Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-10-31

lulO the carriage. one tolu TIC COiCn-
man TO hurry, and the way We flew
around into Ogden avenue, where she
lived, was a caution. She got calm
enough before we reached her house
to tell me what the racket was. Her
husband had taken out several draw
ers of an old-fashioned safe early that
morning, and one of the children had
put in kitten, playfully closing the
door. The child then went to break
fast and forgot all about the matter.
After the meal her absent-minded
husband, seeing the safe door slightly
open, inserted the key and locked it.
He then started for New York with
the key in his pocket. Soon the kit
ten was missed, and the terrible facts
came out. l was summoned to get
the cat out of the bag. When we
reached the house pussy had been
locked up nearly two hours. The
household was in great uproar.
The children were all crying. and the
tender-hearted mother was nearly as
bad. | tried one skeleton-key after
another, but to no purpose. Finally,
just as the case seemed hopeless, l got
the right twist and the lock turned.
The children jumped forward to take
their darling kitty, dead or alive.
But they stopped when they got to
the safe door. The key had turned
the bolt only half way back, and it
was Just as fast as before. Then |
resorted to wire. But it was no use.
I.turned | and twisted, and twisted and
turned. The bolt wouldn't move. 1t
was terribly aggravating. worked
away steadily, though, till hit the
right spot. The bolt slid back and
the door flew open"
i"And the kitten Z"
l"Well, kitten wasn't there. Inever
was SO mad in my life. Where was
the cat? Snoozing quietly in her ac.
custoned place behind the sofa. |
learned afterward that one Of the boys
heard the kitten mewing, and let her
out before she had been in there ten
minutes. The boy left before the hub
bub arose."
"But have you never been called on
really serious case ?"
Yes. / struck one about year ago
that was serious enough. A nurse in
Blue Island avenue family was Civ
ing child of about 2 years a bath.
She wanted o towel or something, and
stepped out Of the bathroom, unwit-
tingly locking the door. Of course
she dropped the key into sink, and
the water took it down into the pipe.
| had tinkered up some trunk locks
for the family, so they knew where l
was, and sent for me to come and un-
lock the door. 1t was peculiar lock
and very hard to work. / was peg
ging away on it when suddenly | heard
a. splash. The baby had fallen into
the large bath-tub. The women folks
of course screamed, and l was SO ex-
cited that my hand trembled like a
leaf. How / ever opened that lock l
can't tell but we got in just in time to
save the chid's life"
why didn't you burst open the
doorl"
I'VE couldn't do it. 1t was heavy
oak door and the hallway was very
narrow. The next day l received a
check for $50 from the childs father.
But don't want any more such jobs
even at that price. My nerves were
unstrung for a month";"
What do you think of the Yale
lock ?"
II don't like it at all. 1t is full of
springs and gets out of order very
easily. The best lock / know Of is
the Sargent lock. 1t has no springs
whatever and is very hard to get open.
The best way is to slip in little pow
der and smash it,"
"Do you ever use powder in door
locks 2"
II never did yet. You don't need
to. There's ring of skeleton keys
that will open nine out of ten doors
in this city which have the ordinary
door lock. You could't do it, nor any
body else who hasn't had experience.
You see the key is so small that it
feels lost in n big lock. 1t has got to
he used just so, or it won't work at
all. Sometimes l have to use two
keys. or one key and u piece of wire.
Large locks, however, are out Of date.
The keys are too heavy to carry
around, and they are not so safe.
The larger the keyhole the easier it
is to open the lock. But even the
fiat keys are not infallible. There
are between three and four hundred
locks, all different, at the armory, and
yet there is a key that will unlock
any one of them. The locks are
made by numbers. There is pass
key with each number or class, which
is open sesame with them all. 1t is
of no use, of course, with locks of an
other number"
"Why don't you turn house-break'
er ?"
81 am thinking of it seriously.
Good day."-Chicago Daily News.
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