The Opelousas courier., 1898-02-26

I went to ths<%Ssther impa-
tiently.
"Well, whatdo you wantN asked.
els you theSloctor, misterNesked
a ragged street urchin, by waNq6
reply.
II am. What do you want?"
"a man wants ye in Harmon's
row."
"What's the>natter with him-jim-
jams?"
The locality-a very disreputable
one-suggested my question, and I
knew that a street-boy would under
stand what I meant by ''jim-jams,"
while delirium tremens would have
been Greek to him.
"No, mister, I reckon he's broke a
arm"
"Well, that must be attended to, I
suppose"
Making this reply, I took my case
of instruments and followed the boy,
who walked rapidly before me to
"Harmon's row."
AS the distance was not great and
the walking very dry, I kept on the
comfortable slippers 1 had put on my
tired feet when I reached home, so my
tread was almost noiseless.
"Here's the house, mister. Go up
two flights, an it's the second floor.
You might give a Teller a ftp for show
in ye."
I felt as if I would have given
several fps not to have been called
out at that time. but I tossed the lad
a coin, and off he ran, with a war
whoop peculiar to city s~treet-boys.
I walked upstairs slowly-for I was
very tired, and without noise, for I
wore my slippers as before mentioned
and on arriving at door number two,
overheard the following conversations:
"Sam Winder, you're the biggest
kind of a fool I ever see, goin' to steal
from l beggar!"
The voice was that Of a woman, and
her tone was shrill and shrewish.
"He amt no beggar, I tell ye; an
he's got lots of stamps somewhere,
only I couldn't find EN-" answered
another voice, Enthusiastically that of
q man.
"Then you amt smart, not to find
out where the old I'm kept his valua-
bles afore you risked your neck in
goin' for EN-" said the first speaker.
"'Tain't my fault, Poll. I thought
I could lay my hands on the spoons,
an didn't calc'late the old fool had SO
much strength. I've got the worst of
it, I reckon; you've got no call to
fuss"
care you sure they won't suspect
you as the party that did for old Skin
fint?'
"Tom Cannon says they don't. He
was on the watch. It pears a young
chap, as to see the miser's gal,
has been nabbed, an they've put him
in the Jug"
"Well, you're lucky, I expect, to
get off with a broken arm, after all.
That's better than a rope around your
neck"
At that moment I heard some one
coming in at the street door below; SO
I rapidly stepped down a few stairs,
then returned, making more noise,
purposely, than was actually neces-
sary.
Rapping loudly at the door, the
woman babe me enter.
By the dim light of a candle, I saw
a man lying on a rude bed, while an
old woman lowered about the room,
exhibiting well-counterfeited distress
at the accident to her son, as she
called him.
They were both rough-mannered
characters, belonging to the class who
live by thieving from honest people.
The woman explained that her son
was fixing a clothes-line on the roof of
the house when he fell and broke his
arm.
I set his arm properly, as was my
duty, and in doing so, made two dis
coveries.
The first was that, during their
struggle, a number of long white hairs
had been torn from the old mans
head, and still chung to the clothes of
the young reprobate.
Discovery number two was still
more important. It was the missing
button from the old mans coat, with
a portion of the garment still adher-
ing to It'll
This dropped on the floor, while I
was removing the mans jacket, and I
quietly took possession of it, un-
observed.
I lost no time in taking advantage
of the discovery made; and although
there was some difficulty in making
the professional detectives believe it
possible for them to have committed
an error, they were obliged to &C
knowledge the fact at last.
In consequence, Sam Winder was
sentenced to the p%enitentiary for a
term of years longer than, under
ordinary circumstances, he was likely
to live.
Poll I never heard from after that
when her son was taken away.
Alfred Fletcher, who was promptly
released, when the facts of his
were established, became
the happy husband Of Mildred Mason;
and they were more successful in find
ing Mr.. Mason's hoardedtreasure than
Sam Winder had been. Invested in
business which young Fletcher
had chosen, it served as q nucleus.
which he accumulated a large
Happy in the love of q worthy hus-
band, and surrounded by comforts, the
of former years are forgotten