The Russellville Democrat., 1891-04-09

1 down the opening. could see a llghteA 1 candle and two or three dark figures at 1 the safe, and could hear the co1nbina-
 ton being worked. My first thought
 was to drop my hand down and open fire 1 in their direction. but remembered that we had so many articles hanging up that no bullet had chance of hitting the men. was wondering what 70 do, wher
 heard one of the men whisper:
 'sIt's all dd nonsense. We might work here week and not hit it.
 ssBut told you to bring the tools and
 you wouldn't, protested another
 "Oh, dry upiv put in third voice.
 'sWhat we want to do is to go up and
 bring that counter hopper down, and
 make him open the box. :"
 sTll give the cussed thing few more trials said the first man, and heard
 him working away again. My eyes
 could not have told me the number of
 robbers. but my ears had. There were
 three of them, and they were no doubt
 desperate and determined men. They
 spoke of bringing me down to open the
 safe, as if no resistance was anticipated
 or taken into account. Indeed, they
 might well reason that they had me at their mercy. The rain was now falling, i the night was very dark, and pistol shot in the store could not have been heard in either of the dwellings. If they had reflected that I might be armed they would have offset it with the fact that was boy of IS. with a girls face and probably girls nerve. don't deny that was bit rattled and that my lip would quiver in spite of me, but l was at the same time fully de termined to protect the store if it cost me my life. How to get at the fellows was soon solved.
 "There," whispered the man at the combination as he let go of it. 'sI 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 me would be at the head of the stairway. The stairs had a half turn in them. and I would fire upon the first man who came within range. l heard the men coming back to the stairway and my nerve gave way. It wasn't from cowardice, but the knowledge that was to kill human being upset me. 1 de- cided to retreat to my room, and If they persisted in coming that far l would shoot The trio had rubbers on their feet, but they came up stairs without trying very hard to prevent making a noise.
 The one who came first had the candle, and as he got to the head of the stairs l saw knife in his other hand. They made no delay in approaching my room, and with great effort 1 braced myself for what 1 saw must happen. They could not see me until within three or four feet of the door, and their first inti- nation that I was out of bed was when they heard me call out:
 Stop, or I'll shoott'
 had them covered with the weapon, and for fifteen seconds there was dead silence. Then they got plan. The man with the candle dashed 1t on the floor, and suppose they meant to rush in on me in the dark, but I checkmated it by opening fire. They then either meant to retreat down stairs or toward the rear of the floor, for I saw the three together moving off, and fired at their dim figures. Three seconds later there was great shout of horror, followed by the tremendous report of the double bar reled spring gun, and then there wss ab- solnte silence. N think I stood in the door shaking like leaf for fully three minutes before the silence was broken by groan. Then 1t came to me that the robbers had fallen through the open door upon the cord leading to the gun. l struck match, lighted my own candle, and going to the opening saw three bodies lying be- low. Running back to the bedroom to recharge my revolver, then went down stairs to investigate.
 It WAS as I suspected. The three had pitched down together The top of ones head had been blown off by the shot, a second had a hole in his chest as big as your fist. while the third, who was re- sponsible for the groans, was severely 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 ..drover' was a Chicago burglar called "Clawhammer Dick" and he had hidden himself in the store that night, and then let his pals in by the back door. They had 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 carelessness on my part not only saved the store and probably my life, but wiped out very desperate gang. IT Boston Commercial Bulletin.