The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1905-11-10
FOOTPRINTS
IN THE SNOW

suburb Of the city, all evidently by the
same hand, and yet thu police had
not found the culprlt
/ know that the police worked hard
on this case and that every seeming
clew was carefully followed, and that
they let boy fifteen years old take all
the credit away from them was not
their fault. was that boy, and that
/ solved the mystery was owing to
luck. The crimes began about the
middle of September, and / gave them
no attention until about the list Of No
vember. Then l happened TO be talk
ing with man who had had his push
cart stolen. This, In fact, was at the
beginning Of the thefts. lie mentioned
that the tire of one Of the wheels had
been wrapped with wire to tighten 1t.
on the night of the talk another
house was robbed. II was only two
blocks from my fathers house, and /
went there, with others. The police re
fused all information, but during the
day | was told by a son Of the house
holder that they had found tracks UNI
der a window. 1t was an open fall,
and the ground had not yet frozen.
The tracks were those OF boot, and
the sole OF one had been mended.
went-up and down the alley In the rear
= Of the house with this boy, and In
the dust we found the impress Of what
looked TO be buggy tires. They were
something else, bowever-they were the
impress Of the tires Of that pushcart.
At every revolution one Of the wheels
left sort Of smudge, and / was jus
titled In believing that II was the tire
that did It.
My theory was that all the stolen
goods had been taken away In the
pushcart, but the case was blocked
right there Where had they beeo
taken? Had | gone to the police with
my theory I should have been rldicui
ed. The detective who can't find
clew himself doesn't want any one else
to find one. When had lain awake
dozen nights trying TO figure things
out luck helped me. The streets were
still dusty. a barn had been broken
open and u lot OF bedding temporarily
stored therein had been taken.
/ happened to be passing the place
when the discovery was made and the
police telephoncd for. There were the
tracks Of the pushcart again. In the
dusty road following the cart were
boot tracks, and one Of them had
patch on the sole. | followed them for
a mile straight out into the country
before they were lost.
It was easy to figure that II the thief
was not selling any Of his plumber he
was storing 1t somewhere and that the
country offered safer place than the
city. The idea now was to follow
along the road and spot or any likely
looking place. had my mind made up
that II would be an old barn out about
two miles. l walked out on the road
for FIVE miles and found no one but
farmers Of honest standing. | took
two crossroads and followed them for
a distance, but with the same result.
The thief had gone out that road with
the pushcart and the bedding, but
where had he brought up1 The wealth
err changed, the ground froze, and
all at once the crimes ceased.
Then luck came again. l was buy
ing a pair Of winter gloves in store
when farmer called and asked for a
pair OF mittens for woman. Some
talk followed, and 1t came out that
she was n widow who was living next
TO him, three miles out OF town. He
also asked where he could get pair
OF rubber boots for her.
1 got the idea right then and there
that the widow was the criminal. II
seemed absurd. but yet the idea chung.
A detective would have told me TO go
home and soak my head, and report
er would have laughed me out Of his
room. chewed over the thing for
week, and then something happened.
l had been sent on an errand directly
after breakfast, and / passed house
which had been burglari2ed the night
before. There were quite a number of
people about and the owner was tell
ing them how entrance had been effect
ed and what had been taken. What
hunters and farmers call tracking
snow had fallen during the night, and
the first thing l looked for was the
track of that pushcart.
An alley ran alongside the house, and
there they were. There were also
prints of rubber boots. The alley gate
opened rather hard, and sticking TO il
were some small threads of blue yarn.
The farmer had bought blue mittens
for the widow. Taking up the tracks, l
followed them for two miles before
they were obliterated by travel. ! kept
on to the house Of the widow and
found IL small cottage. Between the
gate and the road the cart trucks and
the footprints were as plain as day.
l had worked the case as far az I
could, and l now went to the police. 1
was sneered at and warned not to
meddle with their business ! went to
the sufferer by the last robbery, and as
he was a man of influence and anxious
TO get his property back he not only
listened, but insisted that something
be done. A search warrant was pro-
cured, couple Of detectives went out
10 the widows farm, and from an out
door cellar enough stolen property was
dragged to ill several stores.
She had been stealing of and on for