Connecticut western news., 1889-11-06
VOL. XIX.


 The papers had good deal to say about the adventure, and of course gave away my invention. I must, therefore, have recourse to something else. I sent off to St. Louis for bear trap, and as soon as it arrived we planted it in front of the stable door. It was monster trap, intended to hold anything which got its foot be- tween 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, but all knew that the hickory spring had been done away with in the stable. We pre- tended to believe that the one lesson would keep the fellows away for months to come.
 One day man who had come along and hired to us to dig ditch to drain a pond, made an excuse to visit the horse barn. was asleep at the time; but the hired man reported that his actions were suspicious. He probably wanted to see if any further pitfalls had been prepared, and he was doubtless grat- flied when he found his 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, and whenever the jaws sprang the bell would sound an alarm as before. The ditch-digger slept in room on the other side of the house, and we did not set the trap un- til he was in bed. On the third day after his inspection of the stables he announced that he must go to the will lage in the evening to make some pur- chases.
 We set the trap at nine o'clock, and at 1O.3O the bell rang. We were wait ing for it, and were out in two or three minutes. The bear-trap had it's victim, and the victim was our ditch digger. 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 with him. The sudden surprise and the pain broke him down, 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 prison for three years.
 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 to the barn proper were a pair of big doors and the stable door. The big doors were so we'll fastened on the inside that no one could open them. All attempts had been made at the small door. I now figured that the next conner would enter the stable below and 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 contain the largest aper- ture above.
 Once up stairs, 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-box would pass under beam out on the main floor. To this beam I fastened two poles eight feet long in an upright po- sition, and six feet apart. I then sawed off a two-inch plank to the right length, bored 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 fall of seven feet, and increased its weight by fastening block of stone at either end. When drawn up by the weight and pulley we ran the rope through ring in the floor, attached wire, and ran this wire to catch. A pressure of 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. We were stall-feeding three or four steers, and the drover was shown to the underground stable. I 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 I said that we feared no danger except by the small door he had a twinkle in his eyes.
 On that night everything was in readiness; but it was five nights be- fore the victim appeared. l had g string running from the plank to the bell in my chamber, but this alarm was not needed. The weather had been threatening all day, and at dark driz- gle set in. About eight o'clock ill the evening something disturbed the hens, and the hired man went ont to inYesti-