Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-12-19

bout twenty PAGES from the open
&c liar door. He told me / had bet
ter go to the front gate"
WAITING FOR THE BURGLARS.
II took my sta ION, continued
Mr.. Van Brun., "and waited half
AN hour. The night was dark--so
dark that / could not see the end
of the barrel of my gun--and a
cold drizzling rain was falling. AT
length heard my lather say in a
loud voice, Look ort! They're
coming In about three minutes
from this time | heard two pistol
shots coming close together, from
the back of the house. These were
followed by three louder shots,
which | knew came from shot
guns. Then NY father cried out.
There they come, shoot emf Her
man Frank and myself were sta
toned at the front gate. As we
heard this order we closed in to-
gether and ran toward the south
ern side of the house,
There il space OF
twenty-five feet between the high
white fence on the southern side
and The Judges house, and we
knew the men would have to come
that way. Besides, we did no.
want to meet them in front OF the
house, where they would have had
much larger space to run in.
"We could hear the men rnsh-
ing toward us at fullspeed | fired
at the man nearest the house, and
the Dutchman and myself, almost
at the same instant. discharged
our pieces at the other man, who
stagger ed toward the fence
and fell against it. As
/ fred my first barrel i call ed
out to the Dutchman. Give tito
himn and my second shot was
almost simultaneous with his first.
The man / first fired at was AFTER
ward found to be mosher. The
other was Douglas. No sooner
had the last shot. from our guns
been fired than / heard the report
of a pistol within four feet of me
and he whizzing of ii bullet near
my head"
AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
II turned in the direction from
which the shot came. and was
greeted by another. This time l
felt the powder in my face. could
see the form of man within an
arms length OF me, and could
plainly distinguish the glistening
barrel Of his pistol. AS he raised
his pistol the third time | dubbed
my gun and struck his right arm
with the stock. The blow must
have been strong one, for the
gun snapped like pipe stem. His
arm fell powerle-s at his side but
to avoid dropping his pistol he
clutched his right with his lett
hand, and / could see that he was
trying to bring his weapon into
range for a fourth shot. But the
useless arm made his motions slow
and gave me time to draw my re-
volver which was in the right hand
pocket of my trousers. But as his.
chances of escape became smaller
hisdesperation and anger Increased
and he uttered horrid impreca-
ton as the gun struck his arm.
"When Idrew my revolver from
my pocket | was close enough to
slap the burglars face, but still 1t
was 50 dark that his form was in
distinct. | fred while he was still
trying to raise his pistol hand, bat
the shot did not seem to take eff
feet. BY this time we were in
front of the house, having moved
somewhat during the firing, and
he had "a clear run. He turned from
me and started 10 raln toward the
north. | followed him, firing the
second and third shots as fast as
could cock the pistol, AT the third
shot he fell, saying, as he touched
the ground, in a weak voice,
give up William Scott, the hired
man, was near the spot where
Mosher dropped, and just as the
burglar fell / heard Scott say, "Ill
give him onel' 1t was lucky for
me that my last shot took effect.
Had ii not, would have stood q
chance of catching q load of shot
from SCOTS gun. After Mosher
fell he made but one convulsive
move of his legs, then all was over.
The whole occurrence, as far as
the firing was concerned. did not
take a minute"
THE FATHERS ACCOUNT.
Mr.. j. Holmes Van Brunt, the
father OF Albert, after detailing
the story of the alarm, said s.
William Scott and myself took
UP our stand near tree, about tif-
teen PAGES from the open cellar
door. When / went up TO the
back of the house and looked
through the blinds, 1 saw the light