Year: 1869

The Detroit Free Press says:


On Tuesday evening last Bernard


ROlfe, a German farmer, residing


about nine miles from this city, on


the Pontiac road, had business with a


hardware firm on Woodward avenue.


He ha0 a German laborer in his


employ named Henry Artles, and


him Mr.. ROlfe left at home busy with


the team, and procured a passage in


with a neighbOr.


1t was about five dock in the


afternoon when ROlfe lie , his home,


and as it was understood that the


neighbor would not return before the
next day, the family, consisting of
wife and three small boys, knew that
] they would be alone with the hired


man for the night. Artles was a
comparative stranger to them all,
having been at work k for two weeks
only. He was quiet man, and spent
his leisure hours by himself, never
| indulging in conversation when not
directly appealed to. Still, neither
Rolfe nor his wife found fault, or ever
had occasion to suspect that the labor
er was other than what he seemed.


On his arrival in the city Mr.. Rolfe
partially concluded his business with
the merchants, and engaged lodgings
at hotel on Larned street. About
nine o'clock in the evening, while
seated in the office smoking, Mr..
Rolfe says he began to tremble and
feel nervous shocks, which so in
creased that in a short time he could
scarcely hold his pipe between his
teeth. Hewalked several times across
the room, went into the open air, but
the feeling did not pass away. His
thoughts kept recurring to the labor
er at home, and he called to mind the
features of Artles and the fact that he
had several times caught him peer
ing about the room where bureau
was standing that contained money
to go toward putting an addition on
the house. At ten o'clock Rolfe de-
cided to go home. He was laughed at
by his neighbors, who told him that
the feeling was the first symptoms of
chill fever; and that Rolfe would go
home next day and find that every
thing had passed off peacefully. He
heSitated for some time, but at last
started for home on foot, promising to
return in the morning on horseback
in time to secure the balance of his
things before the neighbor should be
wanting to return home.


He reached home about midnight,
awakened his wife, and to her ex-
pressions of establishment could say
nothing only that he felt that he ought
to return. Inquiring as to Artles, the
wife replied that he had performed
the farm chores, as usual, remained
about the house for a while, and then
informed her that the night being
warm, he would sleep in the barn.
Rolfe passed through to the kitchen,
where he found a window up that
looked on the barn-yard. His wife
was certain that she had shut all the
windows nretiring. AS they stood
for moment looking out, they saw
the barn door swing open, and Artles
led out one of the horses. AS they
watched, he led out the horse through
the gate, and, going to the front, they
saw that he had tied the animal to
the doOr-yard gate. Rolfe immedi-
ately opened the door and walked
down to the gate. He was within ten
feet Of Artles when the latter espied
him, and giving utterance to an oath
of angry astonishment, Immediately
fled down the road. Rolfe pursued
him for some forty or fifty rods, and
then gave up the chase. On return
ing to the horseback the gleam of
steel caught his eye, and he picked
from it an ugly-looking sheath-knife.


The open window, the pretenee of
sleeping in the barn, the horse and
knife, all went to prove that Artles
intended to rob the house, even if he
had to make use of the knife. The
facts are given exactly as narrated by
Mr.. Rolfe himself, and the reader is
free to judge of the truth or absurdity
of the presentiment. On Friday
Artles had not returned to the neigh
borhoOd, neither had the slightest
clue to his whereabouts been dis
coH-arad