Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-02-14

about the adventure, and Of course gave
away my invention. The next man who
came would be informed, and would take
care to avoid it. | must, therefore. have
recourse TO something else. 1 sent off 70
st. Louis for q bear trap, and as soon as
it arrived we planted If in front of the
stable door. /. was monster trap, in
tended to hold anything 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 work
ers 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 pretended 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
thief, a man who had come along and
hired TO US to dig ditch TO drain a pond
made an excuse to visit the horse barn.
l was asleep ct the time; but the hired
man reported that bis actions were sus-
picous. He probably wanted to see if
aky further pitfalls had been prepared.
and he was doubtless gratifed when he
found the way to the gray holses clear
of danger.
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 a
room on the outer side of the house, and
we did not set the trap until he was in
bed. On the third day after his inspec-
ton of the stables, he announced that he
must go to the village in the evening to
make some purchases. We set the trap
at O'clock and at 1880 the bell rang.
We were waiting for it, and we were out
in two or three minutes. The bear-trap
had its victim and its victim was our
ditch digger. Of all the bowling, yelling,
cursing and praying you ever heard mix
ed together this fellows utterances took
the cake. He was caught by the right
leg, and such was the pain that he was al
most crazy. He had unlocked one of the
big padlocks on the door and had bunch
of about fifty keys with him. The sud
den surprise 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 was sent to
prison for three years. That was not his
full punishment, however. His leg was
SO injured in the trap that it had to be
amputated to save ais life.
The papers gave my bear trap away,
as a matter of course, and l must now
look for some other defence. 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
to the barn proper were 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 attempt
had been made by the small door. I
now figured that the next caller 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 aperture above.
Once up stairs the thief could lead the
horses from the sable to the man floor
and then out of the big doors. One
ascending by the hay box would pass
under a beam out on the main floor. To
this beam fastened two poles eight feet
long in an upright position and six feet
apart. / then sawed off O two-inch plank
to the right length, bored a hole in the
other end. and with the help of the hired
man and a rope and pulley, hoisted 1t up
and slipped it over the poles. We ar
ranged it to have a fall of seven feet,
and increased it's weight by fastening d
block of stone az either end. When
drawn up by the rope and pulley we
ran the rope through a ring in the floor,
attached wire, and ran this wire to a
catch. A pressure of pound on the
wire released the catch and let the plank
down with a smash
We were undisturbed for about four
weeks after the sentence of the bear trap
victim. Then a 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 under
ground stable. Twas watching ali his
movements, and | saw that he gave the
empty stall and the big hay box particu-
lar 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 the stables, and thereby made an excuse
for stepping on the edge of the maLger
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 | bad in store for any one
who tried it. On that night everything
was III readiness; but it was five nights
before the victim appeared. | had d
string running from the plank to the
bell in my chamber, but this alarm
was not needed. It was, L believe,
the 9Th of October. The weather had
been threatening all day, and at dark
a drizzie set in. About O'Clock
in the evening something disturbed the
hens, and the hired man went out to in
vestigate the trouble. He heard some
body calling from the barn and we vent
out to discover that We had prisoner
under the plank. 1t Eas not the drover
who called to see the fat steers, but a
tough looking fellow about 25 years of
age who had got the pointer. He had
come early so as to get long start be-
fore day b1eak, and under the idea that
no trap would be set until our bedtime
The heavy weight had come down across
his back, aud he had been so badly hurt
thas ne could hardly move. When we re-
moved him we sent for doctor, and be-
fore 10 O'Clock the thief was told that he
could not live until morning. He was at
first very sullen and defiant, but as death
came nearer he began TO weaken. At
midnight he asked Us 30 send for the
sheriff, and VII en- that official arrived the
thief made a startling confession. He
gave away the names and residences of a
score of agents, told the officer where TO
find fifteen or twenty stolen horses, and
Ia brief, made comp lete exposure of the