Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-12-10
A Daring Theft.

nearest 10 the gutter looked over the cor
/ nice into the street below, and caugh
, the eye of the fellow who was calling 81
. loud
~ say, you roofer."
Hailoo."
Throw your hammer and chisel dowr
here for few minutes, will ye?"
What fors"
SCOT to fix this plaguey lightning-rod.
}, Use your own tools, then"
Left 'em at the shop"
81 can't help that"
"Sayl"
"Well:n
Just help me with your hammer for q
few minutes
Cant spare it,
nice and looked over TO see who was
making such noise. He was instantly
hailed by the man below.
"Say, can't you lend US hammer and
chisel for few minutes?"
"What for?"
SCOT to fix this lightning rod"
well, bring em back SAFE"
"All right"
=" Will you come up and get 'em?"
"No. Drop them down"
There was a plat of ground partly COW
cred with grass under the windows, and
30 the accommodating roofer dropped
over the spare hammer and chisel, which
were duly picked up by the man below.
| Finally, after much hallooing, having
thus got the tools, he stripped off his
coat and went to work on the copper
! lightning rods which ran down both sides
| of the building.
He seemed to be very good natured
fellow, and whistled about his work in q
careless and pleasant way Indeed, the
lightning-rod man must have been quite
a musician, for he whistled very loud
and he wbistled very well, varying his
notes by introducing snatches from all of
the popular operas, marches and waltzes
of the day while he worked his way up
ward from window to window.
| At last, after more than an hours
labor, he had got one of the long rods
nearly off, all but couple of fastenings,
when, seeing policeman standing below,
he called out:
"Say, policeman"
"What do you want?"
"Just stop the people from coming too
near the building for few minutes
until let this rod down. It's nearly
ready to fall and might hurt somebody"
Every WELL" said the policeman, tax
ing his stand and ordering the passers-by
to go on the other side of the street.
Finally the lightning rod man got a
rope, borrowed from some quarter of the
| building, and making il fast to the cop
per rod lowered 1t away to the ground,
| apparently well satisfied at the compile
tion of the job.
"All right, policeman. If you are
coming this way by and by shall soon
have the other ready to lower"
"Very WE'LL" said the officer, going
| off on his beat.
The lightning-rod man stopped to dis
joint the long rod, and piled it together
nicely before he commenced work upon
| the other. This was a much more diff
cult one to handle than the first, owing
| to the portion of the building upon
| which it was secured, but patience and
perseverance accomplish all things, and
| in less than two hours the musical fellow
had got the second one ready to lower.
Before he cut away the last fastenings
he looked round for the policeman to
keep people from getting hurt if the rod
should fall or go down by the run, but as
no officer was In sight he hallooed vigor-
ously TO a mason at work on a portion OF
the building, and engaged him to keep
all clear below.
Can't stop long"
"Only for minute" shouted the
| lightning-rod man.
"Why don't you let it downg"
"Going to. Look outv
And sure enough the second rod came
down without the rope attachment ana
came within an ace Of smashing in the.
skull of the accommodating bricklayer,
who barely jumped one side ia time to
| save his life!
"a miss is as good as mile,' said the
mason, half joking and half seriously,
"but that is as near to being killed as l
wish to be-"
81 told you to look out, said the light
ning-rod man, who had now descended
to the ground.
Eyes, | heard your said the other
dryly, as he marched off to his work
again.
The links in the long rod were care
| fully disjointed like the first and piled
together close to the building; then the
man remembered that he had borrowed
the roofers' tools and so went away up
to the tip of the building to return
them.
"Thank We, old fellow, for your ham
mer and chisel," he said, as he returned
i them.
"Oh, you're welcome" was the answer,
The lightning-rod man disappeared for
little while but soon returned, driving
up to the Library with wagon. He
quietly proceeded TO load his copper
rods, and as they were heavy he took off
his coat and was occupied some time in
getting them all carefully into the We
hicle.
In his work altogether he was en-
ployed for some hours upon the building.
No one for moment suspected but that
he was acting under orders of the proper
authorities, but the truth was he was a
thief! After coolly loading his wagon
he resumed his coat cracked a joke or
two with the mason who had so nearly
lost his life, and quietly drove away.
The npshot OF the whole matter Is that
the city of Boston will have to pay for
new lightning rods for the Public Libra
lryl ~. Y. Weekly.
--Messrs Lawes and Gilbert, of Roth
amstead. England, have been making
some experiments upon the value of In
l;an ,,arr 90 fnnd tnr n;p2 The corn