The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-03-25
The Retired Burglar.

seem. aud that was a lot of wedding
presents, all just as they were arranged
1 for display. When turned my lamp
| into the room I wished ! had brought
a horse and wagon; there was good
| deal of il that wouldn't have been of
any earthly use TO me, but it seemed
/ pity to leave any oft behind. But If
| couldn't carry ii all off could have
| the fun of picking, and L started TO
look the things over. They were ar
ranged on tables and chairs and on the
floor around three sides of the room,
on the side opposite TO the side / had
come in at, and on the sides 10 the
right and left, running around those
| three sides in q sort of irregular order.
on the side where | was there were q
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 | went
through the floor, as it seemed TO me,
but what had really done was 20 step
down through an open register. 1
suppose somebody must have dropped
something down through it and have
taken il out to get it and forgot to put
| il back.
''There was a wire screen under the
register over the pipe opening to keep
things from dropping down the pipe,
bat it was very fine light wire, and it
didn't stop me at all; l just slid down
into the pipe, pushing that along un-
der my feet. When / dropped into
the pipe | had been facing to the left;
in some way as | went l got skewed
around so that when got down as far
a. did go / was facing to the front;
that is, toward the center of the room.
The pipe didn't go straight down, but
with a curve. / had thrown up my
hands as | went down, and l suppose
| might have gone plumb to the fur
mace if l hadn't clutched at the edge Of
the register opening and hung on. a
minute before / was going TO take my
pick of roonful; now where was L?
Il had started across the room carry
ing my tool bag in one hand and my
lamp in the other. The shock when |
went down had shaken the bag out of
my hand, but / had held on to my
lamp, though ii was lying on its side
now with nay fingers clutching through
the handle The falling of the tool
bag and the striking of the lamp on
the floor and the scraping Of the wire
cause through the pipe must have
made altogether good deal of noise,
and I expected every minute to hear
somebody moving about upstairs and
coming down to haul me out, but no
body did come, and / set my lamp up
straight, and after I'd waited a minute
or two more | started to see if l could
haul myself out.
''As lay in the pipe my head was
below the level of the floor; by great
effort / could raise myself 50 that the
upper 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; | couldn't get any higher.
al let myself down again, and after a
while pulled myself up again and
held on by one hand and held up the
lamp and swung il around on the
things. Then let myself down again
and wondered what was going TO do.
Ii wasn't only uncomfortable there in
the position was in; it was mighty
unpleasant every way. i'll let 90 /
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 been in
the pipe | should imagine about two
hours | made up my mind that |
wouldn't try to stand it any longer;
I'd got to come out some time, and
might just a. well come out then; in
fact, better, for while my chances of
getting away at ali were mighty small
they would be better at night than
they would be in the daytime.
$50 made up my mind tc kick on
the pipe and wake up the house ard
have the thing settled. So kicked
once, twice, and then I kicked
again, and by snakes. | kicked the
pipe open at my feet; there was q joint
there, and I'd kicked il apart; and the
sections | was i'm sagged down with
my weight, and l slid out on the cellar
floor. The sagging down of that part
OF the pipe detached il from the part
above and it fell on the cellar floor
along side of me. That made noise
enough TO wake everybody Up; there
couldn't be any doubt about that.
al went out by the same cellar win
dow that | went in by. Ii was the
first and only such lot of stuff that
ever struck, and ! never got thing Oi
il; in fact, added something 20 it my
self-a set Of tools and dark lantern. -
-Nc5c York SeB.