Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-04-28
HORSE-TH|EF
TAKES TO WOODS.
LEAVING BOOTY
Doyle Gets His Horse Back
After Short but Swift
Pursuit.
From a stan Correspondent.

From q Staff Correspondent.
STIRLING, April 2S.-Hemmed in
on all sides, completely surrounded.
knowing the temper of the farmers
and other residents of the country.
and, no doubt, realizing that escape
with his booty was an utter impossi-
bility. the man who stole the horse
and wagon belonging to Thomas F.
Doyle, of Myersville, a hamlet about
seven miles from here, has taken to
the woods. He left the horse and
harness behind. so as not to be en-
numbered in his own freedom flight.
Yesterday Doyle's horse and rig
were restored to him, and happy
man, indeed, was this kindly fellow,
who went to Myersville from Newark.
a year or two ago, to begin life as a
his horse and wagon would prove q
great blow to him. He has his prop
erty back, but his confidence in hu-
man nature has been sadly dented.
A Farmers Good Guess.
Just as a robust and keen-minded
citizen of Stirling expressed 1t to an
Evening Star reporter yesterday, just
so did it come to pass.
THAT skunk, George Johnston (the
horse thief. will hide that hoss and
wagon in some barn away from the
general line of travel during the
day, and then move on during the
night said this citizen. That's his
game. He travels by night, and re-
mains under cover while daylight is
abroad. But we'll catch the miser-
able critter, and after we get
through with him we'll let the law
send what's left of him back to
State prison, where he was before
for boss stealing
And the pursuit of Johnston is
being kept up, the belief being that
he will emerge from his hiding place
and wander back to Morristown,
Madison, Dover or some other we'll
populated section and fall into the
hands of the law.
THAT mean cuss simply can't keep
away from these diggins,'' senten-
tiously remarked the justice of the
peace of this town. HE seems to
want to be either around these parts
or in jail"
The First Told Story.
1t was told in the Evening Star of
Yesterday how stranger knocked at
the door of Thomas Doyle, a mod
est farm cottage in Myersville, last
Thursday night while a terrific storm
was raging, and applied for lodging
DOYLE took him in, and for the
reason, as he explained it later, that
he wouldn't keep a dog, much less
a human being. one of Gods
creatures out in such a storm"
When asked last night after he
had his horse and wagon safely
slowed away in the barn, what he
would do If another stranger ap-
piled for shelter on a stromy night,
Doyle looked at his questioner for
full minute at least and replied:
what would you do YOURSELF
Maybe | would be doing poor and
worthy man a wrong by turning him
away just because this scamp treated
me badly"
1t turns out that the farmers had
George Johnston, the horse thief,
sized up right. On Monday evening,
after being harbored and fed by Doyle
for four days, Johnston made off
with the horse and wagon and started
south He later doubled on his tracks
and, turning back from the Stirling
direction, repassed Myersville by
different road and cut away toward
l.
doubt. hoped to throw prospective
pursuers off the track. But. like Paul
Revere. of Revolutionary times, the
residents, once informed of the theft,
soon sent the alarm through every
"Middlesex village and farm"
Secured the Country.
That the fugitive got wind of the
aroused condition of things, can read
ily be believed, for the commotion
was of an exceptional order. Auto
mobiles had been impressed into ser
vice, men in buggies secured the
country and men on horseback dashed
hither and thither. Telephones had
been called into play and the police
were on the qui vive. 1t
was a hard proposition of getaway
kind for Johnston
On the outskirts of Murray Hill the
fugitive. for he was certainly a fugi-
tive by this time, stopped at a farm
house and asked permission to put
up his horse and wagon for While,
as he had some business in the vi
cinity that was better suited to foot
than going by horse and
wagon.
dWhy. of course, said the farmers
wife. that would be. all right. Just
put the horse in the barn and the
wagon under the shed. Anything to
be neighborly. The farmers wife
knew that her husband would extend
the same hospitality were he home.
So the horse and wagon were put
up" for the time being.
Knew the Rig Was Stolen.
But country folks have their sus-
picions as we'll as good-nature. The
farmers wife OWNED that the rig
had been stolen, and this suspicion
was strengthened when Johnston
went away, taking the horse blanket
with him. The farmer himself, when
told of the blanket incident, summed
up the situation in these words:
THAT fellow stole the boss. He
intends to sleep out in the woods and
wait until the coast is clear. That's
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