The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-11-10

asked.
.sOf course could sleep on one
ear" | replied. ut is true the idea is
perfectly nv own, but rs introduced by
me il is quite practicable, for il 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 deserted ncighborhood-
long row of houses in a suburban por.
ton of the city, organized Il hammer
alarm. 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 luck 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 bur-
ylariOus attempt was being made. You
might have heard the three taps work.
ing along from house to house in the
stiffness of the night. Every body
turned out under my lead. We made a
Gordon, swept the street, and captured
six or seven of the robbers. / don't re-
member the number of them exactly,
only that they were tho 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 if she had had anyways profuse in
her thanks. just what l wanted took
place. 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 had reconnoitered the prem
ises before, not that thought any thing
ever would happen, but really out of
consideration for the young woman.
The fence was not very high one,
though adorned with spikes. To facili-
tate my climbing, l rolled big barrel
near it. could step on that, and then
with slight effort could scale the
fence. l showed my plans of succor
and the old lady approved of them. l
bought Il tack hammer, prosecuted it TO
hor, anu explained 10 her in detail the
method of signaling.
The tea was very pleasant one,
and the young lady agreeable. went
to bed that night quite happy, and quite
forgot all about the signals. In fact, II
week or so elapsed, and nothing occur
red to break the quiet of that really
peaceful neighborhood.
am sound sleeper generally. but
on a certain night not long afterward
there was such terrible storm of wind
and rain, with rafting OF windows, that
my usual rest would not come. At last
went off into II half-dreamy doze, when
suddenly close to my ear was awaken
ed with a start heard the three omi-
nous taps on the wall! never listened
to anything so dreadful in my life. Was
l awaken waited while. 1t was the
precautionary signal, but not the posi-
tive alarm. Rat-tat-tat went that devils
tattoo on the wall; then l knew that
danger was imminent. l looked out of
the window and it was raining cats and
dogs. l shuddered! Still the cursed
rapping of the hammer reverberated
through the room. l hustled on my
clothes. never had revolver in my
life, and, had l owned one, would not
have known how to shoot it off. | wish
ed had not lied so, but l always was
romantic. The rapping continued like
mad. Suppose there were real, true for
true robbers next door! What could II
single, poor, inOffensive, unarmed young
man like me do against whole gang of
bloodthirsty house breakers? | knew
that they would murder me for inter-
fering with their legitimate business.
thoug ht once would open the window
and yell, Murder! thievesr' but my
window looked on the yard. and the
wind was bowling so that had there
been whole squad of police below not
one of them would have heard me. 1t
was dreadful to be walked up that way.
to walk to sudden death, and so unpre-
pared as knew was. cursed my
officiousness. was dressed somehow,
at least, and went slowly shivering
down the stairs, making all the noise l
could, but it was just one of those selfish
boarding houses where the inmates
never take notice of anything. opened
the back door which led to the garden.
was wet to the skin before l found
the barrel, and what was mysterious
about it was that the barrel had been
moved away from the fence. In a
minute it flashed across my mind that
did once venture into the adjacent
garden my retreat would be cut off, and
that, as the victim of some villanous
trap, next morning I would be found
dead-dead-m skull beaten in with
jimmy.
At last, however, at the expense Of
several severe excavations, was over
the fence. gazed at the back OF the
house. All was still-still as death
there was lull in the storm. waited
to hear the agonized scream of the vic
tins, but there was nothing save an APP
palling stiffness. Then something rus
tied, and I covered my face with my
hands. / was awaiting some crushing
blow on my head, when a stray cat
bounded past me. No lights were visi-
BILE. Iwaited ten minutes, exposed to
the drenching of the pitiless storm, for
it rained now harder than ever; then
feeling that if the worst had come it was
all over now, and could do nothing, l
retreated quietly. deliberately climbed
the fence, and at last regained my bed.
was miserable, chilled to the marrow,
and so nervous and excited that never
went to sleep any more during the
| whole of that wrctched night.
Next morning. having recovered some
what from the effects of that night OF
terror, awaited with much anxiety the
appearance of that old lady at her door,
| for she always took in the milk herself.
Should she not respond to the milk
mans call, then the mystery would be
solved. But she did turn up. at once
went to the door, and l expected that
| she would have story of some dread
full character to impart to me, and !
was ready to tell her how had saved
her and her granddaughter from death,
when, much TO my disgust, after having
exchanged an ordinary good-morning
with me, she was about rc-entering with
her milk.
"You had most narrow escape last
night" l said.
30, yes." she replied, smilingly; Its
half water, and mighty blue and thin"
Evidently she referred to the milk.
IF it had not been for me-" | said,
.you would have been murdered in
your beds; was up and out. In three
seconds after the first stroke OF the ham
mer was in your garden. l hope your
charming granddaughter has suffered
no Inconvenience; am quite positive
that they--the robbers-were around
last night, and my timely presence scat
tered them"
God bless my soul" said the old Ia
dy, as she dropped the milk, land
did not know it"
..But you hammered away like first
class blacksmith"
| ..Indeed did not" said she, land
nv milk, that is all gone; l stepped un-
common well, better than usual
always sleep soundly when it rains"
i Would it be believed that the old
woman denied the hammer incident in
totoP Had been dreaming? Was il
force of Imagination. the teeming of 9
del;r;ous brainp A shocking bad cold