Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-02-07
IN THE HEATER PIPE.
THE RETIRED BURGLAR RELATES HIS
MOST SINGULAR EXPERIENCE.

lie Had an Elegant Lay out OF Wedding
Presents at His Mercy when He Made
an Unfortunate Step-In the End lie
Made a Contribution TO the Collection.
"In house that | was looking over
in town up the state ono night, said
the retired burglar, 81 came across
something that 1 never struck but that
once in all my experience, strange as it
may seem, and that was Il lot Of we'd
ding presents, all just as they were ar
ranged for display. When turned my
lamp into the room, wished / had
brought horse and wagon; there was
good deal Of it that wouldn't have
been of any earthly use to me, but it
seemed pity to leave any Of it behind.
But il | couldn't carry it all off, could
have the fun Of picking, and started
to look the things over. They were ar
ranged ON tables and chairs and on the
floor around on three sides Of the room I;
on the side opposite to the side that
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 a
few chairs. thought ia start in on
the loft 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 il seemed to
me, but what ] had really done was to
step down through an open register. /
suppose somebody must have dropped
something down through it and have
taken it ont to get it and forgot TO put
it back.
"There was u wire screen under the
register over tho pipe opening to keep
things from dropping down the pipe,
but it was very fine light wire, and il
didn't stop me at all; just slid down
into the pipe, pushing that along under
my feet. When / dropped into the pipe,
] had been facing to the left; in some
way as went down got skewed around
SO that when l got down as far as did
go ] was facing to the front that is,
toward the center OF the room. The
pipe didn't 90 straight down, but with
curve. l had thrown up my hands as
| went down, and / suppose | might
have gone plumb to the furnace if
hadn { clutched at the edge of the regis
ter opening and hung on. A minute be.
fore 1 was going to take my pick Of q
roomful; now where was /?
81 had started across the room carry.
| ing my toolbag in one hand and my
| lamp in tho other. The shock when
went down had shaken the bag out o.
my hand, but had held on to my lamp
though it was lying ON its side nov
| with my fingers clutching through thu
handle. The falling of the toolbag ant
the striking of the lamp on the foo
and the scraping Of tRe wire gauz,
down through tho tin Pipe must hav,
made all together a good deal of noise
and / expected every minute to hea
somebody moving about up stairs ant
coming down to haul me out, but no
body did come, and set my lamp NJ
straight, and after I'd waited minut
or two more / started TO see if 1 coult
haul myself ont.
"As / lay in the pipe my head wa
below the level of the floor by grea
effort l could raise myself so that tn
upper half Of my head was above tn
opening, but no higher; there was n
room for play; when got that high,
found myself with my elbows close t
my body and fairly wedged into til
pipe; couldn't get any higher
81 let myself down again, and afte
awhile 1 pulled myself up again, an
held ON by one hand and held up th
lamp and swung it round on the things
Then l let myself down again, and wOr
dered what was going to do. 1t wash
only uncomfortable there in the pos
tion 1 was in, it was mighty hot an
unpleasant every way. If l let go,
didn't know but that I'd slide dow
against the furnace, and, Of course,
couldn't stand it for an indefinite lengt
of time, and when I'd been in the piI
should imagine about two hours,
made up my mind that l wouldn' t tr
TO stand it any longer; I'd got to com
out some time, and might just as we
come out then; in fact, better, for whil
the chances Of my getting away at a
were mighty small, they would be be-
ter at night than they would be in tn
daytime.
so made up my mind to kick o
the pipe and wake up the house an
have the thing settled. So 1 kicke
once, twice, and then 1 kicked again
and by snakes l kicked the pipe ope
at my feet There was joint there, an
I'd kicked it apart, and the sections
was in sagged down with my weigh
and l slid out on the cellar floor. I'll
sagging down of that part Of the piI
detached it from the part above and
fell on the cellar floor alongside Of mi
That made noise enough to wake every
body up; there couldn't be any doul
about that.
II went out by the same cellar viii
dow that came in by. It was the fir
and only such lot Of stuff that 1 ev'
struck, and 1 never got thing out I
it; in fact, added something to it NJ!
, self-a set Of tools and dark lantern.
New York Sun.
Early CandIelight State Dinners.
IL anuears that in Oldeu times N