The herald., 1896-12-19
BEECHENBROOK BOY.


myself, which one shouldn't do when II
can be avoided, hope may come out ol
1t without being thought in the least con
ceited.
Beechenbrook was and is yet great
house few miles outside of Manchester.
At the time of my story 1t was occupied
by the man who built it, n largo manufac
turer Of the famous manufacturing town.
1t stood in the middle of 30 acres oi
ground, and house. barns, lawns and gar.
dens required the services of about IL
servants.
In the bookstore in which I was EN-.
ployed In London was said to have cx-
cellent taste and Judgment in the arrange
nent OF country libraries, even though
was only boy of 16, and a few weeks aft
er the owner Of Beechenb nbrook had given
MS An order was sent up there to put
away the volumes.
On the day arrived the owners wife
and daughter started for Scotland on n
visit, while Mr.. Markham himself depart
ed for Paris to attend certain business.
All the servants about the place except the
head gardener, two grooms and two wom-
en- In the kitchen were given leave from
UucAT oluplOyCT W ~ W Uuo eVbtiou, UNo
miles away. They were not long gone
when passing through the hall saw three
masked men trying to open the plateroom
door, crept back to the hall, across into
the drawing room, and at the far end Of
the big room / raised the window and
stepped to the ground.
Once out l made my way to the stables,
but there surprise awaited me- found
hDu i nkDl< D. M mud n v,ov
and head groom standing beside the ve-
hicle. Had the two men not had their
backs to me and been 80 earnestly engaged
in conversation they must have seen and
heard my approach.
had my lips parted to speak, when !
suspected something wrong. The plumber
was to be carried off in the cart, and the
three men servants were in league with
the robbers. 1t came to me like a flash
and in time to save myself. drew back
and wondered what should do.
Queerly enough, was more upset at
the thought of the two mile run in the rain
and darkness to town than in returning
was out of the house and could hide in
safety till morning, but that idea never
came to me.
was all lOI preventing tuo IOODGEy anu
pretty soon I skulked back to the open
window. In so doing I saw the outside
door of the dining room ajar. The groom
had let the robbers in at that door, and
the distance from the door to the open
ditch was only Is feet
When I had re-entered the house and
crept back to the door lending into the
dining room, the fellows had given UP
<.v,: Do I-k1
key and were working at it with iron
bars Five minutes later they had it open,
and then the groom passed out piece after
piece, while the robbers deposited them in
their sacks.
Everything was of solid silver, and to
save space nearly every piece was bent or
broken by hand or foot The trio worked
in hurry, and at the end of half an hour
the room was empty and five sacks were
full.
had been watching everything in a
helpless way, having no plan and no hope,
and it was only when the men shouldered
the sacks to carry them out that made a
move.
I determined to try the effect Of scare,
and as the last of them stepped outdoors
fired the pistol into the sack OH his back
and shouted at the top of my voice. 1t
was the groom who had slipped up stairs
and locked me in, and though he may not
have recognized my voice as shouted, the
sudden alarm caused greater panic than
could have hoped for.
All three men started to run. The
groom threw down his sack, but the rob.
bers clung to theirs. They all knew about
the ditch, but in the darkness and confu-
,Jo .,-.I% x1ol
one after another. As they went in fired
two shots in the direction of the stables
Both cut the two men there SO close that
they took to their heels, and thus with
three shots and four or five yells had
scared of the whole gang. l had even
done better. In falling into the ditch the
three fellows were badly knocked about,
and when it came to climbing out they
couldn't do it, especially as l was there
with my pistol in hand and threatened to
shoot the first man who showed his head.
The row had awakened the women, and
when they came to know what had hap
pened they took the horse and cart and
went for the police, while continued to
stand guard. In an hour we had the
men out and handcuffed. and next day the
other two were arrested 90 miles away.
The two strangers were professionals and
desperate men, and but for the fact that
one had an arm broken and the other IA
leg by the fall into the ditch they could
not have been held there so easily.
They got 15 years apiece in prison, while
the Others were let off with seven, and,
though am not going to give exact fig
ures, will say that Mr.. Markham reward
ed me 80 literally that it was made red
letter night in my life. The police growl-
ed at my way of doing things, as a matter
of course, but on the other hand a hun
dred different newspapers said "the boy at
Beechenbrook" deserved unstinted praise
for his conduct, and SO, on the whole,
have always felt rather proud of the affair
Philadelphia Press.