A Gipsy Gang's Plot

In 1824 Thomas Hayman kept a draper’s shop at Lutterworth, in Lincolnshire, England. It stood on the outskirts of the town, and was part of an old-fashioned dwelling which had formerly belonged to a female member of the Curzon family, but had fallen into decay and been sold. Hayman’s father bought it when it was a little better than a ruin, repaired several of the rooms, and converted it into a comfortable dwelling. Here in a large room on the lower floor he started in he drapery and haber-dashery line, and was also engaged in a little crooked business with the Lincolnshire smugglers. He made money and when he died left a good estate to his son Thomas. To the left of the dwelling a ruined wing of the of the old mansion had been converted into a stable, the original wall being still used for the purpose. Between the inhabited part of the building and the stable was a space of 50 yards occupied by trees and a side roadway. 

Thomas Hayman was sent, when very young, to the Friends’ school near Pontefret, and when he grew up became a Quaker. He was unmarried and reputed wealthy. He had latterly gone into the banking business, and many well-to-do people in the neighborhood deposited with him. 

In the year named there called upon the draper and banker a man about 30. He was very dark, clean-shaved and well-dressed.  

“Your father,” he said to Mr. Hayman, “had a brother Charles, who went to the West Indies 50 years ago. Is that not so?” 

“Yes, it is,” was the reply. “I can remember him well, for I was about ten years old at that time.” 

“Is he still alive?” asked the stranger. 

“I believe that he is dead,” the Quaker answered; “my father died 23 years ago, and for fifteen years before his death we heard nothing of my uncle.” 

“Do you recognize this writing?” the stranger asked, as he exhibited a faded… Read More