The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-02-09
A BURGLARS CATS PAW.
Jimmy Thimble's Ingenious Meth
Cd Of Imparting Information.

Jimmy Thimble's Ingenious Meth
cd Of Imparting Information.
In the basement of the police court
buildings at Woolford there is q room
containing collection of curious OBJ
jects, none of which, perhaps, would
appeal to the tastes of an antiquary or
a collector of bric-a-brac, but of which
every separate specimen has some
more or less remarkable history at
tached to it. / 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 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 u famous
criminal shot and killed an unfortu
nate constable who was endeavoring to
apprehend him. The knife which
hangs near it But this is not cata
logue of our collection, and l must pro-
coed with my story.
| have said that each of the various
objects preserved in our museum has
some history attached to it. Some of
these histories are commonplace and
ordinary; but others are more interest
ing than many startling piece of fic-
ton. They serve to show the wonder
~ in.ran,,ifty Of tho
habitual criminal, and none more so
than that which attaches to the little
brown book which stands on the chin
ncy-piece between two pairs of dilap-
idated handouts. No one who notices
it in casual way would see anything
rema rlIa BILE about il. 1t 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 it 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 sSillfully-
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 posscssor of n
very fine set of diamonds 1t was pop
ularly understood that these were
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 all be completely exon
Grated. We invented plausible the
cries 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 a very handsome reward for
the recovery of the missing jewels, and
many a mans mouth watered as he
read the amount promised. But as
there was not even clew to the thief,
the prospect of claiming the reward
seemed very far away to every police
man.
AS soon as heard Of the burglary 1
made guess-mentally of course-at
the burglars name. 1t 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
Rod of incarceration, nor his second.