Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-18
HUNTING A BURGLAR.
THE EXCITING EXPERIENCE OF A
 GRAND RAPIDS MAN.

The Hired Girl Was In It, Too, From Start
 to Finish-with Revolver and Dark Lau-
 tern the Householder Took to the War
 path-An Unreasonable Wife.
 Ut is dreadful to be suddenly awak- ened at night by large, coarse burglar without any innate refinement, ''said the Union street resident, land when my wife awoke me Thursday night, and in one of those whispers women invariably use after the lights are out. and which always cause a man s backbone to era WI up behind his ears. told me she was sure there was a burglar in the house, re- member requesting her to go down and refer him to the Charity Organization society, because was sure to get the grip if feft my warm bed and went parading around the house without stop ping to put on anything but defiant expression.'
 "Did she go?''
 "She did not, although I explained to her that if she would merely step down stairs and speak to the burglar in con- ciliatory way he would probably go away quietly, and there would be no trouble. told her that if should sad denly come face to face in my own house with crude, uncouth robber who had not been invited there, and who had no letters of introduction, my fiery temper would probably get the better of me, and there would be an awful hand to hand struggle, which would like enough inspire in me such a fendish longing for warm. red blood that would thrash around for weeks afterward killing re- spectable people on sight. have al- ways striven for a higher mission in life than to go around shooting large, ragged holes through the vitals of my fellow men, and for that reason I ex- plained to my wife how even burglar might have loved ones dependent upon him for support, and that life was prob- ably just SIS dear to him as it is to a member of congress.
 But you cant talk any sense into a woman's head after she has become imbued with the idea that there are burglars in the house, and at length, rather than have any trouble over the matter, arose, and grasping revolver and lighting my boys dark lantern started out to find that burglar and ex- plain to him that he must have been mis- led by the number on the door and got into the wrong house. l did not go down on a gallOp, because preferred to give the housebreaker chance to realize his danger and escape with his life while there was yet time. It seemed harsh and unfeeling to coldly shoot d man to death when did not even know what ward he voted in, and so I slam med things around and created consld- erable disturbance on the way down stairs.
 II looked under the door mat and turned my searchlight on the hatrack without finding burglar and was just on the point of returning up stairs to consult with my wife as to whether she cared to have the pa1lor alrpet unused up with his blood if 1 should find him when I caught a glimpse of q form rObed ill long ulster start back from the landing and dash up stairs. My first impulse was to let the burglar stay up there if he cared to. because I could have got along on the ground floor well enough the remainder of the night, and 1 do not want to seem inhospitable to any one, but l realized that 1t was my duty to protect my family, and I took after him. We'll, sir, I had no idea there was so much fun in merrily romping around the house with burglar after business hours. We made the first cir cult of my family residence within 19 seconds, and though 1 could not focus the dark lantern quickly enough to get good look at the housebreaker I could tell by his hoarse labored breathing and the way in which he reached out and covered space that he was a good deal annoyed by the turn affairs had taken.
 II had never seen a burglar act that way before, and it did good deal to- ward restoring confidence. It seemed to me that burglar who had no more sang froid and. nerve than that had bet ter go home and take in plain sewing rather than try to eke out precarious existence in the midnight marauding line, and the reflection served to put so much Eoyish zeal and enthusiasm into my mad pursuit that the hem of the only garment with one exception that l was wearing at the time began to fray out. On the third lap we plunged heavily over the baby s crib in the nursery, and my wife covered up her head in the bed clothes and screamed, and the dog took after both of us, and there was trouble all around.
 "On the next round the burglar gained &,,,l kitchen he unbolted the back door and dashed out into the night, with pierC- ing vail, and 1 after him. We tore around the house twice and then down the sidewalk to the next house, where the burglar made il break for the barn in the rear. I found him covering in one corner of a box stall, with hands upraised, and as 1 stood over him with leveled revolver the rays of my trusty dark lantern revealed hired girl, wear