The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-15

the officer but I've got little bust
ness to do with you first" And he
read him the subpoena and gave him "A
copy of it, all in printing and writing,
plain as you please.
| "Of course I'll have to obey the or.
der of the court" said the man, speak
ing milder. but can't see what you're
| getting at"
You'll find out soon enough" said
! the officer, and we all started for the
| door. But / kept my ears open wide,
for l expected to be called back. And,
sure enough, before we got into the
street the proprietor called to us to
wait and came wiggling up to where
we were.
What is it about the clothes?" he
! asked keeping his evil eyes fixed on
| Mrs Lawson. thinking perhaps that
she'd be the easiest one of the party to
scare into an answer that might give
him something like hint to be guided
| by. She did look pretty timid and
shrinking, but l gave her arm a good
pinch and whispered to her to be firm,
| and she seemed to take on courage.
What is it about the clothes?" re-
Dealed lle man. ana what II ulu
sell them? It's my business to sell
clothes, and there's no law against it
that l ever heard of. So there's no
harm DONE is there?"
Yes" said the officer, there's harm
done, and a young man is to be tried
for his life on account of you, and you
can make things right by telling the
truth. if you haven't forgotten how"
could see by the changing express
sion in the fellows eyes that he knew
all about the arrest of the poor boy and
had followed the case in the newspa
pers, and / felt like going down on my
knees there on his dirty floor, for l saw.
too, that he meant to tell what he knew
about it, I looked at Mrs Lawson,
and there were tears in her eyes.
That old woman" began the man,
said moment ago that she had in her
pocket the tags taken from these
clothes. Show me the tags, and I'll
talk fast enough, for the law can't
touch me for what l did"
l handed the tags to the officer, and
he let the proprietor look at them, be-
ing careful to keep one hand on them
all the time.
Yes" he said defiant like, Il did
sell this suit to a young man matter
of three or four weeks ago. But before
that and on the same night sold them
to another man who never lived to put
them on"
Mercy! said I. "Why didn't he live
to put them on?"
"AIl in good time, old woman" was
the impudent reply. You'll soon know
all about it If you'll give me a chance.
This first customer bought this suit
and paid for it. Then he went to the
back end of the store to put it on.
1 saw him shift some articles, such as
a knife, a bunch of keys and a little
change, from the pockets of the pants
he had on to the pockets of the new
ones, but he seemed to change his |
mind, for he took them out again and |
asked to have the new suit done up |
saying that he'd wear the old clothes
nome. But l noticed that he put a little |
slip of printed paper into the watch |
pocket of the new pants and didn't |
take it out again when he shifted the |
other things. l remember thinking |
about 1t at the time and intending to |
call his attention to IT, but another |
customer came in just then, and 1 for
got all about it. From that day up to |
a week or so ago / never once thought |
of the matter, though I've been sorry |
enough for my forgetting that little |
slip of paper"
That must have been the lottery
ticket" gasped Mrs. Lawson. And
VIII has been telling the gospel truth
all the time we've been doubling his
word, poor boy!"
Yes" said the man, II guess it was
the lottery ticket I've been reading |
about in the papers-No. 9S.567-that |
drew fifteen thousand dollars. was
fool not to have my mind about me and
take it out of the watch pocket when
got the clothes back on the shelf again.
They wouldn't have traced It to me.
can tell you, and I'd have been fifteen
thousand dollars better off now"
81 wish you had" said Mrs Lawson,
with a sob. Il wish to goodness you
had"
The rascal glared and went on with
his story.
About two minutes after the man
went away with the clothes there was
a hue and cry in the street, and | went
out to see what was up, leaving a clerk
to wait on customers. When / got out
side, heard people saying that a man
had just been murdered at the mouth
of an alley not far up the street, and
went there, curious to see who it was
AS soon as i came up to the place
where the crowd was / saw that it was
my customer that had been murdered.
He lay upon the stones of the alley,
with a knife wound in his breast and
the blood all about him on the frosty
ground. This suit of clothes that had
just sold him lay there by his side just
as l had tied it up for him. Then the
thought came to me
that l might take the
mans clothes and no
, 7---z5z-i one would lose by it,
III a@fPFfSJ for you can't rob a
'HFG8k5fgl dead man, he having
'lAWZM H. no use for clothes.
So l picked them up
S%H ~ and hid them under
43& 84 my coat, and no one
l|3ky3. NAN saw me. so great was
# ggy{; ~ the excitement. L got
n K ~ back to the store as