The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-30
HAS A TROPHY OF BURGLARY.
Drummer Carries a Gold Watch as a
Souvenir Of His Deed.


Souvenir Of His Deed.
This watch was part. of the spoils of
| a burglary in which I participated in
1881 said a guest in the st. Charles
lobby to a Times-D Democrat reporter,
drawing out a handsome gold time
piece with a curious spiral pattern en-
graved in heavy relief on the lid. 1T
was my first affair of the kind and I
! regret to say buDgled and got caught
almost Immediately. What is the joke.
did you ask? There is no joke: it lis
perfectly true. 1t happened like this:
In the fall of 81. when / was quite
young and green. 1 got q job travelling
for q Chicago grocery house, and one
OF the first places I visited was q small
town in northern Ohio. / arrived about
II at night and went out to take a
| stroll and smoke a cigar before gOinS
to bed. Passing through a side street.
1 noticed a light in the little jewelry
store and also that the door was ajar
That reminded me | had recently brO3l-
en- the handspring Of my watch, and
I sauntered in to leave il for repairs.
AS l entered young man arose from
the further end Of the counter. He
seemed startled. which was rot unnat-
ural at such a late call. but he reGained
his cOmposure while l explained the
purpose of my visit, and told me he
had closed some hours before, but hap
pened TO remember some things that
had been left out of the safe and re-
turned to put them back. When
j handed MIN my watch I asked him to
lend me another to wear in the mean
time, and he gave me one at random
from a trav on the counter. This is 1t
on nv chain now.
Next morning" continued the story
( teller, II was iOunging in the hotel Of
| flee when the town marshal tapped me
on the shoulder
"a Let me see your watch he said.
/ Il pulled it out mechanically. and was
at once placed under arrest On the
CHI arge of robbing the jewelry store. 1t
seemed that it had been burgiarized
| during the night and somebody in the
hotel had noticed my peculiar looking
watch and reported 1t to the police. 1t
was promptly identified as part of the
/ stolen goods. and needless to say, my
story as TO it's acquisition was laughed
to scorn. [ was obliged to admit that
it seemed a little gauzy myself, and 1
can't say l blame tine authorities for
declining to give it credence. AT any
rate, I found myself in the deuce Gf q
fix. My old watch had been carried OFT
/ by the thief. and there was absolutely
nothing to confirm my statement e&-
cept the bare fact that nOne Of the
other goods was found In Fly possess
. SEQit. L kfGbG. MUWGNEkr %N-kE& &0A N%A y
| little for it was argued that / had
abundant time to conceal my plumber.
In my agitation and excitement I must
have presented a perfect picture of
guilt, and the townspe0ple cams near
/ mdhbing ms ON mIy way to JAN Insy
/ kept me there for exactly three hours,
the agony of which will dwell with me
Fif 1 live to be 100. Meanwhile the
sure-enQugh burglar had been bagged
in an adjoining town with all the loot,
/ including my timepfece, I'm his valise.
/ AND when { was finally released he
was bundled into my cell If he hadn't
( been caught / don't know what might
have happened / don't like to think
about It, The authorities made grow
cling apologies and the ieweler was es-
peeiaIly abieet To plaeats me fe o.
J fered to let me keep the new watch in
\ exchange for my old ones and ac-
/ cepfed the proposition. l carry I'll as a.
4 sort of tragf-eomic souvenir