several of the loafers about the place.
When went mp to my room locked
the door and bolted it and took look
out of the window to see what was out
side. found it opened out onto . sort
of shed about eight feet below. and
that ran down to within climbing dis
tance of the ground. took this OBJ
servation 50 as to know where ! was
going to be ut in case Of fire. Then |
went to bed, leaving the window mp, as
it was > hot night I don't know how
long it was after I had been asleep,
that some noise wakened me- At first
thought was dreaming, but just as
tried to go to sleep again, ! heard the
noise once more, and this time didn't
try to 20 to sleep. / got mp and went
over toward the window with six
inch knife in my hand that / thought
would come handy in case / found ut
the window what thought / would
It was quite dark on that side of the
house, and when got up close / could
hear two men whispering ON the shed
roof. listened and heard one tell the
other to stoop down and he would
climb on his shoulders and from there
pull himself mp into my window. BY this
time was standing by one side of tho
window ready to meet my visitor as
soon - he came. While ] was think
ing whether to kill him or mot. / saw
his fingers slide up over the window
sill seeking for . good grip. Then they
stretched down tight rs il the man
were testing his strength for the final
pull. At this moment / reached for
ward. and with swish. l whacked
two of those fingers on with my knife.
| / kept very quiet about it, too, but my
visitors didn't, and they rolled and
tumbled OF that roof in = manner
worth coming all that way to see.
Then went back to bed, but fastened
down the window. Next morning
when got up. which was just ut day
break, for had my cattle to look after,
went to the window to sec what was
/ left of the wreck, and saw two fingers
ON the sill The owner had forgotten
them In his hurry the night before.
and it struck me then for the first
time. that ought to take charge of
them SO that if they were ever called
for l could return them Well, I
took them along with me, and rs soon
as could get into . drug store, got .
bottle filed with spirits and put them
into it. Until to-day have not been
able to find anybody that thought
might want them. though have car
ried them ever since when I go any
where, and while that dufRer you saw
trying to work me. first shuf{1ed his
cards, noticed that he was short two
fingers. About the time he thought
he had me, pulled the bottle out Of
my pocket, and sticking it right at him,
| I asked him IL he didn't think he had
better see If he couldn't fit them on to
the stumps he had. II took him about
. minute to catch on. but when he did
well, you know the rest. guess he
must have been the chap that tried to
climb in my window that night" and
rs the man smiled the drummer won
dered how it was that truth was often
times stranger than fiction. and handed
the bottle with its two CHASTITY and
silent witnesses back to the owner
| Detroit Free Press.