The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1896-04-18
,ATURDAY,. ...... APRIL 10, 1896.
IN THE HEATER PIPE.
THE RETIRED BURGLAR RELATES His
MOST SINGULAR EXPERIENCE.

He Had an Elegant Lay Out of Wedding
Presents at His Mercy When He Made
an Unfortunate step-In tho End He
Made o Contribution to the Collection.
"In a house that / was looking over
In "a town up the state one night, said
the retired burglar, II came across
something that l never struck but that
once in all my experience, strange az it
may seem, and that was a lot Of we'd
ding presents, all just as they were ar
ranged for display. When l turned my
lamp into the room, / wished ! had
brought a horse and wagon; there was
a good deal of Ii hat wouldn't have
been Of any earthly use to me, but it
seemed a pity to leave any Of 1t behind.
But II l couldn't carry 1t all off, / could
have the fun of picking. and l started
to look the things over. They were mr.
ranged ON tables and chairs and ON the
ioor around ON three sides Of the room !;
ON the side opposite to the side that l
had come in at. and on the sides to the
right and left; running around those
three sides in a sort Of irregular order.
On the side where / was there were u
few chairs. thought I'd start in on
the left and work around to the right,
and / started from the door and had
gone about three steps when l went
down through the floor, as 1t seemed to
me, but what l had really done was to
stop down through an open register. 1
suppose somebody must have dropped
something down through 1t and have
taken it out to get it and forgot to put
it back.
"There was n wire screen under the
register over the pipe opening to keep
things from dropping down the pipe.
but it was very 1ne light wire. and it
didn't stop mo at all / just slid down
into the pipe. pushing that along under
my feet. When ! dropped into the pipe,
I had been facing to the left; in some
way MS l went down got s':ewed around
SO that when l got down as far AZ l did
go l was facing to the front that is.
toward the center of the room. Tho
Pipe didn't go straight down, but with
a curve. l had thrown up my hands as
/ went down. and l suppose l might
have gone plumb to the furnace il l
hadn't clutched at the edge Of the regis
ter opening and hung on. A minute be-
fore l was going to take my pick of a
roomful now where was 1?
II had started across the room carry
ing my toolbag in one hand and my
lamp in the other. The shock when I
went down had shaken the bag out of
my hand, but l had held Oh to my lamp,
though 1t was lying IN its side now
with my fingers olutching through the
handle. The falling of the toolbag and
the striking of the lamp on the floor
and the scraping Of the wire gauze
down through the tin pipe must have
made all together a good deal Of noise,
and / expected every minute to hear
somebody moving about up stairs and
coming down to haul me out, but no.
body did come, and l set my lamp up
straight, and after I'd waited a minute
or two more l started to see if l could
haul myself out.
LAS l lay in the pipe my head was
below tho level of the floor; by a great
effort l could raise myself so that the
upper half of my head was above the
opening, but no higher; there was no
room for play; when l got that high, l
found myself with my elbows close 70
my body and fairly wedged into the
pipe; | couldn't get any higher.
Il let myself down again, and after
awhile l pulled myself up again. and
held on by one hand and held up the
lamp and swnng it round on the things.
Then | let myself down again, and Won
dered what ] was going to do. 1t wasn't
only uncomfortable there in the posi-
ton / was in, it was mighty hot and
unpleasant every way. II | let 60. |
didn't know but that I'd slide dawn
against the furnace, and, of course, |
couldn't stand it Tor an indefinite length
of time, and when I'd been in tho Pipe
| should imagine about two hours. |
made up my mind that | wouldn't Try
TO stand 1t any longer; I'd got 20 c8Eo
ont some time, and might just as we'll