AFTER 44 YEARS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 306, 29 November 1927, Page 9

AFTER 44 YEARS.

STOLEN WATCH RESTORED

SYDNEY, Nov. 17. A remarkable coincidence, worthy of a place in tho most exaggerated fiction, was associated with tho restoration of a watch stolen, from its owner 44 years previously. The owner of the watch was Mr T. W. Butcher, a resident of Emerald, a Victorian township. After a period of residence at Seymour, another Victorian town, Mr Butcher was presented by residents of the district in 1883 with the watch as a token of their regard. The watch was appropriately inscribed, and Mr Butcher valued it greatly. Later in that. year he went to Brisbane, and while attending to some business on a wharf, he took off his coat and waistcoat and left them in an office. When he retained the watch, which had been in one of the pockets, had gone. Mr Butcher was perturbed at his loss, and extensive inquiries were made, but wtiliout result. After a lapse of several years, Mr Butclior resigned himself to wliat seemed the certainty of never seeing his watch again. He returned to Victoria some time ago, and took up residence at Emerald. A man entered a jeweller’s shop in Bourke Street, Melbourne, last Saturday morning, and producing a gold watch, the back of which had been worn thin with age, asked that certain repairs should be made to it. When the man had gone, the jeweller examined the watch carefully, and to his surprise found it engraved with tho name of Mr Butcher, who, by a strange coincidence, was an old friend of his. He immediately communicated with Mr Butcher, who, on examining the watch, recognised it as one presented to him at Seymour 44 years before. The police wero informed, and a detective was detailed to make inquiries. He visited _ the man who had left tho watch with the jeweller, and found him to be. a retired civil servant of impeccable character. Tho man said that the watch was a legacy from a dead brother, who, he understood, had purchased it for £5 some years before liis death at an auction sale in Melbourne. He said that he was delighted to be able to restore tire watch to its original and rightful owner.