The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-12-27
a TROPHY OF BURGLARY.
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souvenir 81 1855 Deed.
"'i'his watch was part Of ,lle apoilS
g hurS.a"y IN Which participated
ia - tnl Il ,.,.cst il tie ST. Charles
lobby 10 reporter. drawing out Il
handsome gold iilncpicce with a curl
Gus spiral pattern engraved in heavy
relcf on the lid. 1T was my first af-
fair OF the kind, and | regret to say
DunS!cd il and got caught almost inn
mediate!y. What is the joke dill you
ask: There is no joke; ii is perfectly
true. 1t happened like this
I'm the fall of 1851, when was quite
young and green. got II job travel
ing for Chicago grocery house, and
one of the first places l visited was a
small town in northern Ohio. arriy-
ed about II at night AMI went out to
take stroll and smoke Il cigar before
going TO bed. Passing through Il side
street. l noticed H light in the little
jewclry store and also that the door
was ajar. That reminded me l had
recently broken the handspring Of my
watch, and sauntcred in to leave it
for repair.
AS entered young man arose from
the further end Of the counter. He
seemed startled, which was not un-
natural 1T such late call. but he re-
gained his composurc while l explain
ed the purpose Of my visit and told me
he had closed some hours before, but
happened to remember some things
that had been left out of the safe and
returned to put them back. When l
handed him my watch, | asked him to
lend me another to wear in the mean
time, and he gave me one at random
from Il tray on the counter. This is it
on my chain now.
"NcXt morning" continued the story
teller, Il was lounging in the hotel Of
flee, when the town marshal tapped me
on the shoulder.
'Let me see your watch lie said.
II pulled it out mechanically and was
at once placed under arrest on the
charge Of robbing the icwclry store. It
seemed that it had been burglarizcd
during the night, and somebody in the
hotel had noticed my peculiar looking
watch and reported it 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 Il little gauzy myself, and 1
can't say blame the authorities for
declining to give it credence.
"At any rate, found myself in the
deuce Of fix. My old watch had been
carried off by the thief, and there was
absolutely nothing to confirm my state
ment except the bare fact that none Of
the other goods was found in my pos
session. That, however, went for very
little, for it was argued that had had
abundant time to conceal my plunder.
In my agitation and excitement must
have presented 4 perfect picture Of
guilt. and the tOwnspeople came near
mobbing ME on the way to jail. They
kept me there for exactly three hours,
the agony Of which will dwell with me
If live to be q hundred.
"Meanwhile the sure enough burglar
had been bagged In an adjoining town
with all the loot, including my time
piece. in his valise. and when l was
finally released he was bundled into
my cell. If he hadn't been caught, l
don't know wiiat might have happened.
/ don't like to think about 1t. The au-
thorities made groyeling apologies, and
the jeweler was especially abject. To
placate me he offered to let me keep the
new watch in exchange for my old one,
and I accepted the proposition. 1 car
ry it as sort Of tragic-comic SOU
venir."-New Orleans Times-Democrat.