The times., 1900-12-23
A CHANCE TO COMMIT BIGAMY.
But the Retired burglar Declined
the Opportunity.
(From the New York sun. J

(frOm the New York SUM-
81 never committed bigamy,'" said the
retired burglar, but l had a chance to.
once. A singular sort of experience that
was. was rummaging over the drawers
in bureau in a house that 1 was in when
l heard a woman's voice coming from a
bed over on the other side of the room,
saying:
Man, where's my picture?'
Well, now that was a kind of 4
scorcher. you know. because | hadn't got
her picture and I'd never seen II, and
wouldn't have known it if l had seen it.
because never'd seen her, and told her
all this. as quick as l could, but she
wouldn't believe it,
Yes, you have got it,. she said, you
took it when you were here before. right
of that bureau where you are now
Now, you see, I'd never been there be-
fore, but, clear enough. somebody else
had, and that accounted 20 me for the
skimpiness of the house and | suppose it
was natural enough for her to think that
| was the man, and that I'd come back
for what there was left.
what sort of picture was it?' asked
her All this talking back and forth going
on, you understand across the room, with
her in bed. and me standing right there
by the bureau, only turned around toward
her, which I'd done when she first spoke.
L
she hadn't seen me. except as she could
see, maybe, the outlines of my body. the
bureau being between the bed and the win
dow, but couldn't see her bit, with the
bed over in the dark corner. And. as a
matter of fact. didn't want to see her;
| wanted to get out. But I'd been kind O
startled by that first question, sort of
rooted right down right where l was. and
then she wasn't afraid and the whole thing
ctr 7
kind O. interested.
What sort Of picture was it?' says,
and she says:
1t was a daguerreotype. set in an oval
gold brooch, with lock of hair under the
picture
'.It certainly did seem to me to be the
funniest thing in the world. but the
minute she described it l knew I'd been
seeing that identical picture once a week
for the last six months. 1t wasn't her
picture; that is not picture of her. but
a picture of man, with a beard on his
chin. sides of his. face and upper lip
shaved clean. and high forehead. more
or less hair gone there: and this brooch,
with this mans picture in it, I'd seen
standing on the top of a safe in the back
room of u fence here in the city. He'd
bought it of the man that stole it,. and
the chap with the chinner had happened
to catch his fancy, somehow, and so in
stead of melting 1t down for what there
was in the frame, he'd set the thing upon
the top of his safe for a kind of an orna-
ment, and that picture was just as IA
miliar to me there on the top of his safe
as the safe itself was. l hadn't the
shadow of a doubt that that was the
picture she was talking about, and the
picture of her dead husband. And when
came to ask her about the picture ]
found that that was precisely what it
was.
Then 1 explained to her again that
it wasn't me that took the missing pic
ture. that | wasn't the only man in the
business; but / told her | wouldn't be
surprised II / could get track of it some
how, and that if l could. I'd bring it to
her. This bringing 1t to her. of course.
was foolishness; l ought to have sent it
to her. and not taken the risk of fooling
around there with 1t at all; but as a
matter Of fact, | didn't think there was |
any risk, and the whole business was so
odd that | kind o. wanted to see il
through myself. And made an appoint
ment with her to call on her. with the
brooch. II could get it, week later, in
the evening, and of course put it at such |
an hour that it would be after dark, and