Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-12-18
THe RETIRED eOn,,IAR-
His Unpleasant Experience In . Town In
Western PenusylyauIa-

One Of my most painful experiences, I"
said the retired burglar. II had In n town
In western Pennsylvania. In the course
OF my customary preliminary walk had
hxcd my eye upon n small but trim look
ing Queen Ammo cottage which stood upon
a little bit of knoll In quite n good sized
lot, with grass plot all around IL. The
cellar windows were good and high and
easy, and selected one at the rcnr of the
house SO as Ia be as far rs possible secure
from observation. though that seemed on
such night an almost unnecessary prc-
caution. It was one of the darkest nights
/ ever knew, and nobody could have seen
you ten feet of, but then there was the
danger of being heard, and so It was sen
sible, OF course, TO go In at n rear window
1t Is always foolish 10 take any unneces-
sary risk
''Wello found couldn't unfasten this
window from the outside, SO waited for
the next thunderclap-thercw was a thun-
derstorm coming up; that's what made
IL so dark-and then broke a hole in the
glass and reached in for the catch. The
instant my hand got through that hole it
was grabbed by dog that knew would
hold on till he died. There could be no
possible doubt about that. The yigur aud
dash and power of the grip and the ahso-
lutely firm and rigid hold were unmistak-
able With the next fash of lightning
saw him, n white bulldog, standing on
the head OF barrel under the window,
with my hand in his mouth. He'd been
roaming around that cellar, on the alert
and he'd heard me from the start. He was
on the barrel. no doubt, when I was work
ing at that window ON the outside, and all
he wanted was to have mc get in.
1T was bad TO have to do IL, but had
to. couldn't pull away from him any
more than could have pulled my hand
out from under n pile driver. so 1 reached
around rs we'll rs l could with my left
hand and got my gun, and when the next
flash of lightning came fired. ! knew
must have hit him, too, but not much
more than that, for he didn't let go. He
just shut his teeth together tighter
though i wouldn't have thought he could
do that, but he did-tiH l thought the
teeth must come together through my
hand. 1t makes mo wincc now just to
think OF It. When the next fash came,
saw him again. There was blood trick
ling down tho side Of his head from where
I'D hit him, but his teeth were set in n
hold that knew l couldn't have broken
with n jimmy. There are times when cir
cumstances arc agin n man. and this was
onc of 'em.
Il could hear 'cm in the house alrCady.
They'd heard the pistol, as l knew they
would, and they were coming. The door
ut the head Of the cellar stairs opened and
two young men. with n light, came tum.
bling down. They saw the dog standing
on the barrel. with my hand in his mouth
and my arm running out through the
window. Well, one OF them came out for
me, and / was easy, dead easy. He tied
me up without any more trouble than If
I'd been "a bundle Of rags and the man
inside got the dog of somehow, don't
know how. Then they took mo into the
house and sent for n doctor. and needed
one, and then they sent me to a hospital
tn stay until was tried. He cost me th0re
years and six months. that dog New
York sun.