Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1890 — STOLE HIS OWN HOG. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STOLE HIS OWN HOG.

OHN PHELPS lived at Bristol’s Landing, on the Wabash River, in Lawrence County, 111., He kept the ferry jover the river. He ya Iso kept other ■things with which he Beanie in contact. nHorses, hogs, and F other animate perI sonal property often I disappeared i n the [ neighborhood of BrisItol’s Landing, and ' were never recovered by their owners. Oftentimes lost hogs were traced to John and then lost in the

obscurity of his personality. As the years rolled by and hogs disappeared, John’s neighbors began to suspect him of theft. He was several times indicted, but was never convicted. Abe Clymers owned a pig. One spring day it disappeared. The reputation of the ferryman led Abe to look in John's hog lot. There he discovered, as he supposed, the lost porker. He had issued a writ of replevin for the creature, but John resisted in the courts, proved the animal to be his own, and retained possession. Abe took the case to the Appellate Court. Then he had the Grand Jury indict John for larceny. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to one year in the penitentiary. One day in the fall John walked into Judge Wilson’s office, in Olney, and asked the Judge to loan him an old overcoat for a few days. “Where are you going, John?” asked the Judge. “Joliet.” Judge Wilson knew John, and at the mention of Joliet his supicions were aroused. “Where’s Sheriff Johnson?” inquired the Judge. “He’s close around somewhere,” said John. “Got yon at last?” “Yes, they got me, but what do you think of it, Judgfe ? I bin livin’ here all my life, an’ they’ve accused me of stealin’ everything that’s loose, an’ sometimes, I reckon, they wasn’t far wrong, an’ I’ve bin tried an’ tried, an’ turned loose, mebby when I hadn’t ought to be, but now, I'm blasted if they ain’t sent me to the penitentiary for a year fer stealin’ my own hog. What do you think of that ?”