The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-15
THE RETIRED BURGLAR.
a Very Lively Experience Following %
Visit to Farmhouse.

<AE ~ SChOl Ol tDlIS, EuIu lllo
tired burglar. II stuck close to my
legitimate line of work and never
took anything but what l could ear
ry off myself and dispose of easily,
but occasionally when l was hard
pressed | would take bulky thiEgs
and do the best / could with them.
But it mover paid, and something
happened once that made me give
up that sort Of thing for good
A farmhouse that was looking
over one night had nobody in it,
not Il soul. They hadn't gone for
long; that was plain enough Every
thing was lett just as it was They'd
just gone off tor the night some
where, maybe to a party or some
thing Of that sort, but they was just
as far away now us they'd been iE
China, and | might have carried the
house of and they not know it, and
that's what ! did pretty rear
There WAS scarcely any small
stuff worth carrying of, and after
I'd looked around Il littlo thought
l might as we'll take Il load / could
dispose of it for something. got
together III the hall Il wagon load Of
stuff, trunks and one thing and an
other, all ready to load had been
around to the barn previously to see
IT there was Il horse left, because |
didn't know but what they might
have taken the only one, but there
was horse there He was Il big,
solid looking horse, nothing partic-
ular about him one way or the 9th.
cr, except lie looked like Il strong
horse that could pull almost any
thing. got the harness on him and
hooked him into IL farm wagon and
got him around to the side of the
house | suppose l might just as
well have taken him to the front,
but there was no use of being reck-
less about it.
Well, | loaded tho wagon with
the trunks and things till I'd got a
pretty fair load, about all thought
could carry and mako timo with,
and then l started and we logged
along the road comfortable as could
be for a quarter OF a mile or go,
when there was u squirrel Or chip
lnunk or something run across the
road, and I'm blessed if it didn't
scare tho old horse, and in about a
second and quarter he was run
ming away. And ] sat there, hang
ing on to the reins and yanking and
saving and trying to hold him up
and having just about as much ef-
feet OH him as though I'd been n
baby.
About a quarter of Il milo farther
OIL knew it because I had come
that way-there was Il bridge over
n brook that ran across tho road,
just common little bridge with
barked poles on each side for Il rail
ing. There was Il road Oh one side
of the bridge, too, through the wa
ter. There was house Just the
other side Of this brook, and 1 was
afraid if tho old horse wont across
the bridge hammering in that still
night he'd wake up the folks and
rouse tho neighborhood maybe, SO
tried to steer him off through tho
brook. l thought he'd make less
noiso going through the water, and
thought maybe the cold water
would sober him, too. and make him
stop. and got q twist on the reins
and brace on the dashboard and
pulled, and did get him turned off
IL little at the fork toward the brook,
and thought I had got him started
for it all right, but he sheered again
for the bridge, and I couldn't begin
to stop him.
1.-THE bridge ratings were sup
ported in crotched sticks, and from
these ratings there were poles along
the little approach on each side of
tho bridge, the ends of these poles
being in lower crotched sticks.
When the old horse sheered back
from the ford road 10 tho bridge
road, he got the approach to the
bridge all right himself, but ho
swung the wagon just enough to
throw the hind axle over the end of
the pole protecting the approach,
and it jammed i'll some way between
tho pole and the crotched stick sup
porting it and busted tho reach of
the wagon and tore off tho hind axle
and wheels before you could think,
and the old horse went pounding
across tile bridge and half mile
farther yet with the tail end of the
wagon trailing on the ground and
scattering trunks and comfortables
and don't know what not all along
the road. When l finally got him
held up. l was sitting in an empty
wagon with the dashboard up in the
air and the floor sloping down to
the ground.
Il might have got another wagon
and gone back and gathered up the