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V VOL. XII.
NEW 13LOOMFIEL33, iPA.., TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1878.
NO. 1.
fcT- mil v?v
THE TIMES.
In Independent Family Newspaper,
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VIOLETS.
Bt G. W. Ohbis.
There was a lady, fair, who wrote
A little violet-scented note
And when her lover would have kept
The treasure close, its fragrance crept
Iuti the air, and did betray
That something sweet was hidden nigh,
Maklbg the folks in pleasure cry i
" Why, who wears the violets to-day ?"
And norethan this, the true love stole
"Out oi the note and filled his soul,
So that where'er ho went he took
Guch lender courtesy, a look
So gentle, peaceful, grave and true,
That ladles Insensibly were wooed
When lear htm to some finer mood ;
Y( ; went their way, and scarcely knew,
Whose spirit, whethor his or theirs,
It was hat wore the violets airs.
Since hidden gifts do so prevail,
It need! not that I should unveil
The moral of my little tale
But we
will part Its leaves to get
This orfe veracious violet :
If you
lo love the breath of spring,
A wo ld that peace and joy refine,
Make t ue and Bweet each" unseen thing,
'The secret thoughts the deeds unknown,
For tiese by ordering divine,
While i aught of ours is rudely shown,
Will br athe a blessing all may own.
TVHH MODEL DETECTIVE.
"M
fllllDER will out, some time.
Jure!" exclaimed Daniel Won-
dertonfew hearers, as lie laid down a
paper fr in which ho had just been read
ing alou I a case of mysterious murder,
the peretrator of which had been dig--covered
Iter years of ingenious and tor
tuous surch. "I have many a time
noticed i . It is is according to the lawi
of natur ', and must be so, if not right
off, then by and by; If not to-day to
morrow, next day, then a year, ten,
.fifty, perhaps a hundred years hence.
The muiler and the murdered are sure
to come iut. If I was on a plank alone
with A njan in the' middle of the ocean,
and wasjto murder him and Bink him,
vwith no ship in sight, 1 couldn't feel
safe. Seine time or otler something
would bring me out. If I didn't tell of
myself, asleep or awake, hs bones would
tfise, or;" j
" Or his speerit I " suggested somebody.
"No; I don't believe ii spirits but
Ids bones, clothes, or the plank or it
might be somebody was hoking at me
from a ship out of sight, through a pow
erful spy-glass, or perhaps from another
plank, or jwrhaps happenlig to pass by
overhead in a silk balloon and see me
-do it and so I should fea sure I was
not safe until at last I was d out to be
hung. You see there is always a chain
of evidence, between the murderer and
the murdered. . It may be sjort or long.
It may be broken into many separate
links; but in time one uiai picks up
one link here, another a link) there, and
so on, until all the links are found and
put together, and they are stnng enough
timjthenian." j
" It doe sVin o," said $nc of the
listeners, in thoughtful awe. ; -.
"..Seems so I It in ho 1, 1 almys knew
that murder will out, and .iave Been
many singular cases of lfc. Bu the most
singular case I ever heard ot was the
fate of Paul Plcra, of Most creek, a
clerk in a dry goods store, and so cover
ed up, according to report, tu t no evi
dence was supposed to be left f It. lie
was unexpectedly missed one lay, and
his body was not found until thee years
afterward. People gave up all p.opea of
hearing about the poor follow, liow be
came to his death, or where, orvhat for
-or who or where his murderer wis, until
' a traveler came to Mosscreek arjl hear
ing of the murder of poor Paul Tlera, he
undertook to find the body, or ut least
the real criminal, and bring him to jus
tice. This traveler's name was Solomon
Foxpaw, and he prided himself on big
detective powers his penetration and
perseverance and he had a restless,
rolling, Btarlng, snappy kind of eye,
that seemed to take In everything about
him at a glance. People wished him
success, but they didn't expect it. Yet
he didn't care for what they expected.
He Bet to work to find some links for a
chain of evidence."
"nut I don't see-"
"You can't Bee anything yet. You
must watt and Bee. Solomon Foxpaw
made inquiries for a month, but ascer
tained Just about nothing which would
lead to the first link. He then sat down
and reflected alone for three days, and
finally he Bald to himself, ' Here Is a
piece of woods out here, and Paul Tlcra
was said to be poorly. What more like
ly than he should walk in the woods for
his health and there be murdered V"
" To be sure! What, indeed ?"
"With this Idea Sol, without saying a
word to anybody because he hated in
terruption as bad as I do walked out
alone into the woods and kicks about
among the dry leaves, and examines the
rocks, and the trees, with strong suspi
cion." "To find a clew V"
" Why, of course, to find a clew."
" But I don't see"
" You never will see If you don't wait
and follow his ideas. He pretty soon
found various letters carved on various
trees Initials of names, perhaps, and
among them all at last he discovered, on
a tree by themselves, the letters P P.' "
" Perilous Place, I Buppose."
"Perilous Place, you suppose! No,
Paul Plcra he supposed, for he knew
what to suppose. ' He certainly cut
these letters,' Foxpaw felt convinced;
and he put down 'P. P.' as his first link.
'Now,' says he, 'I've got something to
work on,' and he felt encouraged. Look
ing about him a little sharper, as if Prov
idence had directed him, he found a
rusty jackknife, which had had ten
blades. It had three now ; a big one, a
little one, and a Baw-blade. The horn
was gone, but he felt a conviction that
this knife was a second link, and he put
it in his pocket. Looking about still
further he saw a crack"
"Heard a crack I"
" No ; saw a crack a wide crack be
tween some rocks. Something suddenly
told him there was a cave there, and
that,he would find the body of Paul
Plcra In that cave. He did find a cave
a very cavernous cave and he went and
borrowed a spade, entered and dug for
several hours, till he struck something
hard."
"A box, containing the bones of
Paul."
" No. He thought bo at first ; but It
proved to be nothing but solid rock. He
dug here and he dug there but all was
rock. And now, being much tired, he
paused and began to suspect that he was
on the wrong scent. A less resolute
man would have despaired ; but 'No,'
says Foxpaw, ' I'll dig In another way.'
And bo he dug off back to town again,
and made further inquiries about what
Paul Picra Bald and did the last time he
was seen, and showed the Jackknife con
fidentially. " Nobody had seen Paul have such a
knife, but Sol. Foxpaw happened at last
on an old lady who remembered she had
bought some mixed yarn of Paul the
day he was missed. He seemed sick and
unhappy, and said he wanted to go to
sea for his health. This was all Foxpaw
could paw out of her. It seems little,
but he thought it a good deal. 1 Wanted
to go to sea. That's another link,' Bays
Sol. 'A man who goes to sea naturally
goes to a vessel in the first place. Moss
creek is a seaport place. I will go down
to the waterside and inquire among the
vessels.' So he went down, and by good
luck he soon discovered that for years
past the schooner Flying Turtle had been
in the habit of bringing stock from the
city for the dry goods store. 'Another
link,,' says Fbxiftw. What more like
ly than that Paul, knowing the skipper,
went in the Flying Turtle that day to
the city.'
" So he asked the captain, who said he
was not sure he didn't, and that some
times he had ; and he shouldn't wonder.
'Here Is half a link more,' says Fox
paw. ' I will go In the Flying Turtle,
and make inquiries.'
"It woh during this trip, only a day's
voyage, that he added three or four more
links to his cliuln. On closely question
ing the captain the latter remembered
that on the fatal day one of his passen
gers from Mosscreek to the city was a
raw-boned, swarthy, ugly looking man
who had a dissipated nose and a several
bladed Jackknife. He remembered a
Baw-blade In It, because it was the first
he ever saw; and had Bald ot the time
that if he was as homely as the owner
of the knife, he Bhould cut his throat
with it, and leave the consequences to
other people. Foxpaw Bhowed the rusty
knife, and the skipper said it might be
the same, and added that the stranger's
name was Murdman or Murkman, and
that on landing in the city, he had seen
him at the Jolly Tar tavern at the head
of the wharf."
" Seen Paul Tlcra V" said one listener,
much gratified.
" Why, no I Pay attention 1 Seen this
ugly fellow don't you seel"'
" Yes, I see; buI don't see "
" But you must wait and see, or you
will certainly lose the links. Up goes
Solomon Foxpaw to the Jolly Tar, as
Interested as if he had been Paul Flora's
only brother"
"Did he have a bother?"
" None of your business and asked
the landlord to let him look at his arrival
book, of three years before. The land
lord sent to the garret for it, and they
overhauled it together; and, sure enough!
there stood the name, at the proper date,
in a fierce, big hand, of Mike Murdman,
and-"
"Paul Plcra."
" No ! What do you know about It V
1 Mike Murdman and Friend. This is
the biggest link of the lot,' says Sol, to
the landlord. ' Do you recollect what
kind of a looking man his friend was V
"'No,' says the landlord, 'but I
recollect that next morning the two had
a quarrel. They had slept together,
and Murdman was charged by the other
with stealing his money in the night.
But Murdman sworo no, and as proof,
said he hadn't enough money to pay his
own bill ; and they went out quarreling,
without paying, nnd that'B the last I
ever saw of the other fellow, to my
knowledge.'
"' More links I'm getting a chain,'
says Foxpaw. ' Went out together,
quarreling, about robbery. And did you
ever see Murdman again?"
" ' Oh, yes,' says the landlord, ' he's
captain of a brig now. He came back a
year afterward and paid his bill, and
now he Btops here three months, every
return trip he makes. It is time for
him now : brig was due yesterday ; if
you stop I'll introduce him to you.' "
" Was the man hung ?"
"Well, this beats all, I declare!"
cried Daniel Wonder, exasperated.
"Here you are, wanting to get to the
end of the chain, before I've got the
links fastened together. You would
never make a detective."
"I don't care anything about the
links. All I want to know 1b, was the
man hung? You've got me so excited
I can hardly keep my seat. It would be
a satisfaction to know if the man was
hung, at the start."
" Well, he wasn't hung at the start,
and never would have been, if Sol
Foxpaw had been as impatient as you
are. Have you no interest in the phi
losophy of the thing ?"
" No," said the man, nettled ; " and I
don't care, now, whether the man was
hung or not ; I hope he wasn't ; and I
hope Paul Picra was cut into as many
bits as there are links in your story."
" Go on,. Daniel, go on," said the
others, " and if he interrupts you again,
we'll hang him."
" So do. Well, Foxpaw waited three
days, patiently, for the link, and then
the brig came to port, and Murdman
came to the tavern, and the landlord in
troduced him to Foxpaw, over a glass,
and they sat down to talk. Sol was
usually a cool fellow, but, as he after
wards said, he had his scruples about
sitting down and talking with a mur
derer, and he felt very pale and nervous,
considering the critical bublness he was
on. Sol eyed him carefully all over,
and he seemed to look homelier and
homelier the more he examined him.
He thought of poor Paul Plcra, and felt
ashamed of himself because he had been
drinking in a friendly manner with
this monster, who for three years had
escaped being hung, and who no doubt
imagined he Bhould escape forever.
" ' I have drunk with him,' thinks
Sol, ' but it was a means to nil end ; and
as that end is a rope's end, I shouldn't
feel ashamed ; but I mustbegin to gather
up more links, however, I feel.' And
pretty soon he had a good opening.
" 'Do you chew,' says Mike Murd
man. " ' I do,' says Sol, holding out a plug ;
' and If you don't like to bite It off, here's
a knife to cut it.' And he pulled out ths
rusty jack-knife he had found In the
woods.
" ' What's this ?" saya Mike, staring
at the knife, Just as Sol expected he
would.
"'Only knife I found,' says Sol.
Phaps you've lost one. Does It be
long to you ?"
"'Tomel'says Mike, looking at It
with a shudder and coloring up. ' I
guess not. Take it back I Horrible I I
don't cut tobacco with such a knife as
that!'
" ' You needn't be afraid. It is rusty
but you don't think there's blood on
it, do you?'
" 'Blood?' says Mike, with another
shudder.
" ' Yes, blood !' repeats Sol, severely.
' As I told you, I found that knife ; and
who knows but there's blood, and human
blood on it, which makes it so rusty.
The murderer might have thrown it
away, after he had done the deed,
mightn't he? and thought nobody would
find It?"
" ' How should I know ?'
'"It is an old knife,' continued Sol,
' but an older head owned it, I reckon.
Yet the oldest heads are liable to get out
of their latitude and longitude. Now,
you are a sea-faring man, and have you
ever been at Mosscreek.'
" ' Mosscreek ? Well, I may say I
have, once.'
" ' And more, too?'
" ' No; only once.'
" ' Only once. And what did you go
there for?'
" ' I didn't go there for 1' says Mike,
with a kind of sneer, as if he was mad
to be so questioned : and Sol said he
looked confused. ' I didn't go there for
anything. I got drunk stepped aboard
the vessel by accident.'
" 'By accident? A stranger there?
Then you don't remember a young clerk,
Paul Plcra ?'
" No.'
" ' Nor the woods nor the cave ?'
"'No.'
" ' I thought not. Short memory, I
suppose!'
" ' You ask a great many questions !'
now say Mike. Are you crazy ? You
are very pale.'
" ' It 1b you who la pale,1 says Sol ;
' and I want you to answer me some
questions.'
" Not another word, till you take
more brandy,' saya Mike. 4 You need it."
" ' One word for me and two for him
self," thought Sol. His guilt makes
him faint, and he wants a gloss to stiffen
him up. I'm willing. More drink will
make him less cautious.' "
" So he agreed, and they drank two or
three times more. ' lie seemed to gulp
it down like a fish,' Sol said, ' and I
thought I should soon get him drunk.
But, Instead of that, I got floored ray
self, I lost all consciousness, and was
put to bed, and next day I was unable
to And him anywhere. Suspecting that
he had got the start of me, and had fled
out of my reach for the present, I now
thought,' says Sol, ' that the best thing
I could do was to go back to Mosscreek
for a day, and have a talk with Paul's
old employer and thetown authorities ?'
Solomon Foxpaw did go back and
told them all that he had discovered and
heard ; and what do you think? They
actually laughed In hla face, and said
that all these links which he had taken
bo much pains to get together, amounted
to nothing."
" That was all they knew !" exclaimed
Daniel Wonder's indignant hearers.
"But how did Solomon Foxpaw get
hold of the slippery murderer at last ?"
"He didn't get hold of him," said
Daniel Wonder.
"No?"
"No. What the authorities said dis
couraged him, and he then resolved that
he would not pursue the search any
farther."
"But who did get the murderer?"
"Nobody."
" Then who found the body of Paul
Plcra?"
" Everybody. For, on the very day
when Foxpaw gave up the search, Paul
Plcra came bnck to Mosscreek, safe fcnd
sound."
" What ! Then he wasn't murdered at
all!"
"Why, no! I told you in the first
place that It was a report. But it seems
he had got a letter in the' city, calling
him In a hurry, as his mother was dying,
along way off. He went home, and
she died, and he Inherited a rich proper
ty ; and not caring a fig for the people
of Mosscreek, he never wrote to tnem."
"Not murdered, after all!" erled the
disappointed hearers. " Where was the
singularity you spoke about, then ?"
" In the perseverance of Solomon
Foxpaw."
" Pshaw ! O, pshaw ! What did you
work us up ao for?"
" That is what Solomen Foxpaw said
to those who had excited him bo; but
they said to him, as I say to you, that
it was so reported, and that he had ex
pected to work a miracle, without any
reason namely ,to find, from no evidence
at all, the body of a man who was not
dead. And he waa aa dissatisfied ag you
are that the man turned up alive. But
still, aa I said before, murder will out,
and no doubt if that Mike Murdman
had murdered, and Paul Plcra bad been
the one he killed, Solomon Foxpaw
would have had htm, some time, sure 1"
Anxious to Wed.
THE afternoon services had ended,
and the congregation were arrang
ing themselves for the benediction, when
the parson descended from the pulpit to
to the desk below, and said, In a calm,
clear voice :
" Those wishing to be united in the
holy bonds of matrimony will now
please come forward."
A deep stillness instantly fell over the
congregation, broken only by the
rustling of the silk, as some pretty girl
or excited matron changed her position
to catch the first view of the couple to
be married. No one, however, arose, or
seemed in the least inclined to rise.
Whereupon the worthy clergyman,
deeming the first notice unheard or mis
understood, related :
" Let those wishing to be united In the
holy bonda of matrimony now come
forward." ,
Still no one stirred. . The silence be
came almost intense, and a painful sense '
of awkwardness among those present
waa felt, when a young man, who oc
cupied a vacant seat in the broad aisle
during the service, slowly arose and de
liberately walked to the foot of the altar.
He was good looking and well dressed,
but no female accompanied him. When
he arrived within a respectful distance
of the clergyman he paused, and with a
reverent bow stepped to one side of the
aisle, but neither Bald anything, nor
seemed at all disconcerted at the Idea of
being married alone.
The clergyman looked around for the
bride, who, he supposed, waa yet to ar
rive, and at length remarked to the
young man, in an undertone:
" The young lady, sir, is dilatory."
"Yes, sir."
"Had you better not defer the cer
emony ?"
"I think not."
" Do you suppose ishe will be here
soon?"
" I, sir ?" said the young man ; " how
should I know of the lady's move
ments?" A few moments were allowed to elapse
in this unpleasant state of expectancy,
when the clergyman renewed hla inter
rogatories. Did the lady promise to attend at the
present hour, sir r"'
"What lady?"
" Why, the lady, to be sure, that you
are waiting here for."
" I did not hear her say anything about
It," was the unsatisfactory response."-
" Then, sir, may I ask you why you
are here, nnd for what purpose you thus
trifle in the sanctuary of the Most
High V" said the somewhat enraged
clerical.
" I came, blr, simply because you in
vited all those wishing to be united in
the holy bonda of matrimony to step
forward, uud I happened to entertain
such a wish. I am very sorry to have
misunderstood you, sir, and I wish you .
a very roou any.
The benediction was uttered iru
solemnity of tone verv little Ir
cordance with the twitching of ih S
nerves, and wuen, alter the cay
closed, the story got amongst y
gregatlon, more than one py
that the young man who t
be united Id the holy hf
mony had been oblige
out a wire.
A.