The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1895-02-15
Ex-BURaLAR AT FOOTBALL
How He Got Into a Game aud How
He Got Out of It.


"As | started across the room," the
retired burglar said to the New York
Sun man, describing his adventures
in a town up the state, 81 stepped
on creaky board. The man in the
bed threw back the bed-clothes with
snap aud sat up. There was light
enough in the room from a turned.
down gas jet by the bureau for him
to see me, and he tossed the clothes
away and jumped out OF bed. He
was big fellow, broad shouldered,
and powerful, and he wasn't any
more afraid of me than # I'd been
baby. There wasn't any use for me
to run. couldn't have got to the
head of the stairs before he'd have
had his hand on my collar, and l
knew it. There wasn't anything to
do but to face him and fight him.
He had made jump for me as he
swung out of bed, and made run
for him, lowering my head and
throwing myself at him with my
shoulder against his legs just above
the knees. | had won that first
round, for | knocked him over just
by sheer weight and force, and as
he went down | fell on him, aud
actually | thought then that / was
going to best him.
But, though he was down, he
wasn't discouraged; far from it. l
had fallen on him kind o sideways,
over more on the right side Of his
body. | had his right arm under
me, and his left hand and forearm;
but he pulled that left arm out from
under me easily and flung it over
and grabbed my left arm with a grip
that was like the sudden contraction
OF a big steel claw, but what got me
most about it was its absolute con-
tidence. He was quick-quicker'n
lightning-but was cool as cool
could be. 1t was the grip Of a man
who felt in his heart that he could
pull house down il he wanted to.
"He tried to pull me over on his
back, where / would have been as
helpless as a bug turned over, and
as | felt that grip almost laughed
IS l thought that half minute be-
fore | was thinking that possibly I
might best him. What / was doing
now was hanging on to him for all l
knew how, to keep him from turn
ing me over. All Of a sudden he
shifted that left hand to my throat
and choked the breath out OF me,
ard the next thing knew was sit
ting in a chair with my arms tied to
me, and him looking at me.
Which had you rather do says
he; go to Jail or play foot balll"
"'Well, / said, Il think I'd rather
play football
"'Ever playT said the man.
"'Never, says |.
"Well, when you came in,' says
the man, you made one OF the pref
test tackles that ever was Then
he went on to tell me that he was
the captain OF the football team in
that town, that the left tackle was
sick, and that a week from next
Thursday they were going to play
the team from another town near
by, and what he wanted was to have
me take the left tackles place.
"This was on Tuesday, so, you see,
there was about eight or nine days
left. went right into training with
the team, the captain introducing
me as friend from New York. They
were practicing every day. I'd been
so accustomed to night work that it
came pretty hard on me at first to get
used to the day work, but / got into
it in two or three days and worked
along all right. They taught me all
they could in eight days, and re-
membered all | could of it. | sup
pose you know a great deal more
about football than do, but if you
don't might say that in tackling
you can do almost any thing; you
can throw yourself at man the way
had at the captain at his house, or
you can throw your arms around
him and 'rastle with him and throw
him il you can, but, OF course, no
smuggling; but you can only tackle
the man that has ball; you can't
tackle the men that haven't got il.
You can put your arm up to them
to block 'em when they try to get by
you, and you can fall against 'em II
you want to, but you must not lay
hands on 'em.
"Well, the day came and our town
turned out immense, and there was
great lot OF folks came over from
the other town. Our team was a
good one, and the other team had a