The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-01-20
vas waacting Sor my saSesy. half nov fears

Of course could. l sleep on one ear" replied It Is true the idea Is perfectly my own, but as introduced by i me II Is quite practicable. for II has been put on tFial. In fact. by means of the hammer system we might dispense wi,h the police entirely. Once. when lived in qui;e deserted neishborhood --a .oug ro~ ot houses n suburban portion ct the cIly-i oyganI1ed q hammer alarm had io do II Tor seli-proi=cuon. There had been robbery at;eg robbery In the t"W. and the pollCe were atIasd io Inter ir1e- er1body n that row weu. resu- .Arty to bed with a hammer l. was very hard on the thieves. for. as bad luck "oald have It for those rasca,S. they ,tled to break Into the house luSi ai the end of the TOW. in sIN seconds every inmate in the row had been informed that a bur g.anous a,iemp; Was being made Aou might have heard the three r@ps working along from house to house m the stiffness oi the night. Everybody tarecd GU; un- der my lead. We made I cort,o{. swept the street, and captured sl< ef sever o; lac robbers. don't remember ihe nalu- Der ot them exactly only that they were ;he most biood,htz,y ra>e4ls AaaMn ID lie annals ei eInue
 e-- ne old .atiy. whose h. I aulS stood g? 5y ih,s tine CT wol.id ha.e >ta5'l up II she had any W.ss Woiuse In Aei gaAlk>.
 as. Wh..; wlutcd ,u,,N pi.ce. 0ts 5t- Nlted HseNi evca.ns sa take tea. aa#3 tat o.d lsl!y T person showed me htl slIdrn s2 that i III ht understand ;hcia oi t3sc ....;,4
 Now. l had feto11.Fsa..2t si the premises before. ..at thai ! ihal4- u .AaN ihli.s esvs would happen. bui really o,,i of eousld- erat.0n for the young woman. The tencc ~as not very high one. though adorned with spikes. To facilitate my elmbins | rolled bIg barrel near t. leottid step on that. and then with l shgh, effort could scale the fence. l showed my plans of succor, and the old iady approved of them. bought taok-hammef. pte- sented Il 10 her. and explained io her in detail the method oi signaling.
 The tea was very pleasant one. and the young lady agreeable. l wen, 10 bed that night quite happy. and quite forgot so elapsed and nothing occurred to break the qule, of that really peaceful neishbor hood.
 am sound sleeper generally. but on I oertalh night not long tfterward. there WAS such terrible storm of wial and rain. wlth rattling oi windows, that my usual rest would not come. X, laSt l went ott into Il halt-dteamy do4e. when suddenly close to my ear 1 was awak- eHed siih start heard the three omi- noas taps or the wall never listened To anything 50 dreadful Tn my life. Was l awake: waited awhile. IL was thc precautionary signal, but no, the positive alarm. K R,,-tat-ta,-weHt that devils tattoo on the wall then knew that dan ger was imminent. looked out ot the window. and Il was rainins cats and dos>. I shuddered. Stlil the cursed rappIne oi the hammer reverberatcd through the room. hurrlcd on my clothes. never had revolver m my lifc. and had l owned one would not have known how 10 shoo, Il off. wished had not he'd se.- bat ] was always romauiie. Inc rap ping continued like mad. Suppose these were re.tl true-for true robbers next door !, What could single. poor. inoiienslYe. unarmed young man like me do .agaiu,t awhole gang of bloodthirsty housc-break CTS: knew that they would murder me !, re ircss thought once would open the wiadow and yell. murder thicNes '. -b.i;-Is4y- -.e4..t!am looked n.l- tac-y yaId. 4i-I the wIad was howhng so. that had there been whole squad ot pot, below. moi oac of them would have heard IN1-zzs7 : Wi, dreadful io bc walked up that way. ,o wa'S ,o sudden death and so anpi, pasef as kac.s was. cursed my en'eiou~- ae>s' i was dressed somehow a, last. aad went slowly shNeung dovu ,he sta. ss making stIi the noise could. bu, ' was
 Us; ore ei those selnsh boarGjag- g-houses where the inmates never take aorec ot anything. ! opened the back loor. wh.,h ics to the garden.
 was wet to the skin before f5una the barrel. ana what was mysterious about t was ,ha, the barrel had been moved away from the fence. h minute il flashed across my mind that did once venture into the adjacent garden my retreat would be cut off. and that as the victim oi some viliainous trap next morning would be found dead-dead skull beaten In with jimmy.
 Al last. however at the expense of sew eral severe exeoria,ions. was over the fence. gazed at the back of the house. All was still-still as death-there was d Hull in the storm. waited to hear the agonized scream of the victim. but there was nothing save an appalling stiffness. Then something rus,led, and covered my face with my hands. was awaiting 2 some crushing blow on my head, when d , stray ca, bounded pas; me. No lights were visible. l waited ten minutes, ex- posed 10 the drenching of,he piuless storm. for il rained now harder than ever then. feeling that the worst had come, II was all over now and could do nothing. I rctrea,ed quietly. deliberately reehmbed the fence. and at last regained my bed. l was miserable. chilled 10 the marrox. and so nervous and excited tha; ueser went 10 sleep during the whqss Of ihe wrcichcd night.
 Next morning. having recovered some what from the effects oi that nigh; of ter TOT. awaited with much anxiety the ap-