Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-06-14
CHAPTER !.

nat was rdeHo'
.s,,ps of my Uncle Abner's safe.
De 80 cleyerly planned, OPPORTUNITY
and successfully executed IL
pD'. God haul, too. Forty thousand
n.-s IN crisp coin of the realm is
u .,v high pay for almost any Grim
~ ,or few hours work and risK'
=. ~, ,s what tina perpetrator got
ct Of u - NAL s.,d "cr,m.
..ssI aid that to distinguish 1t from
%, ,eration of a gang of thieves;
n turned out it was the work
slnxle Individual and not the
e,,natlon of effort of a coterie.
made It still more difficult to
ASS chain is no stronger than
~.akest link, so is the cunning
combination Of men no keener
me wits of its dullest member.
-, e why conspiracies generally
.,-,s TO grief-somebody turns out to
LAX In the matter of which / am
.rine there were as many battling
80. as there are TO hedgehog. and
lime II seemed impregnable. AS
,ba sleuth hounds of the police,
~, eams up to 1t with caution,
.rslled about It discreety and then
- away. looking wise, to ponder
-, n and for all | know are look
49, vise and bordering yet. But with
u,,,sm LeDuc the case was dner-
fanuc had been something of a
sI.,d Of mine ever since we were
.rhooiboys together, and he did real
= br,iiiant work on the case. Every
ttinr conjured up by the human mind
/. eapable Of human solution If we
= about It right. and LeDuc found
~ way. Just because dog is help
i..s before bristling porcupine 1t Is
a s,rn that al animals are. The wild
~ isn't. He is too quick for the
,sztler. He feints him out Of his de-
l,nsiye posture by lightning play
and eventually gets him by the un-
,-osscted nose-which Is the begin
rs,r Of the end of the problem. Just
chat LeDuc did has never been made
,uhIlc ND to this time for the reason
nat none but he or is competent to
~, the inner particulars of the rum
r.ng down of the thief. and up to this
,ine neither Of us has cared to tell.
But feel that ! must do so now.
that happened to know more than
inybody else about certain incidents
ponnected with the affair and was
be to supply LeDuc with the proofs
d guilt was due to the fact that |
llysd with Uncle Abner at the time
he crime took place. /. also. was the
one who found him lying bound and
unconscious. Also It was myself who
reported matters to the police and in
sroalced LeDuc to my uncle. As for
TIE time when the burglary took
Place, happened to be away from
home, having stayed at hotel In the
business district quite q few miles
from where lived.
And now at the outset ! am going
70 emphasize one fact. While It Is an
unpleasant thing for me to do so.
an going to tell everything I know
regarding this crime. am going &c
spare nobody's feelings. faults or repu
tahons. That l have not done so be
fore was because of a reason which
VII be apparent when all the Other
facts are known. But now that
certain event has happened l fee
nee to make everything known.
In writing this account | have
thought best to do so chronologicallI
when possible. Therefore. must 81
somewhat into matters which pre-
cedsd and were more or less directly
connected with the crime In orde
hat the motive may be shown ant
that there may be the proper per
spectiye. To do this l must tell NOR
Or less about people not absolutel!
connected with the burglary, but WHIT
are necessary to the narrative b!
reason Of their propinquity. How
ever. they are simply the shadinl
and side lights that 60 to make up th'
picture. And while LeDuc may disap
pear for considerable periods In tn
nIling. the mistake should not b
made Of thinking he is nowher
around. That IL what he did In tn
actual ferreting out of the case, ant
that Is what misled the criminal. Blu
when his fine Italian hand did appea
Il the finish, II wore glove Of NAL
Right at this point l and mysel
somewhat at q loss to decide jus
where to begin the recital This 1
or the reason that am not a write
trained in the art of building up
mystery with such skin that 1t stand
intact until the time comes to demo-
lab Il; when with one deft blow tn
Keystone IL removed and the Who'll
hbric comes down with crash
Therefore all can hope to do is {
simply and plainly outline the chai
scters which seem TO me to be pei
unent to a full understanding Of col
diuons, and then go on and relat
events as they happened. Perhaps
had better begin with a brief descril
uon OF Uncle Abner. his peculiaritie
and meannesses.
When you look at that last SCI
fence again you will begin to unde
stand that ! meant 1t when ! said
vas going to spare nobody. Neithe
co believe any one will think as
proceed that am attempting to spar
my own feelings. What an idiot
was! ! think when the fates wer
making the worlds supply Of fool