A NEW WAY TO DETECT A THIEF. –
The father of Mr. Webster, the great American statesman,
was a very humorous and jocose* personage. As he was once journeying
in Massachusetts, not far from his native town, he stopped late one
night at an inn in the village of Ware. In the bar-room were about twenty
persons, who called out to him to discover a thief. One of the company,
it appeared, had a watch taken from his pocket a few minutes before,
and he knew the offender must be in the room with them. “Fasten
all the doors of the room – let no one leave it,” said Mr.
Webster, “and here, landlord, go and bring your wife’s great
brass kettle.” Boniface did as commanded. The great brass kettle
was placed in the middle of the floor, bottom up, as black, and sooty,
and smoky as the chimney back. “You don’t want hot water
nor nothing to take off the bristles of no critter, do you, squire?”
said the landlord, the preparations looking so much like hog-killing.
“Go to your barn, and bring me the biggest cockrill you’ve
got.” Boniface went to the barn, and soon returned with a tremendous
great rooster, cackling all the way like mad. The old rooster was thrown
under the inverted kettle, and the lamp was blown out. “Now, gentlemen,
I don’t suppose the thief is in here; but if he is, the rooster
will crow when the offender touches the bottom of the kettle with his
hands. Walk around in circle, and the cock will make known the watch-stealer.
The innocent need not be afraid, you know.” The company, then,
to humour him and carry out the joke, walked round the kettle in the
dark for a few minutes. “All done, gentlemen?” – “All
done,” was the cry; “Where’s your crowing –
we heard no cock-a-doodle-do?” – “Bring us a light.”
A light was brought as ordered. “Now, hold up your hands, good
folks” One held up his hands after another – they were of
course black, from coming in contact with the soot of the kettle. “All
up?” – “All up,” was the response. “A-ll
- don’t know; here’s one fellow who hasn’t held up
his hands.” - “Ah ha, my old boy! Let’s take a peep
at your paws!” They were examined, and were not black like those
of the rest of the company. “You’ll find your watch concealed
about him; search him!” And so it proved. This fellow, not being
aware any more than the rest, of the trap that was set for the discovery
of the thief, had kept aloof from the kettle, lest when he touched it
the crowing of the rooster should proclaim a thief. As the hands of
all the others were blackened, the whiteness of his own, of course,
showed that he dared not touch the old brass kettle, and that he was
the thief. He was lodged in proper custody preparatory to being sent
to jail. – American Paper.
*Jocose = given to joking
