The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1877-01-30

MOlNhOE OOUNl
jewels and silverware in my house, which
they are welcome to il they will come
and take it. No dogs, servants or la
borers about the house. The house is
mile from any other residence, and the
only occupant is an old man, not in very
good health, by the name of
-'i '''' JOHN CALcorr
"It's some old lunatic," says I. "who
hasn't got money enough TO get credit"
"No," says Mattison; ''they say up
there he's worth half . million. He lives
in . fiae house all by himself abont two
miles from the depot" '
1t was a three.days' talk in the Office
and then We forgot It. But the adver-
tisement was kept in the paper, and one
day it seems Tony Frost down at Dobb's
Ferry. struckit That was the way II
got to the gsng They pooh. .poohed h
as "chaff," but Frost It seems went up 10
Glen Spring, poket about, sifted the
thing, recoEnoitered the premises and
came down to the city with big yarn
for his pals. His report was that the
old 'sluny'' had got q sign on his fence
informing everybody that passed, that
here was the unprotected house full of
valuables that the river gang didn't dare
10 walk into. He was sure, too, that
there wasn't any CANNON about the stuff,
for he'd found out that old Calcott was
immensely rich and kept nearly all his
wealth in his house. s.' ''...-.i '..' p
Now, I don't suppose its reasonable
that regular cracksman should bite at
any such bait as this: but Tony Frost
kept poking away at it, aud one day
some one in the gaEg said It was too
much to have the profession insulted in
that way, unless they were all afraid Of
the old duffsr. After that Tony Frost
went to the house, gotup as tramp, and
tried the back door. The moment he
kBocked it flew open, and an old mans
voice hailed him over the stairs, "Hallo
there, what d'you want ?" f'@ ~
"Summat to eat, ii yer please" says
Tony, shufiing, in and taking good
look round. 'a7's '-'''u F' -
AGO do IN and try the Kitchen shouts
the old man, "and don't stand gaping
round that way. There's bread down
stairs. If you want to examine the house
come up when your belly full, and I'll
show It to you" .''' ''i' 7a i.'''t + '''''
With that Tony goes down the way
he came and walks into the kitchen,
where little girl was washing Dishes
She gave him some bread aud meat and
talked quite freely. To his astonishmen.
she told him the old man had lots OF
money in the house,. she'd seen it; she
also told him that she lived in the village
and went home every night He must
have made q favorable report, because it
wasn't long after that when Bill Ketch.
um, who was The ringleader OF the river
gang. thought he'd take look at the
house; 50 up be goes, playing the part
Of peddler, and drops the neatest little
pack in front Of the place when be, sees
the sign; there it was, sure enough,
nicely lettered in red on white ground
and inviting all burglars, house breakers
sneak thieves and assassins to come in
and take what they could get The
house stood q good ways back from the
road. and as Bill went up the wide path
he had good chance to take in the
dwelling 1t was large brick house
with high stone foundation and an iron
stoop; there wasn't shutter, q pair oil
blinds, on the place and if anybody had
tried to set it afire he would have given
up the job as q bad one, -, =, - 49,,
Ketchum got in through the kitchen
he had lot Of things in his pack thai
tickled the fancy Of the girl, and he le,
her amuse herself with them while se
ate sandwich, she had given him, and
asked her lot Of sly questions. But
be couldn't get much out Of her, simply
because she didn't know anything, so be
made up his mind to interview the old
man and pokes about till he got up stairs
and was hailed over the balusters, w ell
now then, what do you want, hey r =
A"Nish gloves, necktise, soaps Sheep
says Ketchutn, pushing up. -. = 6 -. 80.
t"Didn't you, read the warning to ped
dlers on. the fence, aint you afraid OF the
dogs 2" shouted the old man. A','D' = s :. = !.
%"'Warnin''' says Bill giving hlmsel
away. SA' t'As"i % 'l'' !, = !'l',3 =, 9
"All right" eings out the old mar
quicker than lightning; "you're no ped
dler; you want to see my property
come up. /. I'll show it to you. ''l % ',A
| Well, this stumped Bill . good deal
but he plncked up aud followed Calcot
into an upper room, keeping one ey,
ndghim and taking in syerythingsbu
making q great show Of trade.
q "This room," says Calcott, "is wher
sleep. There isn't any lock on tn
door, and this room is where / keep m,
money. Here, I'll show you what's Il
Iit-stand still-because when ] pull th
door open it starts o telegraph. machine
and three of the best men in the count,
start from the yillage-they're officers.
With that be jerked the door open. sq
Bill was a little. nervous and b
couldn't help showing it, sai. g,.. liso
ua"If any Of your gang should com
here at night I'll put you up tol.a tricl
cut the wires first, they run across th
road below the big gate. Don't be mel
yous.{ Deyou see that Pits gold.-
Feel the weight Of it, These are dia
monds. Car, you tell q real spark whe
, you see it1 i should say they wer
, worth, in the market, between $4,000
: and $4,000" 7Hs4n.o1se 81 4svaal
t f. The old man kept up this kind OF pa
ter, standing there in his old calic
wrapper. Bill Ketchum watching his
with one eye and. wondering whether b
was insane, or just the smartest man he
ever met He had an idea that 1t ws
> just the easiest thing to knock him owe
t as he stood there and walk of with tn
0 plunder But that hint about the tell
graph stopped him. Then the old ms
e showed him ont, and when he got int
the hall be says: "You're the FIRST pei