THE TABLES TURNED.

so as to fix the amount of my claim. sel, and proceed with dispatch."

479

I shall retain able coun

At this unexpected announcement the justice was filled with amazement and terror. "Hold on, hold on!" he exclaimed, each particular hair standing on end; "let's adjesticate this questin Christin-like. I didn't know yeou at fust, but I rekernize yeou neow. Yeou'r the agint that fixed things for Deekun

Starr."

"As you now remember me, and also call to mind what you have done in the premises, you understand the reasons for my course. I have in my possession a number of your slanderous letters upon which I propose to base my complaint." "Let me see 'em," demanded the justice, eagerly. The letters were produced and exhibited.

"Kin yeou prove the writin'?"

"Yes, squire, I can. Your attempt to throw a doubt on their genuineness may seem cunning to you, but it will avail nothing. Again I ask, how much are you worth? If you decline to answer, I can get the information at Beulah."

At the prospect of impending ruin, the lion of the law and champion of sound morals began to beg for mercy. And he pleaded his cause effectively, for though perverse and obstinate, he was at heart kind and well-meaning. He admitted the authorship of the letters, but urged in extenuation that he was so distracted by the care of a crazy wife that he did not know what he was about. Sometimes he felt as if he was more than half crazy himself. In conclusion he said, "I beg yeour parding. Consedder my troubles and flusteration. For God's sake, don't take what little I hev. I'm nigh on to sixty-four year old, and my work-time is past. If what I hev is took from me, me and my poor crazy wife will both die in the poor-house."

At this the old man broke down completely. The special agent let him agonize a few minutes, believing that the lesson would be a profitable one. Then, taking him by the hand, he

realize you did You seem to be desire to harm a

said, "Squire Van Buskirk, I am glad you wrong in trying to injure an innocent man. sincerely sorry. I can assure you I have no hair of your head, and accordingly I shall permit the matter to drop here. But let me urge you to be more careful in future."

The justice was so rejoiced that he was ready to promise anything. By way of crazy apology, he said, at parting, "I thank you for not puttin' me to trouble. I kin only say, if I had the thing to do over agin, I wouldn't do it."

Committing the Crime.

Na dark winter's night the post-office at Hardee, not far from our western frontier, was burglariously entered, and robbed of three registered packages containing, in the aggregate, about one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and of two bundles of ordinary letters. Mr. Albert Parlin, the postmaster, immediately notified John B. Furay, the nearest special agent of the department, who happened at the time to have on hand two very important cases which continued to engross his attention till pushed to successful completion. Six weeks elapsed before it was possible for him to reach the scene of the robbery.

Parlin, the postmaster, had been long and favorably known to the detective. About sixty years old, ingenuous and upright, his integrity had passed into a proverb. To be "as honest as old Pap Parlin" was the highest praise in the vocabulary of the county. He held the office by the divine right of discovery; and the public, as the place filled with settlers, came to regard

him as the ideal postmaster, created expressly for the position, and unfit for anything else.

The burglary drove the poor old man nearly insane, and he felt greatly perplexed and aggrieved that the special agent did not drop all other business to hurry by relays of horses to his rescue. On account of the garrulity of the old gentleman, the detective did not dare to explain the urgency of the work that detained him, and could only give general instructions that every scrap of evidence and information should be carefully treasured up for future use. For the first few days Parlin kept up an incessant bombardment with letters and telegrams; but finding that the fire produced no visible effect on the movements of the special agent, he resolved, in disgust, to conduct

"Midnight conclaves were held, notable for wisdom and gush."

the investigation himself. In pursuance of the new programme, the sheriff of the county, one or two constables, and all the "sharp fellows" of the town, combined to catch the rascal.

ARRESTED ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

483

Midnight conclaves were held, notable for wisdom and gush. Vain was it for a thief to hope to escape with such an array of talent closing in upon him. Merit soon met its reward. A vagabond was picked up and thrust into jail on the principle that as he was never known to do anything else for a living, he must have done this. The evidence was purely inferential. Though well connected, the fellow had degenerated into a notorious loafer, and was seen hanging around the office about eight o'clock the evening before the burglary. It was understood, moreover, that, earlier in the scale of decline, he had been invited to leave the store of a brother-in-law, a most estimable gentleman, for till-tapping. What more proof was required? The court of Judge Lynch has hanged many a poor wretch on much more slender evidence. In this instance the prisoner was dragged fifty miles or more before a United States commissioner, and, after a hearing of the facts, was discharged, as the prosecution failed to make even a prima facie case.

On reaching Hardee, six weeks after the robbery, the detective found that the postmaster and his associates in the investigation had failed to develop, or even to discover, a single clue. From previous statements of Parlin he fully believed that the party already arrested was actually the criminal, and that the local authorities had broken down at the preliminary examination from lack of skill in pursuing the trail. When brought to the rack, however, the fellow proved an alibi, though in doing so he was compelled to admit that he passed the night in a manner so scandalous that nothing less than the prospect of a prison could have extorted the confession.

The building occupied as a post-office was of brick, one story high, and about sixteen by forty feet in size. It stood on the north side with the end to the street, which ran east and west, on quite a steep hill-side, the grade rising about ten feet between the front and rear of the structure. The earth had been excavated to make room for the building, so that the soil at the north end fell but little below the eaves. In the west wall, about twenty-five feet from the front, was a window of