in front of the store, and I went in to see what the chances
were for collecting.

I was informed by the wife that her husband was absent from the store. I
told her my name, and called her attention to the fact that she had in
her show-case a lot of jewelry my agent had sold her husband on credit.

She said that didn't make any difference; she had bought him out, and
those goods were hers.

I then said:

"Madam, I am going to have you arrested."

"What for?"

"For grand larceny."

Her clerk laughed me in the face; but she changed color, and calling me
into the back room, said:

"Where did you ever know me before? Were you ever in Pittsburg?"

"Where did I know you? Were I ever in Pittsburg? Well, you'll find out
where I knew you, and whether I was ever in Pittsburg, before you get
through with me. I'll have you locked up inside of ten minutes if you
don't settle with me," saying which I started out.

She called me back, and in much agitation said:

"Now see here; there is not a soul in this town knows that I have ever
been married before, and if I _have_ committed larceny by not getting a
divorce from my first husband, it will do you no good to have me
arrested, and will only make me lots of trouble."

I saw that I had her cornered, and immediately took advantage of it, and
said:

"Madam, just think of it! a woman with two husbands! Don't you know that
larceny is one of the worst offenses a person can be guilty of, in this
state? I am surprised that a woman of your intelligence should take the
desperate chance of committing larceny, and grand larceny at that."

She asked what the difference was between larceny and grand larceny, in
a case. I replied:

"Grand larceny is a case where a woman leaves her first husband in one
state and marries her second in another without a divorce; and twenty
years in the penitentiary is a very common sentence for grand larceny in
Michigan."

By this time she was trembling with fear, and said she would pay me in
full if I would agree never to mention her name in connection with that
larceny affair.

I assured her that all I wanted was my pay, and I would never molest her
again.

She then returned to the store and paid me the cash. I had just given
her a receipt in full when her husband made his appearance and asked
what she was doing.

She replied that I was Johnston, the proprietor of the wholesale jewelry
house that he had been dealing with.

He turned to me a