PATRIOTIC THIEF.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 688, 13 December 1909, Page 8

PATRIOTIC THIEF.

STOLE, MILITARY PAPERS BY MISTAKE. That a man bo n thief'and yet bo a patriot is shown by a pretly story tliat conies from I'lins. Tho tluet was prolnssionally engaged at the Eastern Railway m Vans, and in the cuurso ot busine&s, having obs>eived - a middle-aged man leave a bag on tiio teat of a hrst-class cainngc in au express and go awa\, ho n diked oil with the bag. "1 had," he bajs, "oldened that tho passengci had the red imetto o£ the Legion of Htuioui, but honestlj I took him for a man in business,." 'AVlien he opened the bag at homo ho discovered, however, that it belonged < to the colonel ot a lPgimotit quartered on the Tranco-Gorman froutiei, and contained milltarj papers The patriotic bag-snatcher instnntly wroto to tho "Matin" — "Having appropriated .it tho Eastern Railway terminus a portmanteau containing docw nients appertaining to national defence, 1 shall be obliged if you will send me one of jout representatives, to whom 1 will hand over the said portmanteau, which belongs to the colonel commanding one ot the regiments in tho East. (Signed) Lupin, a Frenchman above all.' v A representative ot Ihe "llatm" went to thfi appointment given nt a Metropolitan Railway station, lpceivcd tho bag, and ovci cigarettes discussed the ethics of stealing with the patuotic thiol.. "Owing to the exigencies of my profession," said tho latter , , "I am compelled to remain - somen hat in the background. It would therefore oblige me if you' would allow mo ito give my niiino merely as M. Nicholas Tact and discretion, ho continued, are the chief requirements m our casing. Stealing is, as a matter of fact, •■o ens,), and men and women especially lend themselves, to it with such guilelcssncss that it would be positively criminal not to tako advantage of iiie opportunities which thpj aflord us HI were to open your ejea n little jou would undoubtedly tnke to our absorbing profession. One can, of course, remain an honest man while thieving, so thus 1 am a pallibt above all, and I would not for the ■. world do aught to injure my countrj." Tho representative of tho "Matin" shook hands with M. Nicholas, nnd took aw.ij the bag. Colonel X. was telegraphed to come post haste, and upon opening it found (hit nono , of the contents, which really did include military papers of some importance, hall been . touched Not a collar pr n stud wns missing, and not even a post-office order for JCJB "Honest M. Nicholas, best of bag snatchei s," fciventh c-alaimod tho colonel; but he will do well next tune not to leave poitinanleaut, with importaut military documents, about on railway camnge scats. Ho will not always ha\o to dcnl with pntnots like XI. Nicholas.