Milford chronicle., 1896-03-20
TN THE HEATER PIPE.
THE RETIRED BURGLAR RELATES HIS
MOST SINGULAR EXPERIENCE.

H. Fad mn elegant Lay Out OF wedding
P.e,enss At His Mercy When He Made
an Unfortunate step-In the End He
Made a CONFEDERATION to the Collection
.Iu a house that was looking over
In q town up the state one night saiu
the retired burglar. Il came across
something that 1 never struck but thht
once in all my experience, strange as u
NAV seem. aud that was lot Of we'd
ding presents. all Just as they were ar
ranoed for display. When turned my
lamp into the room, wished had
brought horse and wagon; there was
a GOOD deal of it that wouldn't have
been Of any earthly use to me, but II
sesmed a pity to leave any OF 1t behind.
But j couldn't carry it all of, could ]
have theron Of picking, and l started
10 look the things over. They were ar
ranoed nm tables and chairs and on the
flooT around on three sides Of the room
on the side opposite to the side that
had come in al, and on the sides to the
right and left; running around those
tlTea sides in a sort Of irregular order.
ON the side where l was there We're
few chairs. ! thought I'd start IN ON
the left and work around to the rlght,
and started from the door and mao
cone about three steps when ! went
down through the floor, as 1t seemed co
ma. Init what 1 had really done was 70
stem down through an open register.
suppose somebody must have dropped
'aomethipe down through it and have
taken it ont to get it and forgot to put
it back.
nThere was q wire screen under the
register over the pipe opening to keep
things from dropping down the pipe,
but it was very fine light wire, and II
didn't stop me at all; just slid down
into the pipe, pushing that along under
NV feet. When 1 dropped into the pipe
had been facing to the left; in some
vav as went down got skewed around
so that when got down as far as l did
20 / was facing to the fronts that IS,
toward the center Of the room. The
nine didn't 90 straight down, but with
a eurye. had thrown mp my hands as
went down, and 1 suppose might
have gone plumb to the furnace It J
hadn't clutched at the edge of the regis
ter opening and hung on. A minute be-
fore I was going to take my PICK OF
roomful; now where was /!
II had started across the room carry
ing nv toolbag in one hand and my
.Iamn IN the other. The shock when l
went down bad shaken the bag out OF
mvband. but had held ON to my lamp,
though il was lying on its side now
with my fingers clutching 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 sin pipe must have
made all together a good deal of noise,
and I expected every minute TO hear
somebody moving about up stairs and
cnnipg down to haul me out, but no
body did come, and set my lamp up
straight, and after I'd waited minute
or two more started to see if l could
haul myself out.
Gas / lay in the pipe my head was
below the level of the floor; by great
effort / could raise myself so that the
uppcr half Of my head was above the
opening, but no higher; there was no
room for play; when / got that high, !
found myself with my elbows close to
my body and fairly wedged into the
pipe; oouldn't get any higher
II let myself down again, and after
awhile 1 pulled myself up again, and
held ON by one hand and held up the
lamp and swung it round on the things.
Then let myself down again, and won
dered what was going to do. 1t WASH {
only uncomfortable there in the posi-
ton I was in, it was mighty hot and
unpleasant every way. If let go.
didn't know but that I'd slide down
against the furnace, and, Of course,
couldn't stand it for an indefinite length
of time, and when I'd heen in the pipe
I should imagine about two hours,
made up ny mind that wouldn't try
TO stand it any longer; I'd got to come
ont some time, and Knight just as well
come out then; in fact, better, for while
the chances of my getting away at all
were mighty small, they would be bet
ter at night than they would be in the
daytime.
$50 made up my mind to kick on
the pipe and wake up the house and
have the thing settled So kicked
once, twice, and then / kicked again
and BY snakes I kicked the pipe open
at my feet. There was joint there, and
I'd kicked it apart, and the sections
was in sagged down with my weight,
and 1 slid out ON the cellar floor. The
sagging down of that part of the pipe
detached it from the part above and II
fell on the cellar floor alongside of me.
That made noise enough to wake every
body mp; there couldn't be any doubt
about that.
- -ssYxswent ont by the same cellar win
dow tAat came in by. It was the first
and onlyNsuch lot of stuff that / ever
struck, and never got a thing out OF
it; in fact, added something to it my.
self-a set Of tools and dark lantern. y
New York Sun.