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Show RESTITUTION AT LAST, A Thief Restores a Stolen Fortune. & CEREMONY DELAYED FOR MANY YEARS. Hardship of a family That had Beit Eobbed. Tho truth of the old saying that fortune fort-une favors those who wait has again been illustrated in the case of Lai Wick-land, Wick-land, au old man 03 years of age, and an employe of the Illinois Central railroad at ilcConiiell, some fifty miles north of Milan, Tenn. The story reads like a romance. There resided iu the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, seventeen years ago a rich and prosperous jeweler, Mr. Lal-laud Lal-laud Wickham, a man of family, which consisted of himself, his wife, three sons and three daughters. The uamo of the eldest,son was John, and ho was engaged to a young lady of hia native city by the name of Craig, one of the foremost of the beautiful Scotch maidens of Aberdeen. Their marriage was only deferred on account of some business transactions. Oue day Wickland burst into his wife's room, greatly agitated, and exclaimed: "Mary, we are ruined utterly ruined! i The shop has been broken into and at , least 12,000 worth of plate and jewelry carried off. I have been with the detectives de-tectives through all the holes in tho city, but we found no trace of the thief or of tho goods. The detectives think the goods will never bo discovered, and wo are ruined if it is so." When this robbery rob-bery occurred John Wickland was iu London, and he read the news in a Lon-i Lon-i don newspaper. He hurried homo and found the family in the greatest distress. SEEKING A NEW FORTUNE. Formany days the Wicklands indulged themselves in tho hope that some clew would be found to the robbers and their precious wealth be restored to them. These hopes were never realized. The robbery, as the police said, had been : cleverly and cleanly done. No trace of the perpetrators or any part of the prop- j erty was ever discovered. I In the meantime Wickland had paid : all hia outstanding debts, and found 1 himself a pauper without a sixpence. He might have urged the robbery as a plea for bankruptcy, but he was too conscientious conscien-tious ever to think of such a course, so he paid his debts to the last penny. The , utter ruin which had. overtaken the j Wicklands postponed the proposed union between John and Miss Craig, and Mr. . Wickland struggled on for a few years, his son John assisting him all tho while, hut they could not even make a living. It seemed that fate was again-st him. About this time thousands of people were leaving tho jld countries of Europe and heading for America. Mr. Wick- , land caught the emigration fever and longed to come to this country. He sole all his personal effects, and Becuring steorago passage for his family landed in New York. He bad some money and it went fast. He began to realize that ha must find something to do. j He left New York and went to St. , Louis. When they arrived in that city, some fifteen years ago, they had very little left. The boys found employment as hands on the railroad. In 1883 they came to Cairo, His., and the boys stayed there, while the old gentleman secured a position further south, at McConnell, as track walker and keeper of the tanks in that vicinity. HAPPINESS AT LAST. For years they have battled with difficulties. diffi-culties. During all this time John and Miss Craig kept up correspondence until. -TiT' November, 1890, Miss Craig was agreeably surprised at the sudden and unexpected appearance in his native city of John Wickland, who bore the joyful intelligence t hat his family, their fortuna restored, would soon be in their old home. How was it? This happy termination came out in this wise: A man named Johnson located himself at McConnell as a merchant, running a plantation and supply store. His wealth in ready money waa the talk of the town. He sold goods rapidly and made money hand over fist. He took great interest in the Wicklands and seemed to evince especial interest in tho facts relating to their robbery and utter : ruin. It finally came out that Johnson had been a prison bird and tho cold shoulder was turned to him by Lucy Wickland, to whom he was paying attention. at-tention. This seemed to nettle him, and he sent for the old gentleman to come to him. Their interview lasted two hours. At length Johnson confessed that it was he who had robbed Wickland of his wealth, and coming to this country had trebled his possessions. He gave the old man bis check for $T)0,000. So soon as this happened the Wicklands decided to return re-turn to their native land. When Johnson John-son heard of their determination he insisted in-sisted on paying their passage back to Scotland. The strangest feature of the affair was that Johnson immediately sold out all hia belongings and went back to Scotland Scot-land a month after tbo family of Wick-: land had returned, and a letter from him to a friend announcing his marriage to Miss Lucy Wickland, eldest daughter of the man whom he had robbed, has been received. St. Louis Globe-Democrat |
