The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1877-02-03

uISE0t Of il WIS TINT kCtR!Inn, fellow
by tIu. rmnc Of Weller md .Tack Frost
put up the. job to crack tho old mans
place. Ketcllum md Frost, I think,
went into the business from II kind OF
pride. They considered they hal been
challenged and it was point Of honor
to take the old man at llis word.
They got mp there one dark.night in
May and laid by till long after midnight
Then they got over the fence an1sneakcl
mp to the house. They were all heavily
armrtl, and, I forgot to say, were delayed
some timo looking for the telegraph wire,
which they couldn't find, Of course,
! there not being my. Fancy their sir
prise when, after crawling round the
place for spot to break in, they found
That the front door was unlocked anil the
| hall dark. It had been agreed that old
Calcott should bc shot Mt sight il he i'll !
terfcrcl.
There was n goOtl deal Of anxiety in
the headquarters Of the gang that night,
for this job Ind heen talked about for
good while, and Ketchum had staked his
reputation on it. Dutch Morley was to
be Mt Il point in the road about two miles
north OF the. house with filst team to
carry of the "Swag," and arrangements
Ind been mule at DObbs Ferry to divvy
and cut.
Dutch Morley waited till day begun to
break; and then only two of his men
turned up. They were covered with
blood, and Que Of them liad Ills arm
| broken. Weller had been left behind
disabled. They latl not one ounce Of
pl,lnder. 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 last and
thick.
"But YOU tixetl the old fellows flint,
anyllow?'. said somebody. .,
ave didn't sec him ut nil, " answered
Kctchum, ,loleflllly. "No, We were III
the dark. Why, lnmp wouldn't burn
my mOre'n II stone. We liked to SuiIo.
cate"
"Oh, that's thin," says another;
"wly didn't you go out into the air?"
"Bccausc we couldn't get out; We
were fastened in like rats. Every win
der antl door closed up with steel
shutter on the inside rs tight MS Il rich
mans pocket. There was only one way
out-down buck staircase outside,
about twelve inches wide; only one OF
lis could 60 Mt a time, unl when We
reached the bottom something fell on liz
in turn"
Tint WIS ketcliun's account Of it.
Frost was the only plucky one Of the
lot. He didn't believe iii witchcrAft,
md he vowed he would got square OH
/ old Calcott.
/ With that lie sets out to tind Calico
/ Charley, who was the best man iii the
business where there were iron shutters
concerned. ==s5
The very next day but one after this
attempt on Calcott's house, the GleL
Spring IfcfaM had another notice like
this:
".rhc attempt to rob my house on
Thursday night, which failed 50 conf
pletely, should not frighten other thieves
from making the trial. For the next
| thirty dnys there will De more gold aml
silver un tho premises than ever before.
"JoHS CALcorr."
Frost got hold Of Calico Charley md
explained the whole thing to him. None
of the grng knew Charley's right name,
and don't think he was told the name
Of the nlan they were to rob. Frost Cx-
planned to him that it WIS tho steel shut
! tcrs that "knockcd tIlcm," md he
/ thought now they knew the trick one Of
them could wedge the iron anl keep the
exit open while the other secured the
property. At illl events, the two men
cooked up n nnw job alll mulc sire tEnt
| they would llnllI the whole pile, MS we
say. Charley, who was II careful worker,
went ut the thing systematically, got his
tools ready. sent Frost OF to reconnoi-
ter, and talkcl very little. They were
about two weeks getting really. Tn
spite Of MI their pains TO keep it dark,
the gltng got wind Of the nflnir, and Of
course they were all very anxious to ser
how itwould come ont.
| Charley md his pnl went up to little
station nbOut three miles north Of Glen
Spring. and started down ut night on
foot. It WIS ~ dark when they got TO
the house that they could not see the
sign. There wasn't the glilnmer Of n
light about the placc. They were to 60
softly md try the front door. II it
opened, they were to step inside quick
| ". One of them was to stay ut the
door to keep the egress open; the other
WIS to 60 up stairs and secure the vAh,-
nbles. They had two iimmics, Il coald
cllisel and lot Of other trnps Of Char
leys, that yOu can see lown'therc Mt the
central office in glass case.
I They found the front door untlstcned
MS before. Charley pushed it open, and
they hOtll stepped quickly and Stealthily
into the hallway. "Wait Il moment,
he whispered 10 his companion, anil
i. striking match: ~ want to see how
this thing works" With that he struck
IL light md took II good look Mt the door,
way. ~ SEQ the trick" sIys lie; "givc
me tint screw wrench and lie quick" In
less tlHn two minutes lie had the groove
in Which the steel shutter moved so
pinclled that no earthly power could
litlvc made the thing work. "N0w 60
on, sAys he, and with that Frost crlwls
mp the stairway. lie hadn't any moro
linn got to the top when the iron shut
Ter begun to Appcar-comingup through
tho floor, and to Ch0rloy's astonislmel.t
it came down from above also. He saw
in IL minuto that lie waS beaten. Tie
Two llalves Of the shutter would come to
the pinch in tho iron md leave not six
inches spAce-through which no human
being could escape. SO he jams the
jimmy upright into tho groove to keep
the irons apart, and calls out to Frost i'll
loaye whisper to come back. Jack
was in the lIpper hill, NMl, getting