The herald., 1895-04-01
WATCHED
THE THIEF TO RECOVER
THE GOLD


| telling me that tho man who was convict
ed for stealing my money would be liber-
ated the following day, and II l cared to
make 1t worth his while he would have a
watch set upon the prisoner with view
| to recovering the treasure should he as
was suspected, have 1t still concealed.
I accepted his proposal and soon after
midnight was on my way back to Man
chester with the prison wartler.
He told me that he did not propose him
self to do the watching, but that it would
be done by man who had at one time
been warder of the Jail, but had left the
| place some years ago.
From this man learned that the ticket
of leave man had taken up his place of
abode in a northern suburb of the city,
and arrangements had been made by which
he (the xwarder) would be informed of
all his movements
Tho thief had been convicted under the
name of James Gale and it was not until
year later that discovered Jim Gale"
to be ono of the aliases of the notorious
housebreaker and burglar, Charles Peace
On the second day after my arrival in
Manchester we learned that the ticket Of
leave man had made arrangements with a
carter to accompany him out to some open
uciQS lying Ol UIo COuAHoo VI nOTbUtTu
suburb Of the city.
| About O'Clock in the evening the thief
joined the carter whom he had engaged,
bringing with him a pickax and shovel
He had changed his dress and appeared an
ordinary laborer.
When we reached the fields in the sub
urbs, it was close upon o'clock and pitch
dark. The thief had, however, provided
himself with lantern, and by its light
we saw him busily engaged digging at a
spot 80 yards from the roadside.
The carter whom he had brought with
him had remained with his horse and cart
in the roadway, so that we could not ap-
proach very near for fear of being OBJ
served
Consequently we turned back along the
road, and then striking across the field at
right angles were able to approach the
| scene of operations from the farther side
By this means we were able to get within
few feet of the thief without being OBJ
served
He was busily engaged and already had
sunk pit of some feet in depth. He had
placed his lantern in the hole and was
himself standing in it and throwing out
the soil in large shOvelfuls. The hole we
then saw was at the foot of large heap
of stones, which had evidently been used
as landmark to identify the spot.
Making circuit to the right, we got to
the back of the heap of stones, and ap-
preaching were able to get close up to the
thief without being observed and to look
down upon him at his work.
He was SO busy that he would not have
noticed us had we been even less cautious
than we were. The hole was now sunk to
depth Of six feet, and the thief had to
exert himself considerably to throw out
the earth.
At last, with grunt of satisfaction, he
stopped in his work and stopped down.
His shovel had struck the lid of large
square box. Another minute and he had
tho lid opened, and we saw before us
collection of old silver tankards and sal
vers and spoons, and among the silver a
small box or oasket This he also opened,
and in it we saw, still bright and glitter,
ing, mass of jewelry.
There were rings and chains and brace
lets, but what struck us more than all
else was magnificent diamond tiara,
containing stones of marvellous size and
brilliance.
And beneath the diamonds was packet
of papers, which, with a great gasp OF
satisfaction 1 recognized as the bank notes
which this man had stolen, now nearly
seven years ago.
Having satisfied himself that the stolen
booty was still there, the thief closed the
box and lifted it up to the surface of the
ground. He placed it on the edge at the
foot of the heap of stones behind which
we were concealed and over the top of
which we were observing him.
had drawn the revolver with which
had provided myself and was quite pre-
pared for the moment when he should see
us.
This he did not do until he had placed
the box ON the ground and was preparing
to climb out of the hole after it,
The man was no coward-few of the
scoundrels who resort to burglary are
and though he started when he found
himself face to face with a loaded revolver
he did not quail. Anger rather than fear
was the emotion which expressed itself
upon his features.
Course you, he said, "what has 1t got
to do with you?
Nothing, only that you've got my bank
notes in that box, and that the rest of it
has got to be handed over to the police.
The thief still retained the same posi-
tion, with one knee raised to the bank Of
earGn anu his OtuoE IOOu DULL IcSUlDS hb
the bottom of the hole
Ono of his hands, however, had stolen
into his coat pocket, and though had not
noticed 1t my companion had done so and
exclaimed:
Now, No. 189, drop that, or you're a
dead man, /" at tho sa me time covering him
with his revolver.
And If do what theni How much
do you want? I'll give you half of it, and
1 keep the rest
1--WE shall hand you over to the police
with the swag."
No sooner had the words left my lips
than the thief, grown desperate at the
prospect Of again returning to prison to
work out the remainder of his sentence,
drew from his pocket the revolver upon
which his fingers had been resting during
the last few moments and fred point
blank at me.
The bullet grazed my shoulder and pass
ed harmlessly away. Not so however, the
shot with which my companion had re-
piled to it.
He had been prepared for demonstra-
tion of this kind, and scarcely had the
thief fired than he received in reply slug
which struck the hand in which his re-
volver was held, shattering the stock Of
the weapon and two of the fingers which
held 1t.
With cry of pain the thief disappeared