The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-20

purposes of this incident A. and B. Fol lowing the whims of twins the two
 dressed very much alike. They wore
 rings on the same fingers and the gold
 watch chains were precisely alike. on which were suspended identical seals. A l was a shade taller than, B. while B was just a little stouter than A.. So as to | even themselves, B wore heels to his shoes somewhat higher than As. while I Anyhow. 1t was difficult, unless you knew them very well. to distinguish one from the other.
 house on . somewhat secluded avenue. Not far from them was the residence oi the richest man in the city. This man. on account of his health-he was con- sumptive-was often absent. For six months in the year he was in Florida. One night this house was entered and robbed. An old negro servant was found senseless. He had been struck on the head In his hand there were found some links of a gold chain. and attached to it was a carnelian seal. It was twenty four hours before the old colored man regained consciousness. !, All that he could then tell was that he had been felled by robber who wore mask. In falling. after the blow. he had clutched at hls assailant. That he said. accounts for the piece of gold chain with the seal found in my hand
 Work for Detective.
 At once suspicion was directed toward A and B. A detective took the case in hand. It became known, when shadowed. that neither of the brothers was wearing his gold chain. One of the brothers. 1t was discovered. had been seen late at night in the neighborhood of the house which had been entered. Very little which was reliable could be gleaned from the old colored man. for the reason that he was still in a dazed condition. New ertheless the fact was indisputable that when found lying on the floor he held in his hand the portions of gold chain such as the twins were in the habit of wearing.
 Asked to produce their chains. A showed the one he wore, but 8 did not do 90 at first. Closely pressed. be finally did exhibit the fragment of the chain, g, his watch was still pendent to it. The story he told was that on the night of the robbery hA had been assaulted and robbed of a ptrtion of his chain by man. It could not but be remarked that B was singularly. reticent. On being close ly interrogated as to the appearance of his asailant his replies were vague. Tt was a dark night, he testified. and 1t was difficult for me to mak, out who was my assailant, the attack was so sudden. The other brother was by no means veluble witness. Somehow the impression grew that they knew more than they wanted to tell The lawyer, who had been at once retained by the father of the young men, was d close friend of mine, for I had studied in his office. Every- thing was done on his part to have mat ters go slowly. and in that he showed his wisdom.
 Some months elapsed. Then the news came that a piece of jewelry, d cameo head. set in pearls, had been found in pawnbrpk.r's shop in Baltimore. It was known to have belonged to the things taken from the house. The incident end ol rxTaA Alf lat 1..Ft hA af y77 in Richmond. Tcare was no question now as to the identity Of the robber. Finally he made full confession. He was a smart ne'er-do-well, and had been under arrest before for a robbery, though he had escaped conviction.
 Went to California.
 "Now comes in the curious part Of the story. The offender was a second cousin of A and B. As the culprit stood up be- fore the bar we were struck with the strong resemblance he bore to the twins. Finally A, when pressed, his innocence having been confirmed, testified that he had thought, but was not positive, that 1t had been this man, relative Of h1s, who had snatched the chain from him. So to save the family pride, A had im- parted his suspicious to his brother, B, but they had both sworn that only on the last emergency would they divulge what they expected
 There was another minor incident con- nected Wltn the case, ana it was porter at the railroad station who said that a man resembling one of the twin broth CTS had taken the night train going out of town. It was a rather stormy night, the porter testified, but as the travellers s coat was blown open he swore he had seen that the man wore a gold chain.
 T have always been of the opinion that the rascal tried his best to pass off for one of the twins. and had with pur- pose made a snatch at As chain. so as to add to his makeup.
 The conclusion of this story Is some what distressing. Very soon afterward A and B and their father left the city. The mill had been sold. They all went to California The affection between the two brothers never suffered change, but the twans no longer dress alike and leave rings and gold chains of the same pat tern entirely alone"