The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-26

foot. drew myself forward and looked
down tie opening. could see lighted
candle and two or three dark figures at
the safe. and | could hear the combina-
tion being worked. My first thought was
TO drop my hand down and open fire In
their direction, but remembered that we
had so many articles hanging up that no
bullet had a chance OF reaching to the
safe. ! was wondering what to do when
heard one of the men whisper;
"Its all id nonsense. We might
work here a week and not hit It,"
but told you to bring the tools and
Won wouldn't" protested another.
ooh, dry ups' put in third voice:
"What we want to do Is to go up and
bring that counterhopper down and make
him open the boz"
"I1i give the cussed thing a few more
trials" said the first man, and l heard
him working away again. My eyes could
not have told me the number Of robbers,
but nv ears had There were three OF
them. and they were no doubt desperate
and determined men. They spoke OF
bringing me down to open the safe as If
no resistance was anticipated or taken
into account. Indeed, they might well
reason that they had me at their mercy.
The rain was now falling, the night was
very dark, and pistol shot in the store
could not have been heard in either OF the
dwellings. If they had reflected that
might be armed, they would have offset
IL with the fact that was a boy Of IL,
with n girls face and probably girls
nerve. | don't deny that | was bit
ratified, and that my lip would culver in
spite Of me, but was at the same time
fully determined to protect the store II 1t
cost me my life. How to get at the fell
lows was what bothered me, but that
trouble was soon solved.
There" whispered the man at the
combination, as he let 90 OF it, 81 won't
fool here another minute. That kid knows
the combination, and we can make him
work it. Come on"
They were coming up stairs The best
place for me would be at the head Of the
stairway. The stairs had half turn in
them, and ! would fire upon the first man
who came within range. heard the men
coming back to the stairway, and my
nerve gave way. II wasn't from coward
ice, but the knowledge that was to kill
n human being upset me. i decided to
retreat to my room, and, If they persisted
in coming that far, would shoot. The
trio had rubbers on their feet, but they
came ND stairs without trying very hard
TO prevent making noise. The one who
came first had the candle, and, as he got
to the head of the stairs, saw knife in
his other hand They made no delay in
approaching my room, and with great
effort braced myself for what saw must
happen. They could not see me until
within three or four feet of the door, and
their first intimation that / was out of bed
was when they heard me call OUT
stop, or III shoot your'
had them covered with the weapon,
and for fifteen seconds there was dead
silence Then they got plan. The man
with the candle dashed it on the floor,
and suppose they meant to rush in on
me in the dark, but | checkmated it by
opening fire. They then either meant to
retreat down stairs or toward the rear o..
the floor, for | saw the three together
moving off, and fired at their dim figures.
Three seconds later there was great
shout of horror, followed by the ire
mendous report Of the double barreled
spring gun, and then there was absolute
silence. | think | stood in the door,
shaking like leaf, for fully three
minutes before the silence was broken by
q groan. Then it came to me that the
robbers had fallen through the open door
upon the cord leading to the gun. l
struck match, lighted my own candle,
and, going to the opening, saw three bodies
living below Running back to the bed
room to recharge my revolver, l then
went down stairs to investigate. 1t was
as | suspected The three had pitched
down together The top Of ones head
had been blown off by the shot, second
had hole in his chest as big as your fist,
while the third, who was responsible for
the groans, was severely wounded in both
legs. 1t was three months before he
could be put on trial, and he then got
four years in prison. The whole thing
was a put up job. The ''drover" was a
Chicago burglar called "Clawhammer
Dick and he had hidden himself in the
store that night, and then let his pals in
by the back door. They had horse and
wagon in the rear of the building, and the
plan was to rob the store of goods as well
as to get at the money in the safe. A bit
of carelessness on my part not only saved
the store and probably my life, but wiped
ont q very desperate gang.-New YORK
Sun.