The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-04-20

in Young girl hId successfully outwit-
ted expert midnight thieves. ard cap
tured them alone and unaided.
The man, with his round head COW
cred Nv some kind of cloSely-fitting
cap, was cautiously creeping through
the window. and | saw the poplar
shake. a. if just relieved of burden
He had evidently climbed the tree to
reach the room. and | remembered
hearing my brother Will say only the
day before that il was a favorite plan
of thieves in robbing a house to get up
to the second story by means of porch
ar tree. while the family were gathered
i'm the lower rooms in the early even
ing. | could not novel There was no
! light i'm the hall outside the room, and
| | could not be- seen by the intruder as
i stood with my hand on the door
handle. watching him, and listening in
a dreamy way TO the noise of the chill
dren in the nursery overhead. He was
I inside the room by this time, and / no.
/ ticed that his footsteps were noiseless.
as if he had no shoes on. a he moved
across the bar of moonlight toward the
: bureau where INV mother always keeps
I
bright yelloy light fall on the keyhole
of the top drawer. and then heard a me-
tallic rattling. The thief was picking
! the lock.
If could only scream, or call Will.
The drawer opened: the man was
! fumbling at its contents, when-crash!
The yellow patch of light disappeared.
| and, with fearful word, saw the man
fall, another man holding him. Then
3 pistol shot rang through the room,
and echoed up and down the stairs, and
the room was flooded in light. Some
body had touched the electric button
down stairs and lighted the gas. For
n few second nv eyes were so dazZlcd
that could not see anything. Then |
saw two men rolling on the floor in a
desperate struggle, while a pistol lay
Just out of their reach. The man un-
derneath. with his closely fitting plush
cap. was scOwling AT me, is he tried to
release himself. and ! thought could
see murder written on his thin Ii ps and
short. turned-up nose 80 plainly that
should have been I'm favor of hanging
him on the spot.
But who was the other man, holding
the thief with grip of iron, a. each
rugged and writhed in the attempt To
subdue the other? Surely that was the
bow of white necktie at the back of
his neck, That Was y dresS-coat, with
the tails spread out like the wings OF
an eagle. or ! was much mistaken. In
the battle. just - VIII and my father
reached the room and rushed past me.
the combatsnts rolled over. and a very
red face. which, however, was anything
but sheepish now. was turned toward
me. The face of
John Bentoni
Will had the thief By the arm in
minute. whit" John Benton lay pansng
on the floor. Then ii was that saw
n great red stain ON thu white shirt
bosom. Ii was blood, Somehow for
got all about the thief. Will, my father
everything. as threw myself down
by the side of John Benton and pressed
nv handkerchief over the red stain.
John. John, What is il? Where
are you hurt? oh. father. he l.
killed. ] screamed. What shall ]
do?''
will never believe again that John
Benton was ever baShful. for he just
put one of his hands OH the hack of my
head. pulled my face down to his. and
whispered: do just what you are
doing now. and a. Won have COM
menced 10 call me John. do il all the
rest of your life. and let me call you
Lou.
There WAS sudden disturbance,
The thief had broken away from viii.
The poplar tree shook violently. and
Will said. as he put his head out of the
window: We'll, let the rascal 90. 1t
will save good deal of trouble. All
There i his pal. who was on guard.
They are both running as If the whole
detective force were at their heels.
Then. turning To John: How are
you hurt, Mr.. Benton? You don't look
a. if il was very serious"
lit is not serious, said John. sitting
up. That fellow cut his hand in some
WAY while opening the drawer and he
rubbed the blood all over my shirt;
that's all. >"
bit nv lips and gave John look
that should have frozen him. 1t did not
have the proper effect. however, for he
followed me up stairs 10 the nursery,
where the racket of play had rendered
the children oblivious of the disturb
ance below As he took Stella on his
knee he said DO you know, Stella,
you made "A tremendous hit with your
song? You must sing Birdie ON a
Tree for US again. Will you?"
"Ess, | will sing it for you, but you
must siss Lou for me now. She has
! diven me lots and lots of tandy, and
she is awfully doOd.
Yes, think so" said John. "And
I'll tiss her for you
And he actually did it.
Moreover. he says now it is his priv
ilege, and i suppose, under the circum-
stances, he is right George G. jerks,
IN Pittsburgh Bulletin.