Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-10-05
TWO ON A STRING.
A Story Told by New York Drummer
from Mexico.

Story Told by New York Drummer
from Mexico.
"Iast April I was down in Mexico"
said New York travelling salesman to
a Star reporter, ION business trip, and
one night my partner and | had to re-
main over in a small place about fifty
miles out of Mexico City. 1t wasn't such
a bad place, either, but the landlord of
the hotel told us that thieves were plen-
ty, and if they were cornered they might
stick their knives into people. Our
room in the little tavern was a kind OF
a summer house affair, out in the yard,
with a door on each of two sides, and
was only few feet up from the ground
on a kind of a platform veranda. We
had several hundred dollars which we
had collected, and the safest place we
could put it was in our satchels in our
room.
''For wonder the doors had locks on
them, but the upper part of the door was
made in Venetian shutter style, and
man with a long arm could by stretching
probably reach the lock. We weren't
very much afraid, and merely locked the
doors without noticing the shutter part
at all. Besides it was dark when, we
went to bed, as we didn't want light
to attract the insects. We slept with
out disturbance until the first gray
streaks Of dawn, and then we were
awakened by.a queer noise at the doors.
quiet as mice we slipped out of bed and
began to reconnoiter. When | got to my
door, it kind of gave me the creeps TO
see a dirty yellow hand thrust through
the shutter and stretching itself down
ward toward the lock- and | was tempt
ed to veil and scare the marauder away.
However, | kept my nerve. and IN sec
Ond or two it was strangely fascinating
to watch the efforts of that hand to
reach the lock. My partner was having
the same kind of an experience. and the
thieves were evidently intending to take
us 'a-comin an a-gwine.'
1--WE stood irresolute for minute, an0
then my partner made a sign to me to
hand him an old lariat hanging on the
wall This in a second he had Topped at
each end and | saw the trick. The next
minute we had hand apiece Topped at
tight inside. Everything had been per-
fectly still up to this time, and now it
was stiller than ever. l do not know
what the thieves thought had happened to
them, but they were caught, and as soon
as we got the rope knotted, we let go
and they discovered that they were tied
together and there wasn't any way for
them to get away unless one of them
pulled the other through the knot hole,
SO to speak.
''Then it became funny, and we sat
there nearly splitting, but never making
a sound. In a minute or two more we
could see another hand coming through
with a long, ugly knife in it, trying to cut
the rope holding the first hand, but we
had drawn them far through. and the
other hand could not reach. Of course,
we expected now to hear a YELL and have
some kicking and other disturbances, but
the stoicism of the Indian was in them,
and they never made sound until the
landlord himself spoke to them, when he
came to wake us up.
THAT was two hours or more later,
and we had in the meantime gone back
to bed to finish our morning nap, trusting
to luck that they wouldn't get away. The
landlord when he discovered them made
more noise in a minute than all four of us
had made since the act began, and when
we got up it was to find our garden
house surrounded by half the population
of the town, and the two thieves sticking
to our doors as if they had been nailed
there and nobody able to get them loose"