JIM TWITCHER'S PATENT SUICIDE.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 899, 8 April 1891, Page 3

JIM TWITCHER'S PATENT SUICIDE.

•_- — I A Detective's Stoky. . . i', /-.'; ' ' ' '(Gdntiniibdi) ,'■■ ;v " •■' "• '■< *He might, indeed ; there's no hin j to the .wiqkedness iOf soouv men,' I; answered, with a grin, which Jemmy! solemnly ignored. ' ' Now, there's 'just another thing I'd like to know; had that girl any hand m the , robbery.?' 'What girl?* and Jemmy opened his eyes. a little. * Why, the girl they were taken from/ looked about as if to say '!No,'j but seemed to think ' better of it, and < assumed a look of profound ignor-j ance. » I don't know, but,' he added, morei brightly, * I might find out, if you made it worth ray while .' I sat thinking, while Jemmy dutifully 'assumed a cast iron expression of ; humility and innocence under my gaze. Putting all that he had said together, ■my impression was tha* the robbery Hiad been the result of a sudden inspiration on Jemmy's part but' that m some [ strange fashion he had either • been rob- | bed m turn, or cheated out of his share by the fence. It did not follow, however, that Sturgeon was the fence. Jt wa,p possible, and even likely, but it had to 1 be.pfQvedi I h ad intended to detain i Jemmy, but now, l resolved to , let him igo, on the same principle which I had j laid down so forcibly to the owner of the I jewels. > Jemmy had not the plunder about ihim j he had no fixed abode or place iof concealment, and the probability was |he had gob rid of them within the hour il therefore morely directed that he [should be followed, and allo •■ ed him to j (Continued on Fourth Page.)

go, while I went down to Stargeon/i place m Leith Wynd. This mar „ professed to be a tailor, and had np a sigr to that effocr-, and really did work at tin trade, but it was whispered that h< worked liarder at another business His house and «hop were together, and 1 found him at supper m the house. The moment my eyes rested on his face I saw the unmistakable start and blanching of the lips say ♦ This is the man.' So far Jemmy had' not deceived me. But with the story told by Sturgeon's face came also another less agreeable piece ol news. The fence was elated, cool, and comfortable. The jewels were not now m his keeping. He was eager to know what had brought me, but I did not enlighten him. I merely said I should take a look through his place, and he readily assisted me. The looking occupied two hours, and ended, as I had expected, m utter failure There .was nothing there to find « Where's your wife ?f l laid* whtn I had finished. 1 She's out,' 1 Yea, but where? ' I don't know.' ' Sent off to Glasgow the moment he fingered the jewels,' was ffly swift thought ; and my first work on reaching the Office was to telegraph through a description of Sturgeon's wife, though painfully conscious that it must now teach them far too late to be of use. I could have taken Sturgeon with me, but I thought it best to let him hare a little rope. Next day came word that Sturgeon's wife was m Glasgow. I expected she would return next day at least, «nd prepared to receive her, not at the station, but at her own home. A one roomed house directly above that of Sturgeon was empty ; and I had it taken by a woman who got a man m to set it m order, which he did by lifting a part of the flooring and deafening, so that only a thin partition of plaster remained between that house and Sturgeon's living-room. My idea was that when the reset's wife returned she would naturally begin to calk of all she had done and seen m the Western capital, after the fashion of wives from an exhilarating tour, and I gave strict injunctions to the Glasgow folks to tell me m good time of her departure. But no such plan ever did work, and the two reasons m t is case were that Sturgeon's wife lost her head, and got on a fierce drinking tack— so difficult it was for some women to bear prosperity and that Jemmy Twitcher was still at large j with a mighty wrong to avenge. Jemmy I t took poverty *s bad'y ns Mrs Sturgeon | too!; prosperity, and was several tim" ovoiionn), by the amiable friend v' s I had employed to shadow him, • '™ m Stnpgoon n shameful and vio'' wishing and : himself the office o' nt death, Onre or twice he we r execntioner. a shilling or two frr* at and borrowed morfey', 'being p- m the reset, but the rather to incur pent m drink, seemed to Sturgp'' .ase his morose antipathy change *■ jn. At length a sudden ctlrrp'' .ame; a bright idea had octy* * ato him ;he shook off his shadow, .d went about alone making mysterious investments with the money borrowed from Sturgeon. One of these investments wns a 1 ottle of laudanum, another was a jack knife with a sharp point and a blade six inches long, and another was a pistol, with bullets and powder. With these stores concealed about his person Jemmy went down to Leith Wynd one night, and called on his dear friend f turgeon, who, on the principle that any company is better than none, affected to receive him with great warmth and hospitality. As soon as he had been admitted I planted my chum M* Sweeny at the opposite side of the Wynd to watch the door, and be ready to receive signals from me, and then I went up to the empty room above, locked the door, lay down, and listened to the conversation. 'Aren't you a devilish old rogue ? f was the first remark I heard from Jemmy after he had consumed some of the reset's whisky. Sturgeon modestly waived the compljment. ♦ But you are,' persisted Jemmy, not to he prevented crowning bis loved one with laurels. ' I runs all the way from the Waverly, like to bust myself. And lays the ense on your counter, sayin', It's a fortune m di'ments ; put it out of sight, and I'll settle with you after,' and then I bolts; but when I comes back, you says I never saw the di'ments if you laid 'em on the counter, that boj that' came to sell me some silk and cuttings must have took them.' ' So he must,' si i 1 S urgeon, solemnly. 'I. wisn I had been more careful, but ] thought you were joking when you cam< in.' •' I meant to take it all out of you. bj com in' on you every day for a shilling or two,' generously continued Jemmy ' but I've changed ray mind about that, and if you'll give me a pound or twe I'll commit suicide.' . . • * Never !' cried Sturgeon, with real joj in' his tones. 1 Not real, you know,' said Jemmy, apparently quite unconscious of what c cruel blow he was dealing to the other's hopes, but this is how it is . That hound M 'Govan's got his eye on me. I can see it, for all his easy words and derilisb smile — he's lookin' me through, and if I don't quit he'll be down on me like ahi'wk. It's his way— once he's on to }"■■.): there's no mercy m him, and he'll send word all over the country after you, )i" rratti r where you shift to. Nott, if I'm •{(?m|- \}Q can't ffend word after : (QonilmstMnowmtismi)