Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-06-01

tSh'N'NNs
1t was a year after the robbery and seven
or eight months after tho suicide that
young Thornton got up one morning to
tell his employer a queer story. He slept
in a corner of the store, on the first floor.
He had gone to bed tired out after a long
days work and had slept soundly until
midnight, when he suddenly awoke. He
had extinguished the light, but yet there
was a strange light in the room, and by
it's aid he saw Lacy sitting by his bedside.
That he was terribly frightened and upset
may readily be believed, and yet he held
his nerve and asked the ghost, as he believed
1t to be, what was wanted. Lacy did not
reply, but beckoned him to follow, and he
slipped on his trousers and shoes and fol-
lowed the wrath through the streets of the
town toward the harbor for a distance Of
seven or eight blocks. The ghost seemed
to float along at about four PAGES ahead Of
him, looking back occasionally to see if he
was following. and he was leading Thorn
ton directly toward an old tumble down
fishhouse, when a policeman suddenly
seized the young man and inquired why
he was abroad at that hour Of the night
and in that dress. With that the spirit
disappeared, and Thornton's explanations
were laughed at, and he was escorted back
to the store as u somnambulist. His en-
ployer could not call it a dream, because
there was the policeman's% evidence, but he
ridiculed tho whole affair and put another
clerk to sleep In the store. II Thornton
was a s~omnambulist, he was not a safe
man to have charge of property at night.
The young man took a room two blocks
away, and it was a couple Of weeks before
anything further happened. Then mi
night soon after midnight he awoke with
these words sounding in his ears:
"Harry, I did not rob the safe, but it
wal done by two men, just as I explained.
They came here in a boat from M, and
after getting the plumber they hid 1t away,
intending to come back later OF. My hon
or is at stake, and If you will go with me
/ will show you where they hid the plum
der. They were the two men found in the
upset boat
When Thornton reused up, Lacy was
sitting beside him, as on the previous oc-
casion, but almost Immediately rose up
and beokoned the young mar to follow
him. Had Thornton been anything but a
nervy young fellow the mystery of the rob-
berry would never have been explained. He
was upset to some extent by the words
and the sight of the man whom he knew
to have been long dead, but not so much
that he hesitated to follow after. The
wrath led him toward the old flshhouse as
before, but this time Thornton was fully
dressed. He could see Lacy as plainly as
be could see the buildings along the streets,
although there were no footballs but his
own. He passed several pedestrians, but
they saw him alone. The wrath took a
straight course for the fishhouse and enter
ed it, and did not again reappear, while
Thornton hung about for awhile and then
returned to his bed. The tumble down
building was not such o place as he cared
to enter at midnight.
Early the next morning he went to the
firm of Bass, Williams & Girder and told
them of his two midnight adventures, and
suggested that the f1shhouse be searched.
He was simply laughed at, but be got a
| policeman and visited the place, and I'M
| der q lot of old nets and refuse they found
| the satchel which contained all the bonds
and every dollar of the stolen money. The
| whilom friends of Lacy were jubilant, but
they had the detective to deal with again.
One of bis theories was that Lacy hid the
satchel there; the other was that Thornton
was his confederate and had given up the
plumber because afraid to touch it. So
reasonable did this latter theory appear
that the young ma was arrested, and he
might have gone to prison had not a crook
named English Joe got Jagged and made a
confession. He had known of the plan to
| -, H. -, ono,~ n,,<1 ,r,n~ n n.y. M tGot II aSf
ings and Ford were to do the job. They
were the men who were lost by the upset
ting of the boat. 1t was believed that they
were to leave the harbor by a fishing
smack, and that they were pulling about
to find her when they lost their lives.
They had hidden the satohel temporarily
but it was so we'll hidden that 1t had been
walked over a hundred times. Articles
taken from the dead mems pockets were
identified, and after patient Investigation
no could longer doubt that things
happened exactly as Lacy related.
What was done about it? Well, words
are cheap, and, therefore, plenty Of men
expressed their sorrow for what had oc-
CURED. Lacy's body had been buried at
the expense Of the town. His friends Of
other days raised a purse and bought a lot
In the town cemetery, and the firm which
ho had not robbed spent $50 for a tomb.
stone to stand at the head of tho grave.
Perhaps nothing more was to be looked
for. The singular manner in which the
dead man cleared his honor was long a
matter Of talk, and for q few days OF
weeks young Thornton was something Of
a hero. Then the detective who had had
his theories spoiled began dropping a word
here and there, with the result that the
clerk finally left town under a cloud, and
today there are plenty Of people in the town
who believe and declare that he and Lacy
put up the robbery and were to 60 halves
ON the plumber. l have looked upon the
grave and heard the story Of the wronged
man a dozen times, and ! believe al,
things occurred as Lacy and Thornton re
lated them.