Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-01-18
4 BOYS DERELlcTloN.
his Boss Kicked Because He Captured and
Tied Only One Burglar.

his Boss Kicked Because He Captured and
Tied Only One Burglar.
AT about the age of Is I wentto clerk
in a country store in Indiana, and
among my other duties was that OF
sleeping in the store nights as pro-
tector. It was a great big barn of a
store, standing at crossroads, four
miles from a town, and the owner
lived about forty rods away. The
idea of my being any real value as
protector was absurd, but the under
standing was that / was to sleep there,
and ! did. had room upstairs, one
corner being partitioned off, and |
never got into that bed that | did not
cover up my head and shake and shiv-
er with fear until sleep got the better
of me.
One Saturday night, after several
hundred dollars had been paid in, the
proprietor hid the roll in tea chest,
locked up the big safe and went home,
leaving me to close up. When this
had been done / got to bed, but about
midnight was awakened by some noise
down stairs. After listening for
dWull6 DCCdIllC SuIO tlisAl oOLiO OhO
was in the store, and / crept out of bed
under the belief that the big, dark
floor room would be safer for me in
case any one came upstairs. There
was a hatch or opening in the center
of the room, and / crept softly to this
and looked down upon the heads OF
three men working at the safe. They
could not have known that slept in
the store, as no one had been up, and
as they were taking matters as cool as
you please. 1t was an old fashioned
safe, and they had stolen tools from
blacksmith in town to open it.
How much do you fgger onT
asked one.
-Four hundred, replied another.
Whats that apiecea" asked the
third.
All began to figure, and after ten
minutes they made it out that each
would get $3.50 This tickled them
and they began work 1t was wonder
full how that old safe held out For
three long hours they hammered and
banged and pounded. taking turns as
they tired out, and about 5 o'clock in
the morning they got in. They al
most had a fight to see who should first
pull out the money, and when it was
discovered that an old sixpence,
with crossed marks on it, and 81 bill
on a busted state bank constituted all
the wealth behind the iron door there
was a moment of awful suspense.
Then they began at each other, and
each robber, his father, mother broth
ers and sisters had to take it. They
called each other liars, thieves,
swindlers, barn burners and every
thing else they could think of, and
finally three cornered fight began.
In the struggle one of them was
knocked unconscious, end the other
two left him and skipped out 1t was
getting daylight now, and l went
down, found the fellow quiet, and
tied his hands and feet with a clothes
line. l had just concluded when he
opened his eyes, realized the situation,
and worked sweet smile to his face as
he said:
Say, bub, I'm awful glad to see
you. I'm the Rev. Stephen Baker, OF
Lafayette, you know, and have wan
dered out here IN my sleep, and got
into this place somehow. | often walk
in my sleep, but hardly ever go as fan
as this. My but what will my con
gregation say if I'm not back on time.
Just throw the ropes off, bub, and III
be going as fast as lean. The Lord
and me love little boys Can't you
come to my Sunday school2"
Butt ran and told the merchant, and
the "Rev" was ultimately landed in
state prison. AS a reward for my eff
forts the owner of the store said to me,
as he SURVEYED the ruined safe:
Look at that wreck, and it's all
your fault What in thunder do
pay you So a month for, except to keeE
robbers off, and here you've went and
let two of 'em git away"-New York
Sun.