River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-10-18


the road, and as we came out he drove
of. No one could identify the dead
man, and, after an inquest. he was
buried in a corner of the village grave
yard.
The papers had a good deal 10 say
about the adventure, ard OF course
gave away my invention. The next
man who came would be informed. and
wc;;ld take care to avoid it. / must,
therefore. have recourse to something
else l sent of to st. Louis for bear
trap, and as soon as it arrived we
planted it IL front CT the stable door.
Il was a monster trap. intended to hold
any thing which got its foot between
the jaws, and We had to use levers to
bear down the springs. Not one of our
neighbors nor one of the day workers
on the farm knew OF the arrival Of this
trap; bet all knew that the hickory
spring had been done away with in the
stable. We intended TO believe that
the one lesson would keep the fellows
away FOR months to come. One day,
about three weeks after the burial of
the hOrse-thiei, a man who had come
along and hired to US to dig ditch to
drain pond made an excuse to visit
the horse barr. was asleep at the
ame; but the hired man reported that
his actions were suspicious. He proba-
bly, wanted TO see il any further pit
falls had been prepared. and he was
doubtless gratified when he found the
way to the gray horses clear Of danger
One of the jaws Of the trap when set
was toward the house. i fastened the
bell string to this. aud whenever the
Jaws sprang the bell would sound an
alarm as before. The ditch digger
slept in a room on the other side of the
house, and we did not set the trap until
he was in bed. On the third day after
his inspection of the stables. he an
nounced that he must go to the village in
the evening to make some purchases.
We set the trap at nine o'clock and at
half-past ten the bell rang. We were
waiting for il and We were out in two
or three minutes. The bear trap had
its victim, and the victim was our
ditch digger OF all the bowling,
yelling, cursing ana praying you ever
heard mixed together this fellow 5
utterances took the cake. He was
caught by the right leg, and such was
the pain that he was almost crazy. He
had unlocked one of the big padlocks
on the door, and had bunch of about
fifty keys with him. The sudden sur
prise and the pain broke him in two,
and even before we got him out of the
trap he confessed that he came to work
for us with the sole idea of stealing the
gray horses. He was sent TO Jail. and
when his trial came on he went to
prison for three years. That was not
his full punishment, however,. His
leg was 50 injured in the trap that il
had to be amputated to save his life.
The papers gave my bear-trap away,
as a matter of course. and must now
look for some other defense. The
thieves would hereafter keep clear of
the stable door. October had now
come. and the long nights were the
glory of the hOrse-thief. There was
an underground stable to the horse
barn, and the doors Of this were never
locked. as we were not afraid of
our cows being taken. The only doors
10 the barn proper were a pair of big
doors and the stable door. The big
doors were so well fastened on the in
side that no one could open them. All
attempts had been made by the small
door. ! now figured that the next
conner would enter the stable below
aud ascend to the horses above
through one of the hay-boxes running
down for the cows. There was one
empty stall. and this happened to con-
tain the largest aperture above. Once
upstairs, the thief could lead the
horses from the stable to the main
floor. and then out OF the big doors.
One ascending by the hay-boy would
pass under a beam out on the main
floor. To this beam l fastened two
poles eight feet long in an upright po-
sition. and six feet apart. ! then
sawed of twO-inch plank to
the right length, bored n hole
in either end. and with the
help Of the hired man and
rope and pulley, hoisted it up and
slipped it over the poles. We ar
ranged it To have a fall of seven feet,
and Increased its weight by fastening a
block of stone at either end. When
drawn up by the rope and pulley we
ran the rope through ring in the
floor. attached a wire, and ran this
wire to q catch. A pressure of a
pound ON the wire released the catch
and let the plank down with smash.
We were undisturbed for about four
weeks after the sentence of the bear
trap victim. Then stranger. who
said he was drover from Cincinnati,
called one day to look at some of our
stock. Wewere stall-feeding three or
four steers, and the drOver was shown
TO the underground stable. / was
watching all his movements, and saw
that he gave the empty stall and the
big hay-box particular attention. He
had heard Of our adventures. and when
| gave him to understand that we
feared no danger except by the small
door he had twinkle in his eyes. He
praised the arrangement of TIE stables,
and thereby made an excuse for step
ping on the edge of the manger and
looking up the hay box. He could
see that one climbing up there
would come out on the main
floor. but he could not see
what had in store for any one who
tried it. On that night every thing
was in readiness. but it wa five nights
before the victim appeared | had a
string running from the plank to the
bell in my chamber, but this alarm
was not needed. II was. | believe, the
Sth Of October. The weather had
been threatening all day. and at dark
a drizzle set in. About eight o'clock
in the evening something disturbed
the hens. and the hired man went out
to investigate the trouble. He heard
some body calling from the barn, and
we went out to discover that we had a
prisoner under the plank. Il was not
the drover who called to see the fat
steers. but tough-lookiug fellow
abolt fyyanfy-fivs wears Of age who had