The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-08-30
MOUNTED BURGLARS
STILL INFEsT THE CAPITAL CITY.
While One Holds the Horses the
Other Pays a Visit to the Fat
Justice and Gets Lean Pick
"A Servant, who Fol-
lows, has His Hat
Pierced by Bullet.

Plerce0 Dy Bullet.
We had hoped that the last robbing
of the season had gone up with
the smoke from the alley af-
fair, and so confident were
we of this that we had corked
up the special ink bottle, from which
we dip the ink with which we pen
robbing sketches, but Tuesday night
the cork was pulled out and
the ink set to flowing once
more. A representative of THE
STATESMAN met Justice Tege-
ner Yesterday, and in answer to the
question, What is the news ?" replied:
81 am the victim of the bold bandit
they have sought me and they have
found me-" He then related the facts
in regard to the burglary, in substance
as given below. Justice Tegener
lives on the outskirts of the city, and
keeps but one male servant, whose
name is John-even the squire did
not know his other name, if he has
one. Tuesday night the squire went
to sleep on his veranda, as is quite
generally the custom at this hot season
of the year in Austin. Those who have
gazed upon the benign features of the
fat justice will remember that he is
not little bony fellow, and men of
his dimensions usually sleep like a
bug on night watch in telephone
office. The justice, at about IL o'clock
Tuesday night, was sleeping in that
peculiar way of his, and so he did not
hear the slight noise that may have
been made by the man who was after
the wealth of the squire. In an out
house Justice Tegener had a
barrel or two of new wine,
and while the squire was
snoring like the happiest of mortaIs.
John was at work drawing off the
wine from the casks and bottling it.
He did not get through with his work
until about II o'clock. 1t was during
the time when John was at the bot
ties and Justice Tegener in the slum-
Der of the just that the man with evil
intentions entered the house. They,
for there were two, rode their horses
to point beyond the creek not far
from Justice Tegener's residence and
dismounted, one of them remaining
with the steeds to keep watch while the
other went to the house to attend to
the financial part of the adventure.
He had no trouble in forcing his way
to the house, but the robber first re-
moved his shoes, like Moses of old,
for he knew the place was sacred
ground, or else he was not quite sure
how soundly the fat justice slept. He
put on the regular burglar slippers
and went to work. The first object of
attack was the squire's breeches, but
he found little to reward his efforts.
Then he went through the drawers
in bureau that stood in the room,
removing the contents and leaving
them scattered about the floor. He
did not find much there, either, to re-
ward his deXterity Next he opened
the clothes press and diligently
searched that, but evidently had not
struck the right place. When he
found that the clothes press contained
nothing he wanted he was making
for the place where the squire had
actually secreted $85. but Just
as he had reached that point
John had finished bottling the
wine and CAME shutting into the house
to the great surprise of the robber
They saw each other at the same time
and John was quite as much surprised
to see the robber as the robber was to
see John. The latter ran to Justice
Tegener and told him that he was
being robbed, and asked for the
squire's pistol. The squire gave
it to him, and told him to run
him down and arrest him. The
faithful John did as he was told
and took after the burglar, who,
by the way, left so suddenly that
he forgot his shoes. Those he left
with the squire as a souvenir of his
nocturnal visit. John was light
ming runner, and the burglar was not,
and John soon caught up within
shooting distance of the man, and
called a halt. The burglar stopped,
turned about, and fired shot at the
head of his pursuer, and so deadly a
shot was he that Notwithstanding the
darkness, the ball went through the
crown of the mans hat, and clipped
his hair. This cooled Johns ardor
for battle, but he raised his gun
to return the compliment, when
to his dismay he found the ramred
had caught in the cartridge chamber
and would not work. He did not fol-
low the burglar any further, but
watched him until he saw him go to
his companion and the two mount
and ride away. These men appear to
be professionals and we would like to
see them get dose of justice at the
hands of the man they tried to bur-
glariZe.