The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-02-01

I by the name of Welter and Jack Frost
put up the job to crack the old mans
place X. tchum and Frost, 1 think,
went into the business from n kind of
pride. They considered they had been
challenged and it was point of honor
to take the old man at his word.
They got up there one dark night in
May and laid by till long after midnight
Then they got over the fence and sneaked
up to the house. They were all heavily
armed and, forgot to say, were delayed
some time looking for the telegraph wire,
which they couldn't find, of course
there not being any. Fancy their sur
prise when. after crawling round the
/ place for n. spot to break in. they found
/ that the front door was unlocked and the
hallStlark. 1t had been agreed that old
Calcott should be shot at sight if he in
terfered.
There was a good deal of anxiety in
/ the headquarters of the gang that night,
! for this job had been talked about for IL
good while, and Ketchum had staked his
reputation or it. Dutch Morley was to
be at point in the road about two miles
north of the house with fast team to
carry off the "swag," and arrangements
/ had been made at Dobbs Ferry to divvy
and cut.
Dutch Morley waited till day begun to
break, and then only two OF his men
I turned mp. They were covered with
blood, and one of them had his arm
broken. Welter had been left behind
! disabled. They had not one ounce of
/ plunder. The story they told was Gu
rious one. The whole gang got round
! them when they reached their dive, and
! put the questions to them fast and
thick.
! "But you fixed the old fellows flint,
anyhow 2" said somebody.
I'VE didn't see him at al. answered
Ketchum, dolefully "No, we were III
the dark. Why, lamp wouldn't burn
any more'n II stone. We liked to sntlo-
cate"
"Oh, that's thin," says another;
why didn't you so out into the air 2"
because We couldn't get out; we
were fastened i'll like rats. Every will
der and door closed up with steel
/ shutter on the inside as tight as a rich
mans pocket. There was only one way
out--down a back staircase outside
about twelve inches wide; only one of
us could go at time, and when we
reached the bottom something fell on us
! in turn"
/ That was Kctchum's account of it.
Frost was the only plucky one OF the
lot He didn't believe III witchcraft
and be vowed lie would get square on
old Calcott.
With that he sets out to lind Calico
Charley, who WAS the best man i'll tie
business where there We're iron shutters
concerned.
The very next day but one after this
attempt on Calcott's honse, the Glel
. Spring Hcrnid had another notice like
this:
"The attempt to rob my house on
Thursday night, which failed So com
pletely, should not frighten other thieves
from making the trial. For the next
thirty days there will be more gold and
silver on the premises than ever before.
"JoHN CALcoTT."
Frost got hold OF Calico Charley and
explained the whole thing to him. None
of the gang knew Charley's right name,
and don't think he was told the name
of the man they were to rob. Frost cx-
planned to him that it was the steel shut
ters that "knOcked them," and he
thought now they knew the trick one of
them could wedge the iron and keep the
exit open while the other secured the
property. At all events, the two men
cooked up n new job and made sure that
, they would haul the whole pile, us we
say. Charley, who was a careful worker,
went at the thing Systematically, got his
tools ready, sent Frost off to reconnoi-
ter, and talked very little. They were
about two weeks getting ready. In
spite Of all their pains to keep it dark,
the gang got wind of the affair, and of
course they We're all very anxious to see
how it would come out.
Charley and his pal went mp to little
station about three miles north of Glen
Spring, and started down at night on
foot. 1t was SO dark when they got to
the house that they could not see the
sign. There wasn't the glimmer of
light about the place. They We're to go
softly and try the front door. If it
opened, tlTey were to step inside quick
ly One of them was to stay at tho
door to keep the egress open; the other
was to go up stairs and secure the valu-
ables. They had two jimmies, coald
chisel and lot of other traps Of Char
leys, that you can see down there at the
central Office i'll glass case.
They found the front door unfastened
as before. Charley pushed it open, and
they both stepped quickly and stealthily
into the hallway. 'Wait q moment"
he whispered to his companion, and
striking Il match; "I want TO see how
this thing works. With that he struck
light and took good look at the door
way. 81 see the trick, says he; 80 give
mo that screw wrench and ha nuiol - L.,
less than two minutes he had the groove
in which the steel shutter moved SO
pinched that no earthly power could
have made the thing work. "Now go
on" says he, and with that Frost crawls
up the stairway. He hadn't any more
than got to the top when the iron shut
ter begun to appear-comingup through
the floor, and to Charley's astonishment
it came down from above also. He saw
i'll minute that he was beaten. The
two halves of the shutter would come to
the pinch in the iron and leave not six
inches space--through which no human
being could escape. So he jams the
jimmy upright into the groove to keep
the irons apart, and calls out to Frost in
a hoarse whisper to come back. Jack
was in the upper hall, and, getting
scared, makes a bold rush down the
stairs, catches his foot in something and
lands all in heap at the bottom, knock
ing Charley's light into smithereens and
making a most internal noise. Calcott
was smart enough, though, to hold his
Jimmy steady SO as to keep the shutters
apart, and after Frost had picked him
self up and they had both listened, with
nxt hearing ANYTHING one or 'an saya