Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-03
THAT HAMM Err.
A Story Of Love, but Not Exactly a
Love Story, 1913.

courage and modssty. i was boarding IN
retired neighbOrhOOd in New YORK, anu
next door TO me lived. in q private house;
an old lady, with her granddaughter, Need
say that that young person was unusosiIy
attractivef i regret to slate, however, tnat
any advances on my part IN tnAs nsTecuon
were met at first with much indifference.
Ofcourse, an acquaintance with the old
lady hstl to be msde, and q very queer old
lady was she With q great many sceen-
tricities. she had one in particular watch
oysrshadowed the rest Once her house
had been robbed, 10 years before, and she
had never forgotten il. Though she was
as deaf as post, she assured me that the
least noise disturbed her Of nights, as the
dead of robbers was always on her mini.
whether the young lady shared her grand
mothers fears or not, did not know. L
rather hoped she did.
II, as | thought TO myself I could only
take advantage of this old wOman'S fancieS,
that might give me an introduction 10 the
house, The old lady was garrulouS and l
very soon Scraped up an acquaintance with
her. had not been talking with her more
than five minutes, shouting my words into
her ears before i preached the subject oil
rObbsries. From my pocket drew news
paper and read therefrom in loud tones
long account of a house breaking adyen-
ture. | must confess that in order to add
some point 70 the story l introduced some
quite Eew facts into the description. For
instance the street in which the robbery
took place was in an entirely different part
of the town from ours, and for II / subStl-
tuted our own immediate eighbOrhOOd.
In the original version, however, 1t was an
old woman who had actually been at the
mercy Of the bandits. howled II all out,
and had the satisfaction OF seeing that II
had an instantaneous effect on the Old lady.
"A ha oh lad
BILE! and We are so entirely unprotected
two lone women"
Awful l replied; and when robbers
once get in a neighbOrhOOd they never let
up until they clean out everything. l
don't like TO tell you, but have seen some
very strange and mysterious looking fell
lows--tramgs aPPareRtly-lounging around
here lately
Bless us! and am so deaf, and so ner-
vous. am sure l shan't be able to sleep
for weeks. What can do?"
Il have an idea" said |. In what story
OF your house do you sleep"
second story" Then the old lady de-
sCribed the position of her bed-chamOer-
second story back. Her granddaughter slept
in the same room.
/ had known that before from a careful
reconnaissance had made. My own modest
chamber in the boarding house was on the
same floor and our rooms were contiguous,
only separated by the IuIn arty wall.
Now, my dear madam said /, Il am
going To propose plan of action for you,
quite simple of its kind, which ought To re-
lieve YOU of all anxietieS. | might recon-
mend burglar. proof apparatus, with tele-
graph attachments, but those are very eN-
pcnSiye things 10 set up. can manage it
all with a hammer
"A hammerw exclaimed the old lady,
opening wide her mouth and eyes.
"NeS: a simple hammer
"But | should be so terrified that if rob-
bers were to break in | never could use it.
couldn't knock him down with it. The
old lady was terribly tiuStered.
Il didn't mean q hammer to be used as a
weapon; oh, dear, no; quite different from
that. Your room in your house and mine
in my house are adjacent, and the head Of
your bed is Just near mine. Now l will
buy you a small hammer, and all you have
TO do Is TO take it To bed with you. At the
least noise, take your hammer and give
three raps on the wall. | will at once
understand that by that is meant a preCau-
tiOnary signal. It's quite rs good as any
tClegraphIC apparatus. | hear the three
raps, good. l wake up at once and, spring
ing out of bed, put on my clothes. l am
prepared for action, as IL were. Then,
should your fears continue, you keep on
rapping | understand at once that the
yolyer, cock it, rush down stairs, bound
over the fence, and my presence at once dis
concerts the robbers. They endeayOr 10
escape | shoot two or three OF them, and
you and your charming granddaughter are
saved
Its very dreadful, but quite kind and
thoughtful Of you, and So ingenious. do
believe that ii knew that some one was
watching for my safety, half my fears
l.. "a OLE
really looked quite grateful. 80 you think
YOU could hear me2' she asked.
''Of course | could. l sleep on one ear,
/ replied. 1t is true the idea is perfectly
my own, but as introduced by me il is
quite practicable, for it has been put on
trial, in fact, by means of the hammer sys-
TEN We might dispense with the police en-
tirely. Once, when lived in quite de-
serted neighborhOOd-a long row of houses
in a suburban portion OF the city, organ
lied u hammer alarm. | had To do lt Tor
self.protectiOn. There had been robbery
after robbery in the row, and the police
were afraid TO interfere. Everybody IN that
row went regularly To bed with a hammer.
II was very hard on the thieves for as bad
luck would have il for those rasCals, they
tried To break into one house just at the
end of the row. In six seconds every in
mate in the row had been informed that
burglariOuS attempt was being made. You
might have heard the three taps working
along from house toulouse in the stiffness
Of the night Everybody turned out under
nv lead. We made 8 Gordon, swept the
street, and captured six or seven of the
robbers | don't remember the number OF
them exactly, only that they were the most
,blood-thirsty raScalS known in the annals
of crime
The old lady, whose hair fairly stood up
by this time-Or would have stood up II
she had had anyways profuSe in her thanks.
Just what | wanted took place. | was IN
yited next evening to take tea, and the old
lady in person showed me her garden, so
that might understand the lay OF the land.
Now, had recOnnOiIred the premises be-
fore. not that | thought anything ever
would happen, but really out of cOnsidera-
ton for the young woman. The fence was
not a very high one, though adorned with
spik>s. To facilitate my climbing, l rolled
a big barrel near it. | could step on that
and then with slight effort could scale the
fence. showed my plans of Succor and
the old lady approved OF them. bought q
tack hammer, presented it to her, and ex-
plsined TO her, in detail, the method Of sig
mailing.
The tea was o very pleasant one and the
young lady agreeable. i went TO bed that
night quite happy andquite forgot all about
the signals. In fact, a week or so elapsed
and nothing occurred to break the quiet OF
that really peaceful neighborhood.
! am a sound sleeper generally, but on
certain night not long afterward there was
such a terrible storm OF wind and rain, with
rafting Of windows, that my usual rest
would not come. At last I went Oft into
half dreamy dose, when suddenly close to
my ear l was awakened with start
heard the three ominous taps on the wall!
never listened 10 anything so dreadful in
my life. Was l awake! l waited a while.
1t was the precautionary signal, but not the
positive alarm. Rat-taJ-tat went that devil 5
tatto on the wall, then knew that danger
was imminent. looked out of the window
and il was raining cats and dogs, I shud-
dered Still the cursed rapping of the ham
mer reyerberated through the room. Ihud-
died on my clothes. never had revolver
in my life, and, bad I owned one, would
not have known bow To shoot II OH. l
wished bad not lied so, but always was
romantic The RAINING continued like