Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1895-01-03

bul lne uarkleS Ielt llllle Spllelu
against the Yankee at Sea View who
was so ready to shoot them down, and
showed it in a number of petty ways
Young boys and girls hardly ever passed
the gate after dark without pulling the
bell handle and then running away
| This became annoying, and Mrs. Brown
complained about it.
The bell handle was of brass, and il
connected with an iron wire which
rang a bell in the kitchen. Mr. Brown
sent Thomas TO the town to find a flat
iron plate about three feet square, and
in the hardware store he found it, and
it was neatly laid in front of the gate
post as though to keep visitors out OF
the mud. That day the electrician had
a little business in the lane, and in the
dusk he connected an innocent little
wire with the dynamo. This trap re-
quired no watching, being automatic
in its action.
Soon after dark party of boys and
girls walked up the road toward the set
tlement, barefoot, as they always were.
When they came opposite the gate one
of the boys ran up to the bell handle
and gave it violent pull. At that
moment he received an electric shock
that made his arm sore.
"Bangm said a gun just inside the
gate.
ooh, oh, ouoww shrieked the boy,
and the whole party ran up the road
as fast as their little legs would carry
them.
This boy also had a narrow escape
in the settlements telling of it. He
heard bullet whistle past his ear and
there was some talk of complaining to
the magistrate. But after that the bell
handle was undisturbed.
This incident, however added fuel to
the flame, and the colored people We're
more indignant than ever. "Dat YAM
kee at Sea View, he'd shoot pore boy
jes' fer a-ringin' his bell, he would"
But still they were not indignant
enough to stop robbing him, and in the
cocoanut grove, some distance from the
house, they still kept up their pillag-
ing.
"William," Mrs. Brown said one
day, 81 have never seen a darky rob a
cocoanut tree.o
This hint was sufficient, and the cleo
trician made long visit to the cocoa
nut grove, carrying with him some of
the implements of his trade. Before
dark that evening he returned to the
grove, having stationed Mrs. Brown at
an upper window in the house. He
settled himself in cozy place he had
made among the branches of thick
low tree and awaited developments.
This was longer wait than the other,
but at length he was rewarded. The
new moon was partially obscured by
clouds, but he saw four men climb the
wall, there very low, and advance into
the grove. He looked at the keyboard
before him and saw that all was ready.
The men went well into the grove
and separated. In moment he saw
the four climbing trees-one man to a
tree-and each carrying large bag to
hold the nuts. He waited till they
were well up among the branches, some
of them 80 feet from the ground, and
then touched key.
"W hir-r-r-rW said big gong in the
middle of the grove.
"Histw said one Of the darkies.
He touched another key and Bang!
bang! bangW went the guns in differ
ent parts ofthe ground.
-Four darkies began to slide down
four cocoanut trees, and they do that
work rapidly. But they are not as
quick as the electric current. The cleo
trician pressed another key and colored
fires flashed up all over the grove.
They were in circles around 20 OF 80 of
the trees-red circles, blue circles, green
circles, and yellow. A blue darky slid
down one tree, a yellow darky down an
other, red darky and a green. Seeing
this terrible sight they all set up howl
and stopped, suspended in midair
Another key. Bang! bang! bangu'
all around them.
This settled the day (or the night in
favor of flight. What those fires might
do to them they did not know, but they
did know the effects of bullets, and
still bowling, they all slid down and
ran for their lives. A few more touches
of the keys, and in their flight they
were fired at from every quarter, and
two gongs rang an alarm that might
have been heard at the other end of the
island From that night the cocoanut
grove was as safe as the oranges.
More important depredations, how
ever, soon began. Sea View had a
large chicken establishment well
all the fowls for the table. The fowl
house had wire front and door that
was shut every night, but did not lock.
loH 10 DSSSdh w
and nearly every morning three or four
were missing. This thief was evident
ly of different character from the
stealers of fruit. They We're mere casu-
al pilferers, but the chicken thief was
Mrs. Brown, mourning
the loss of her fowls, complained that
she he'd never seen a darby rob hen
rOost.
"You know how anxious l am to
please you, my dear" the electrician
replied, and that day his exercise was
taken in the chicken yard. To sit up
and watch for chicken thief was out
of the question, for he might come at
any hour of the night; but no matter,
it was merely problem of a crossed
wire and an extra coil, and the thief
trap was made automatic.
AT 2 O'Clock the next morning small
gong, well mut1led, began to ring at
the head of the electricians bed. That
indicated that the door leading to the
chicken yard had been opened, and he
hastily awoke Mrs. Brown and led her
to window that overlooked the scene
of action. They reached there in the
nick of time, just as the thief opened
4 ha door Of tha f,u,I horoo ,,L;oL -