The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-10-07

thiHgu aon' like totell YOU. but | have
seen ono strsAge nd n ysaefious look
BnSbSdad hefs iateiy."
81 MBless us! and am so dat, and so
IheNous4 lam sum shan { be able to
sleep far weeks. what csm Ito?"
~ have an idea" said |. ain what
story of your house do you sleep?"
Second story" Then the old lady
described the position Of her bed-cham-
ber-second story back. Her grand
daughter slept in the said room.
had known that before from a care
full 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
thin party wall
"Now, my dear madam" said I, al
am going to PROPOSE a plan OF action
ought to relieve you bf ~ INK lfties. 4
might recommend burglar-proof APP
paratus, with telegraph attachments,
but those are very expensive things to
set up. | can manage it all with
hammer.
"a hammerm exclaimed the old
idtlO OpcuIll0 Wllc uGT ulOuIH anu eyes.
Eyes; a simple hammer"
"But | should be so terrified that if
robber were to break in, | never could
use it. l couldn't knock him down
with it. The old lady was terribly
tlustered.
l,xz,s". didn' tmean hammer to,besused
las aAweapon.' Oh, dear no: quite diff
Iterent from that. Your room in your
lhouse and minein my house are adja-.
lcent. and the head of your bed s Just
bnearlmine Now | will buy youa sn,hl
lahamfner, and all you have to do lis TO
fake it to bed, with you. At the least
jhoise, take. your hammer and give three
Traps on the wall l will at once under
stand that by that is meant precau-
tionary signal. It's quite as good as
any Geographic apparatus. l hear the
three raps, good. | wake up at once,
land, springing out of bed, put ons my
clothes. am prepared for action, as it
were. Then, should your fears con-
tinue, you keep on rapping. l under
stand at once that the danger is immi-
nent. Then l seize my revolver cock
ii, rush down stairs, bound over the
fence, and my presence at once discon-
certs the robbers. They endeavor to
escape; shoot two or three of them,
and you and your charming grand
daughter are saved"
"lt's very dreadful, but quite kind
and thoughtful of you and so ingeni-
Gus. l do believe that if / knew that
some one was watching for my safety
half of my fears would be dissipated.'
The old woman really looked quite
grateful. 80 you think You gcould
hear me?7 she asked. 4 ~ q
A'.Of course could 1 sleep on one
ear replied. 1T is true the idea is
perfectly my own, but as introduced by
me tits quite practicable for it has been
put on trial; in fact, by means of the
hammer system we might dispense with
the police entirely. Once, when lived
in quite a deserted neighborhood-
long row of houses in suburban por-
ton of the city organized a hammer
alarm. l had to do it for self-protec-
ton. 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 ham,
mer. 1t was very hard on the thieves,
for, as bad luck would have it for those,
rascals, they tried to break into one
house, just at the end of the row. In
six seconds every inmate in the row had
been informed that a burglarious at
tempt was, being made. You might
have heard the three taps working along
from house to house in the stiffness OF
the night. Everybody turned out under
my lead We made 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 bloodthirsty rascals
known in the annals of crime"
The old lady, whose hair fairly stood
up by this time-or would have stood
up if she had had anyways profuse in
her thanks. just what l wanted took
place l was invited 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, 1 had reconnoitered the prem
ises before. not that thought anything
ever would happen, but really out of
consideration for the young woman.
The fence was not yery high one,
though adorned with spikes. To facili-
tate my climbing, | rolled 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. i bought a
tack-hammer, presented it to her, and
explained to her, in detail, the method
of signaling.
The tea was very pleasant one, and
the young lady agreeable. 1 went to
bed that night quite happy and. quite
forgot all about the signals. In fact, a
week or SO elapsed and nothing oc-
Cured to break the quiet of that really
peaceful peighborhood. ~