The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-10-10

But l told you to bring the tools and
You Wouldn't protested another.
oh, dry up" put in n third voice.
what We want to do is to 20 up and
bring that counter hopper down, and
make him open the box"
III give tho cusscd thing n few more
trials said the first man, and | heard
him Working away again. My eyes
could not have told inc the number OF
robbers, but my ears had. There were
three OF them. and they were no doubt
desperate and determined mon. They
spoke OF bringing me down TO open the
saie, as II no resistance was anticipated
or taken into account. Indeed, they
might well reason that they had mo NJ
their mercy. The rain was now falling,
tho night was very dark. and q pistol
shot in tho store could not havc been
heard in either OF tho dwellings.
II they had reflected that | might be
armed thcy would have offset It with
tho fact that l was q boy Of IS, with II
girls face and probably n girls nerve.
| don't deny that | was n bit ratified,
and that my lip would culver in spite
OF me, but | was at tho same time fully
determined 10 protect thestorc II it cost
me my life. How to got at the fellows
was what bothered Inc, but that trouble
was Don solved.
There" whispered the man at the
combination rs lie let 90 Of it, II 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 mo would DO ut tho head
OF the stairway. Tho stairs Ind n half
turn In them, and | would fire upon
the first man who came within range.
l heard tho men coming back to tho
stairway and my nerve gave way. 1t
wasn't from cowardice, but tho knowl.
edge that l was to kill 4 human being
upset me. | decided to retreat 10 my
room, and II they persisted in coming
that far | would shoot. The trio had
rubbers on their feet, but they came up
stairs without trying very hard to pre-
vent making q noise.
The one who cana first had the con-
die, and as he got TO the head OF the
stairs | saw q knife in his other hand.
They made no delay in approaching my
room, and with n great effort | braccd
myself for what | saw must happen.
They could not sec me until within
three or four feet OF the door, and their
first %intimatiou that l was out OF bed
was when they heard me call out:
stop, or I'll shootl"
l had them covered with the weapon,
and for fifteen seconds there was n dead
silence. Then they got n plan. The
man with the candle dashed it on the
floor, and suppose they meant to rush
in on me in the dark. but ] checkma,cd
it by opening fire. They then either
meant to retreat down stairs or toward
the rear OF the floor, for | saw the three
to2ethc- moving off and fired at their
din figures. Three seconds later there
was 4 great shout OF horror, followed by
the tremendous report Of the double
barreled spring gun, and then there was
absolute silence.
! think stood in the door shaking
like 4 leaf for fully three minutes before
the silence was broken by q groan.
Then it came to Inc that the robbers
had fallen through the open door upon
the cord leading to the gun. l struck 4
match, lighted my own candle, and go
ing to the opening saw three bodies ~
ing below. Running back to the bed
room to re-chargc my revolver, l then
went down stairs to investigate. 4lL
1t was MS l suspected. The three had
pitched down together. The top of
ones head had been blown off by the
shot, 4 second had 4 hole in his chest
rs big as your fist, while the third, who
was responsible for the groans, was Sc
verely wounded in both legs. It 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 "drovcr' was a Chicago bur
glar called "~Clawhammer Dick" and
he had hidden himself i'll the store that
night, and then let his pals in by the
back door. They had Il 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 carelessncss on my part
not only saved the store and probably
my life, but wiped out n very desperate
gang.