Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-08-07
COVll.I.E'S TROUBLES.
How they Descended Upo" Ills Hca
with Thic k sscSS.
From the DaIi(Il,rv News

From the Dansury News.
There arc men who dispute what
they do not understand. Mr.. Covillc
is such n man. When he heard q car
penter say there were so many shingles
on the roof of his house because the
roof contained 50 many square feet,
Covillc doubted the figures, and when
the carpenter went away he determined
to test the matter by going on the roof
there. He squeezed through tho scut-
tle-Coville weighs 23O-and then sat
down on the roof and worked his way
carefully and deliberately toward the
gutter.
When he got part way down, he
heard sound between him and the
shingles, and became aware that there
was an interference some way in his
further locomotion. He tried to turn
over and crawl back, but the obstruc-
ton held him. Then he tried to move
along little, in hopes that the trouble
would prove but temporary, but an in
creased sound convinced him tina
either nail or silver had holdof his
cloth, and that it he would save any OF
~ AO A4uoU u0C CuuUlOus LILO lOlh6 WCI6
in the house, but he could not make
them bear, and besides, he didn't want
to attract the attention of the neigh
bors. So he sat there until after dark
and thought.
1t would have been IN excellent op-
portunity to have counted the shingles,
but he neglected to use it. His mind
appeared to run in other channels. He
sat there an hour after dark, seeing no
one he could notify of his position.
Then he saw two boys approach the
gate from the house, and, reaching
there, stop. 1t was light enough for
him to see that one of the two was his
son, and, although he objected TO hav-
ing the other boy know of his misfor-
tune, he had grown tired of holding on
the roof, and concluded he could bride
the strange boy into silence.
With this arrangement mapped out,
he took out his knife and threw it so
that it would strike near the boys and
attract their attention. It struck
ncaror than he anticipated. In fact it
struck so close as to hit the strange
boy on the head andI nearly brain him.
As soon as he recovered his equili-
brium he turned on COlville's boy,
who, he was confident, had attempted
to kill him, and introduced some aston
ishment and bruises in his face. Then
he threw him down and kicked him in
the side and banged him in the head,
and threw him over into the gutter and
pounded his legs, and hauled him back
to the walk aud pounded his head
against the gate.
And all the while the elder Coville
sat on the roof and cried, g Police |! :"
bat couldn't get away. And then Mrs.
COville flashed out with broom, and
contributed few novel features to the
affair ut the gate, and OF of the board
ers dashed out with double. barrelled
gun, and hearing the cries from the
roof, looked up there, and espying o
figure which was undoubtedly bur-
glar, drove q handful of shot into its
legs.
With howl of agony, Coville made
a plunge to dodge the missiles, freed
himself from the nail, lost his hold to
the roof, and went sailing down the
shingles with awful velocity, both legs
spread ont, his hair on end, and his
bands making desperate but fruitless
efforts to save himself. He tried to
swear, but was so frightened that he
lost his power of speech, and when he
passed over the edge of the roof, with
twenty feet of tin gutter hitched to
him, the boarder gave him the contents
of the other barrel, and then dove into
the house to load up again. The un-
fortunate Covil]e struck into cherry
tree, and thence bounde d to the ground,
where he was recognized, pickle up by
the assembled neighbors, and carried
into the house.
A new doctor is making good day
wages picking the shot out of his
legs. The boarder has gone into the
country to spend the summer, and the
Junior Coville, having sequestered q
piece of brick in his handkerchief, is
laying low for the other boy. He says
that before the calm of another Sab
bath rests on New England, there will
be another boy in Danbury who can't
wear o cap.