The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-09-27
Catching a Tartar.

gacity to be illustrated at the footlights
as it has been for years in the highly
spiced literature of youth. but rarely
does tale or tragic situation supply more
dramatic action or q more heroic actor
than real life did the other night in this
city. There is cozy little house at No.
465 West Twenty first street, which for
some time has been occupied by Mrs.
A. j. Manson and her daughter. Both
are ladies of culture and refinement,
given to study and artistic occupations;
and, living alone as they did, with only
a couple of domestics In the house, they
found guard and protector in their dog
aRex." Rex is a thoroughbred En-
glish mastiff, two years old. He has
great, sinewy body, covered with short
brown hair, and his teeth are fitted Tor
making fearful havoc. Hei is greatly at
tached to-his mistress, and is ever on
the alert for any harm that may threat
en- her, watchfulness which a week
ago was of great avail. The residence
of Mrs. Manson, facing the grounds of
the Theological Seminary, adjoins
house with second-story balcony. An
expert climber could readily reach her
window, and by the use of it there is
reason to believe a burglar, or perhaps
a couple, made an entrance into the
house on the morning of the 4th inst.
1t was about half-past three O'Clock.
Mrs. Manson was sleeping in her bed
chamber on the top floor, where the
rooms of her daughter and the servant
girls are also located. The weather was
close, and through the open doors the
Watchdog, Rex, could move at will.
When he growled deeply and moved
across her room this morning Mrs. Man.
son was aroused. Rex was upright and
| listening. Again came the low, sullen
growl, and she presently heard him
slipping down the stairs.
Unmindful of mischief she was COM
| posing herself to rest, when dreadful
| scream of agony came up from the
| room underneath, and the lady in a
| furry hurried out to the hallway and
| down the stairs. She first believed one
| of the servants had gone down and
been startled by the dog, but as she
reached the end of the fight figure
! appeared at the door of the second floor
front room, which speedily showed her
| the true state of affairs. A man was
there, stranger, with uncovered head
| and frightened face. The gaslight
|. burning dimly in the hallway showed a
close cropped head fixed on thick
neck, with fiorid, mustached face.
| Over grayish shirt was black cuta-
| way coat, and he wore dark pantaloons.
| Evidently surprised by the dog in pill
Laying the place he had turned to flee,
when the grip of the mastiff upon his
hand evoked that cry of pain. The
member was bleeding now. The door
knob he let 90 was red. In twinkling
he had reached the stairs and was de-
scending. But Rex, as cunning as
he, was at his heels, and gathering up
for bound he drove his great tawny
body against the flying burglars Shout
ders.
| The man went down as if struck by a
club and rolled head over heels to the
bottom, where he lay moment dazed,
with the mastiff's body on his breast
| and teeth in his flesh. The fall had
stunned him, but he was quickly recalled
to consciousness, and in dreadful way.
Rex had seized him by the jaw. The
feet armed with sharp nails tore his face.
| The canine fangs reached the bone.
! Mrs. Manson, bravely following the
fugitive, heard that dreadful crunching
and her woman's heart was sickened.
s'Don't, Rexi'' she called, ssDon't!'
The enraged mastiff, mindful of his
4, mistress voice, drew back, and the hap
| less burglar, who had been desperately
| fighting with his fists and uttering fear
| full means, made use of his chance.
With an oath he struggled to his feet
| and sprang down the basement stairs,
with the mastiff after him. The kitchen
| is at the back, with the washtubs on one
side and door at the end opening on
the yard He had reached the latter,
| but the dog tearing at him again COM
PEELED him to put his back against it
and fight with might and main. Mrs.
Manson found him so when she entered.
| 1t was dark downstairs, but the gray of
early dawn enabled her to see both the
| contestants. Without moments hest
tation the stout-hearted lady advanced,
but the fugitive, cowardly in his pain
and evaporation, sprang at her and
dealt her couple OF blows In quick sue
| cession, The scouadrel's fist drove her
| head back, and the second time it struck
| her full on the chest and knocked her
| bruised and half-stunned to the floor.
| A third blow was coming when Rex,
| who had to dash around the table to get
| at the man, gripped him by the arm.
He turned away with cry, shot back
the bolt and vanished through the door
into the yard. Miss Manson, coming
down then after her mother, found the
lady still upon the floor, with her eyes
upturned and barely conscious. She
aroused her, and after securing the door
they went upstairs. Mrs. Manson's
studio, where the dog had made the first
attack, was topsy-turvy. The window
was half opened where the burglar had
tried to get out, but on the floor were
blood-drops, which had fallen from the
hand the mastiff had gripped. In an
inner room was spread in a sheet, ready
for removal, the s'swag'' of the night
various seaiskin robes. some sets of furs,
an eight hundred dollar shawl, various
pieces of silverware, with eighteen linen
sheets and the dresses of the servants
The whole was valued at several thou
sand dollars.
While the ladies and the frightened
servants were setting things to rights
Miss Manson, going to close the shut
ters. heard bush in the corner of the
YARD rustlng. AS she glanced toward
it she saw in the wan light mans body
rise above the wall and 90 over it. In
another moment he appeared at the yard
door of a tenement house in Twenty
second street, and the next he was gone.
The burglar had clearly secreted him.
| self in the yard. probably in the closet,
when. he broke loose from the mastiff's
teeth, and only about twenty minutes
later had made off.
The blows OF the fellows fists had
hurt Mrs. Manson severely, but not SER
| iOuSly. and the visitation ~ b;r,solf o,,d