St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-06-26

age or rs, that he began t,
e aulate rich store of experience,
- deailng with counterfeiters th,
s OF burglars and other yarietie,
= thleves, and the training Tim,
squireo was destined to he n
Ihcalculable value tn him :,
s'er NE. He spent nearly two year,
e special agent for the government
- was then persuaded to go II
A. where, during his early day:
81 Tue lakes, he had made man,
1tiends. Mr.. Thomas Crawlev wa,
shlet OF the Erie police force at tina,
can ana at his invitation Murray be
zane detective under him.
0noFtly after his arrival there q
s ~ase OF sneak-thieving swept over the
o"h and assumed very serious propor
s1ohs. Even the furniture of private
nouses disappeared as If by magic
,,a1. s TOOK to itself wings and
y, vanished into the great unknown
oughs made strange and unaccount
ois exits from the farmers fields
eaVlhg no trace behind. Horses can.
so away unseen by their owners
@uu thelr stables knew them no more
Whole contents of stores were CARRIED
" ana from one Of them 20 dozen
pairs OF shoes appeared to have walk.
r INTO oblivion in the full glare of
icon. 1t was all so mysterious as tn
~ almost amusing-except to the un-
nsppy losers and the outraged mem
Ders OF the police force who were to-
tally unable to appreciate the bnmor
OF the situation.
SraWley and his aids, put upon their
mette by the cool and successful per-
slstence of the thieves, formulated a
seore OF brilliant theories as to the
Identity of the defiers of the law and
spared no pains to discover them. but
lhelr Well-meant exertions were all in
VAIN, and the thefts continued to in.
crease In number and daring. At last
James TolWarthy, grocer appeared
IN CraWley's headquarters fairly boil
ing over with Indignation and poured
forth bitter tale of woe. A new
democrat" wagon for which he had
paid SITS had disappeared from in
front OF his store on the day after he
had purchased 1t. In place of the
missing vehicle he found an old
crackey wagon, standing in the hotel
shed near his store where he had been
want to store his recent purchase. To
say that James TolWarthy was angry
Woull not give a correct line on the
state of his feelings. He mourned
aloud In wildly excited tones and went
away only half paciied by Chief
Crawley's promise to set all the re-
sources OF his department at work
Immediately to find the missing prop
erty and thief
Murray and couple of other detec-
tives Instituted vigorous search at
once but several days passed before
q single clue of any value turned up.
Then Murray came across boy who
stated that he thought he had seen
the man who left the old wagon, in |
lieu of the new one, in TolWarthy's |
she'd The youngsters description Of |
the supposed thief was meager one,
but Murray had always held the |
theor ythat poor description by an |
eye witness was better than many |
photographs when it came to identi- |
Tying d suspect whom he had never
esen. SO acting on the lads descrip-
ton he started out to visit every |
farmhouse on every road leading out
OF Erie He searched carefully but
found no trace of either plumber or
man.
Finally Murray met q farmer who had
geen fellow drive by his house in
new democrat about the time that
wagon disappeared, and
the description of both wagon and
driver convinced him that he was at
last upon the right track. Accom-
nanied by CraWley and an officer
named Snyder, Murray hired team
and drove along the road the stranger
hsa followed with the missing wagon.
For fully Is miles they Travelled, stop
ming at every farm, but found nothing
10 reward their exertions. Deciding to
feed and rest their horses they turned
,sY the main road, and lii secluded
clearing with several acres of pine
woods around 1t perceived a lone
house.
No one was in sight, but in re-
snnnse to a hail a buxom woman,
ahout rs years old, made her appear
,nce and inquired If the party want
a ANYTHING. Chief Crawley asked
ar the man OF the place. saying that
q wanted to feed his horses. The
woman whistled shrilly, and from be-
hind 4 clump OF bushes near the
,arn there came a little weakened
non about so years OF age. The IN
,fant Murray saw the newcomer his
YES Frightened. The boys description
4 fha stranger who left the ancient
s. eon ii the shed exactly fitted the
nar who stood before him,
while Crawley and Snyder busted i
with the horses Murray :
,ognn questioning the suspect In {
.areless manner. &
aWbat is your name" Murray asked. /
george Knapp" replied the with ]
red individual. .
aHave You lived here long9
aMa and my wife have been here
,,o,,t ! year. was the reply. :
a. that your wife" inquired the de- I
.. Il alancing at the young woman y
II. - ras standing in the doorway OF T
NY w..- o
= vn 4. grinned and nodded assent .
Z , ,.-aa not disposed 70 be communal >
g - snd his eyes twinkled Gun. q