The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-03-28

pa. We agreed to lay on the stairs, and
when he came up my 6hum was to hit
him on the head with a dried bladder,
and was to stab him on the breast
pocket with a stick, and break the lini-
ment bottle, and make him think he
was killed. 1t couldn't have worked
better IL we had rehearsed 1t. We had
talked about burglars at supper-time,
and got pa nervous, so when he came ny
stairs and was hit on the head with the
bladder, the first thing he said was
Burglars by mighty and he started to
go back, and thenI hit him on the breast
pocket. where the bottle was, and then
we rushed by him down stairs, and
saidtn astage whisper, 4 guess he's "a
dead man Iand we went down cellar
and mp the back stairs to my room and
undressed.' Pa hoIlered TO ma that he
was mtirdered, and ma called me, and
came down in my night-shirt, and the
hired girl she came down, and pa was
on the lounge, and he said his life blood
was fast ebbing away. He held his
hand on the wound, and said he could
down his boots. / told pa to stuff some
tar into the wound, such as he tOld me
toput on my lip to make my mustache
grow, and pa said, My boy, this Is no
time for trItling. Your pa ls on his last
legs. When L come up stairs l met six
burglars, and 1 attacked them, and
forced four of them down. and was GO
ing to hold them and send for the police,
When two more, that did not know
were about, jumped on me, and was
getting the best of them, when one of
them struck me over the head with a
crOW-bar, and the other stabbed me to
the heart with buteher-knife. have
received my death-wound, my boy, and
my hot Southern blood, that l offered
up SO freely for my country in her time
of need, Is passing from my body, and
soon your pa will be only piece Of cold
clay. Get some ice and put ON my
stomach, and all the way down for 1 am
burning up. 1went to the water pitch
er and got chunk of ice and put inside
pas shirt, and while ma was tearing up
an old skirt to stop the flood of blood, l
Bsked pa If he felt better, and if he could
describe the villains who had murdered
him. Pa gasped and moved his legs to
get them cool from the clOtted blood, he
said, and he went on: One of them was
about six foot high, and had sandy
mustache. IgOt him down and hit him
in the nOsegan if the police find him,
his nose will be broke. The second one
was thick set, and weighed about 200. 1
had him down, and my boot was on his
neck, and was knocking two more
down, when was hit, The thick-set
one will have the mark of boot heels ON
his throat. Tell the police, when am
gone, about the bOOt-heel marks BY
tnis time ma had got the skirt tore up,
and stuffed it under pas shirt, right
where he said he was hit, aud pa was
telling us what TO do to settle his estate,
whenimA began to smell the hniment,
and she found the broken bottle in his
-pOckeJ,,and searched pa for the place
Aha0 a hi hnVaa oh No.
G0laugh, and pa got mad and said he
didn't see a death bed scene was such
an almighty funny affair, and then she
told him he was not hurt, but that he
had fallen on the stairs and braken his
bottle, and that there was no blood on
him, and he said, DO you mean to tell
me my body and legs are not bathed III
human gorep and then pa got up and
found Il was only the hnAment. he got
mad and asked ma why. she didn't fly
around and get something to take that
liniment off his legs, as 1t was eating
them right through to the bone, and
then he saw my chum put his head in
the door, with one gallus hanging
down, andpa looked at me and then he
said, Look ahere, If I,f1nd out 1t was you
BUys that put this job up on me, I'll
make it 80 hot for you thaG you will
think liniment Is ice-cream in eOmpari-
son. Il told pa 1t didn't look reasonable
that me and my chunl could be six burg
lars, six feet high, with our noses broke,
and b0Ot-heel marks on our inecks, and
pa he said for us to go to bed alI-fred
quick, and give him a. chance to rinse
of that hniment, aud we retired. Say,
how does my pa strike, you as good
single handed liarp" and the boy went
up to the counter while the grocery
man went after scuttle of coal. III
In the mean time one of the grocery
mans best customers, a deacon In the
church, had come in and sat down on
the counter, over the daEning-needle,
and, as the grocery man came in with
the coal, the boy pulled the string, and
went out doors aud tipped over basket
OF. rutabagas, while the deacon got
down OFF the counter with his hands
clasped, and anger in every feature,
told the grocery man he could whip him
in two minutes. The grocery man asked
what was the matter, and the deacon
hunted up the source from whence the
darning needle came through the count
er, and, as the boy went across the
Street, the deacon and the grocery man
we're rolling On the floor, the grocery
man trying to hold the deacOn's fists
while he explained about the darning-
needle, and that it was intended for the
boy. How it came out the boy did not
wait to see.-Peck'9 Sun. ~
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