Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-08-09
A Boy 5 Find


Copyright, 1906 by Homer Sprague.l
The town Of RoNbury had its police
Station and five or six police. One aft
ernoon Major Adams, a retired army
officer, appeared at the station and
made complaint that his daughter had
been robbed of two valuable diamond
rings that forenoon. They We're on
her dressing table as she got up In the
mornimg. but as she was going horse
back riding she left them there
The majors household consisted of
himself. wife, daughterfand q girl OF
all work who had been with them for
seven years. The girl had done the
oha!s'' 9" v7.S !.l l4lt both windows
.lel io ;t.i' the room, 1t being in the
spring of the year. She admitted to
seeing and moving the rings, but de-
MED taking :hem. The police came and
questioned her, and although the fam
lily protested that she could not be the
thief, she was arrested and locked up.
eWheneyer there is crime there must
ee an arrest" is the saying in every
police force. Ii Mary, the girl, didn't
steal the rings, then who did?
Before noon next day there was an
other complaint A Mrs Williams, the
wife of Il retired manufacturer, lost
diamond bracelet from her room. One
Itef the stones was loose, and the brace
let had been laid aside to be taken to
the jewelers. after luncheon. Mrs.
williams had the bracelet in her hand
at 10 O'Clock. An hour later it had dis
appeared. and she could vouch for the
fact that no one had entered the room
meanwhile.
The police wanted victim, but could
not find one. They searched the house
and grounds for what they called a
clew, hut went away no wiser than
when they came
I While they were muddling about on
this case, and only the next morning,
the third complaint came in. Three
diamond rings We're taken off the dress
Ing table of Miss Saunders, wife Of ex-
Admiral Saunders.
The person arrested foD this robbery
was the family coachman. He could
prove by one of the stablemen that he
had not been near the house for two
hours, and he had the backing of the
whole family, but the police again
| asked, IF he didn't do it, who did p
The three robberies created great
CONSERVATION in the, town, and every
body had half Il dozen theories to ad-
vance The one that seemed most ra-
tionai WAS that slick thief from Lon
don was working the town. The police
could find no stranger to suspect. No
resident of the town had Eaet a suspi-
| cious cn:rracter'. No matter how slick
| the man was, there must be some rea-
| sonable explanation OF how he could
enter second story rooms in broad day
light and steal the jewelry and get
away without being seen.
| The fourth robbery also occurred in
| the forenoon The Wife of retired
merchant was working among the
| flower beds under her bedroom window
/ from 8 to H. Only the gardener passed
her During the interval diamond
sunburst was taken from her dresser.
f! No one could have got In by the win
| dow, and as her husband had been
sitting in his own room, which adjoined
hers. he must have seen anybody who
entered in the regular way
/ There We're two servant girls, and
they were arrested against the protesta-
tions of the family. AS 1t was seen tina;
the local police We're making a muddle
| Of the cases a Scotland Yard man was
/ sent for and came down.
! For three days there was no robbery.
| TIC oe go; swelling around and
/ claiming to have driven the slick one
+, away when two more diamond rings
/ We're taken just as mySteriously. In
this case the plunder was taken when
| the door of the room was locked There
| was but one servant, and the lock on
the door was a patent one and she
could by no possibility have had key
! Whoever came and went used the open
window That was on the second story
and only to be reached by the use of q
long ladder. There was no ladder about
/ the place. No man carrying ladder
could have escaped observation.
A vegetables peddler drove up while
the detective was scratching his head
and looking for cews, and, seeming to
i Etke great Interest III llc dUilF, lie WAS
at once locked up on suspicion. He
could prove that he had not been with,
in Il mile Of the house for two hours
before the robbery, but be was hustled
to cell TO give him time to become
conscience stricken and own up.
4 There might nave been other rob.
berries but for dough faced boy
about ten years old, who had the rep
utation of knowing even less than he
looked to know. He was the only
child of a washwoman, and through her
and the boys on the street he heard al
about the robberies. He had no theo
ries of his Own. He had heard about
thieves and always wanted to see one
and he hoped the culprit would be ar
rested by daylight, SO that he could
get look at him.
4 The Saunders boy was stretched or
the grass In his mothers yard. he be
ing left tc mind the house In her alb
fence, ana beside him were half a doz
en- fragments OF looking glass that
had been broken. Suddenly a magpie
few down and seized one OF the frag