The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-25

of the lady Of the house. It was an aft
ernoon off for the other servants, and
the mistress of the household was down
town on a shopping expedition.
Here's that sofa, said the man who
pulled the door bell.
My mistress didn't tell me she was ex-
pecting any SOLE said the young woman
to the man, in some surprise.
Well, it must ha' been ordered-here's
the name and address, said The man on
the steps, producing a card. The card was
all right and 1t showed that the sofa, or
rather, the box-couch, as it proved to be,
had been ordered from a well-known st.
Louis furniture establishment.
The maid was in a quandary to
where she should have the couch placed,
the establishment being already pretty
we'll stocked with articles of furniture
of that sort, but she finally directed the
three men to carry it to the second floor
and place it in one of the bedrooms The
men deposited the box-couch according 70
the maids directions. and went their way.
The maid went TO her room on the third
floor to do some sewing for herself, and
a couple of hours later the mistress of
the establishment returned. The mistress
of the establishment hadn't been in her
room two minutes before she discovered
monds. The jewels had been left by her
in a jewel box in bureau drawer. where
she had seen them only few moments
before leaving the house on her shopping
expedition, but when she opened the bu-
reau drawer upon her return the box
was gone. The mistress of the establish
ment made careful search of the room
and of the adjoining room, before she
summoned the maid. Then she rang for
he ~.
reference to her visitors during the af-
ternoon The maid told the mistress that
the three men with the boX-couch had
been the only visitors, and showed her
mistress the box-couch. The mistress at
once said that she hadn't ordered any
box-couch, and accused her maid of be-
ing in cahoots with the three men who
had brought it. declaring that the maid
had arranged for them to bring the couch
In order 40 divert suspicion from herself
The girl cried and protested and went OF
her knees. but the mistress of the es-
Enlistment was convinced that the maid
was the thief, or at least the accomplIce
OF the thieves and she locked the doors
and declared that when her husband re-
turned from his office she would have the
girl arrested She did summon a couple
of men from the st. Louis Central Office
when her husband returned from bust
the girl was either crooked herself or
In league with crooks, and the detectives
gathered the girl in. They investigated
her, and they found that she had a
hrst cousin who was a weil-known
sresk thief. They failed to find that the
girl had ever had anything to do with the
crook, but the mere fact that she had
such a relative was enough. and when
the girl was tried for the theft of the
ne otn
her. The chief tried to put the girl
through the third degree, but she stuck to
her assertion that she was innocent in
the face of all sOrts of promises of lighter
punishme Mt If she would own 10 and
make some sort of a statement that would
give line as to where the jewels could
be recovered. The nerve with which she
stuck TO her assertion that she was limo
cent got a lot of her questioners going.
but she was convicted of grand larceny.
anyhow, and sent away for two wars.
'The girl didn't get any good time for
good behavior. for she became thoroughly
hardened over what she called the intus-
tice CT her conviction, and she cut up so
in prison that she had to d. her entire
two years. She came out of prison a pretty
sore woman, and a pretty hard one and
for a couple of years she went a pretty
craggy course-the central Office people
had their eyes on her all the time. She
DIDN'T do anything TO get herself behind
the lars again, for all that she was often
pretty close to it, We'll, some good women
of ST. Louis came along and took an in
terest in The girl, who had a lot of good
traits that they saw and the built her
up. They took care of her while she was
studying to be a trained nurse, and a cou-
pie of years ago they got a fine position
fer her as enc of the trained nurses In a
leading ST. Louis hospital
We'll, a couple of week ago a sneak
thief well known TO the Sc Louis po-
lice happened TO get mixed up with
bunch Of street car strikers who were at
lacking a car, and when one Of the off,
GERS on the car blazed away into the
crowd this crook got a bullet in his stom-
ach. He was taken to the hospital in
which this young woman I'm telling you
about was a trained nurse, and as soon
as the surgeons looked him over they told
him he was a goner. The man was per-
fectly conscious and pretty debonair a
that for a chap so near the big divide,
and when the consultation of doctors
around his bunk was over and he saw a
white-capped nurse Sitting by his side, he
gave a bit OF start when he examined
her features He looked at her intently
for a while and then he asked her to bend
close to him, fcS his voice wasn't partic-
ularIy strong. He then asked her IL she
hadn't done her little two-year bid on the
charge Of lifting. She frankly told him
that she had. and then he said TO her:
"'Well, Tn glad I've run into you be-
fore going into the discard. I got you
those two years, and always meant
10 square you some time. but they've
watched me so close that ! never had a
show. II was me that made you do the
time
"Then he told her how tho job had
been cooked up and how he was inside
the box couch on the afternoon when
n was deposited In the bedroom on the
second aoor of her mistress establishment
how air holes had been duly bored In the
thing so that ne wouldn't smother-and
now. when the young woman had gone
up stairs tn do her sewing, he had lifted
the lid Of the box couch. done his little
"a 600 worth of rummsging and tiptoed
down stairs and out the basement door.
The nurse called the superintendent Of
-. L.-.ffaT xvho knew her story. 10 Hef-