STORY OF A WATCH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 1 December 1927, Page 8

STORY OF A WATCH

STOLEN FROM OWNER RESTORED AFTER FORTY-FOUR YEARS. A REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE. Sydney, November 17. A remarkable coincidence, worthy of a place in the most exaggerated fiction, was associated with the restoration of a watch stolen from its owner 44 years previously. The owner of the watch was Mr T. W. Butcher a resident of Emerald, a Victorian township. After a period of residence at Seymour, another Victorian town, Mr Butcher was presented by residents of the district in 1883 with the watch as a token of their regard. The watch was appropriately inscribed, and Mr Butcher valued it greatly. Later in that year he went to Brisbane, and while attending to some business on the wharf, he took off his coat and waistcoat and left them in an office. When he returned, the watch, which had been in one of the pockets, had gone. Mr Butcher was perturbed at his loss, and extensive inquiries were made, but without result. After a lapse of several years Mr Butcher resigned himself to what seemed the certainty of never seeing his watch again. He returned to Victoria some time ago,,and took up residence at Emerald.

Last Saturday morning a man entered a jeweller’s shop in Bourke street, Melbourne, and. producing a gold watch, the back of which had worn thin with age, asked that certain repairs should be made to it. When the man had gone, the jeweller examined the watch more carefully, and to his surprise found it engraved with the name of Mr Butcher, who, by a strange coincidence, was an old friend of his. He immediately communicated with Mr Butcher. who, on examining the watch, recognised it as the one presented to him at Seymour 44 years before. The police were informed and a detective was detailed to make inquiries. He visited the man who had left the watch with the jeweller, and found him to be a retired civil servant of impeccable character. The man said that the watch was a legacy from a dead brother, who. he understood, had nurchased it some years before his death at an auction sale in Melbourne for £5. He was delighted to be able to restore the watch to its original and rightful owner.