The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-15
THE RETIRED BURGLAR.
One of the Most Curious of All His
Many Experiences.
From she New York Sun.

Many Experiences.
From Ahe New York sun
In the course of my time" said the re-
| tired burglar, I have opened a considera-
Die number OF iron boxes of one sort and
ahother but never one under more Pc
cular circumstances than this one, in
| mouse in small town in this state. This
safe stood in the dining room against the
| wal on one side; my light fell on It when
| opened the door of the room to look
| IN 1t was a big old-fashioned safe; more
| hkely, here. to contain documents and
! mortgages and one thing and another like
! mat than money. But a safe is always
! peasant thing to look at, il makes YOU
| thihk OF money anyway, and so / was
| glad to see this safe, and. Of course, I
! hoped / d find lot of stuff in it, too Then
| started to swing my lamp around to
/ take a glance at the rest of the room be
! fore walking in, but / hadn't more'n be-
| gun TO move it before l brought into the
light pair Of shoes with the heels on the
| moor and the soles up at an angle of about
! 10 degrees, toes toward the safe. There
! We're feet in those shoes, of course, and
| the legs went up from the other side at
! an angle of 45 degrees. to what l didn't
need to look to see was a man sitting
there in chair in front of the safe,
asleep.
| pected and while a man In my business
| must expect unexpected things and be
| ready for EN-, and not he surprised or
| startled, this was really so very unusual
! that | will admit / was just a little bit
startled by it, and my hand must have
! shaken little, and while under most cir
! cumstances that wouldn't have made the
slightest difference in the world, here it
made all the difference for the hand that
shook no bo
which was at that moment close to the
! jamb of the door I knocked the lamp
| against it; just a little bit of a tick. but
enough 10 wake up the sleeper; I could see
his feet draw up toward the chair
Then 1 wanted to get out myself and I
started along the hall I was in toward Ire
cellar door I'd come in at, but l hadn't
taken two steps before I heard a man say:
Hold on there-wait. Come back"
And went back. 1t was command.
but it was an Invitation. too and ! was
ready to meet it, or 10 chance it; and I
went back to the dining room and looked
in and saw man lighting the gas; he'd
been having for a light before a kero-
| sene lamp that l saw now standing on the
table with the oil burned out. The man
turned and says to me:
" Come in
"He wasn't quite so tall as I was. but
he was a pretty solid sort of a citizen,
who could have held his own with me in
square rough and tumble easy; and he was
a man who was accustomed TO bossing
things and having folks do what he said.
couldn't tell for the life of me what
he was. what his business was, but I
guess he was just simply the richest man
in the town and spent his time looking
after his property. And when I'd come
in he says; 't t
H'What's your business, my frlend?'
"And 1 said 1 was a travelling black
smith
Him! he says. You do most of your
work nights?'
sand l said yes, did do more or less
night work
!" And I imagine you've got hardy kit
of tools right in that bag there, now, he
SAYS. pointing to my bag, that I had set
down alongside of the chair 1 was sit
ting in.
And I said yes, had tools there for any
ordinary work.
You see that safe? the man says
pointing toward the safe he'd been sitting
in front of when 1 first looked in, and I
looked at it and saw the bis, Old-fash-
toned safe, looking very imposing and
strong. but a safe that man that knew
how could cut into about as easy as he
could cheese, and 1 said yes, I I'D.
Well says the man, I want TO get
! into that safe. There's some papers in
there that I've got 10 have in court So-mor-
row morning. or this morning, rather, at
| so-and-so, at 10 O'Clock. And I've broken
! the key aud I've been frying here for half
the night to break the safe open. DO you
suppose you could open it?'
''Nell l had to kind of cough to conceal
! NV emotions, because 1 could have opened
| the old box. you know, in ten minutes;
! hut l said yes, l could open it, l thought.
/ We'll now says the man, YOU pitcn
/ in and open it, and he sat down in a
| chair near The safe and got ready 10 see
/ me work. And 1 put my bag up on the
/ table and got out my tools and went at it.
/ with the owner looking on, and greatly in
/ terested lie was man of years, but this
was something new 10 him.
| IN about three-qu quarters of an hour l
/ had the door of the safe off and laid on
/ It's back on the floor.
/ You certainly are a handy man with
/ tools. eh?' says the man, and then he
! asked me to look through the safe and see
/ that. there was no money in it, which was
| quite right. There wasn't any. You'd
| have got nothing says the man. But
| you've saved me lot of bother and trou-
! BILE he says, getting those papers for me
! in time, and l want TO pay you for it.
| How much do you think l ought to give
| you?
! And L SAlQ 1 q AttNt NtltA 10 nun.
! How much do you make a day?' he
says.
| 'And I told him my earnings varied
that sometimes 1 made nothing and some
| times made a good deal but thought
! l didn't average more than $50 a day. He
| seemed 10 have his own ideas about that,
| too: but he handed me over a $40 note,
and said the work was worth it to him.
! And then he escorted me to the door
| And he didn't ask me to come back nor
threaten nor warn nor anything; he knew
| that my knowledge of his habits about
! money insured him from any further visits
| from me, as far as that was concerned,
| and he wasted no words over it. He Just
let me out the door ana didn't even say
| goodnight.
Curious things happen in my business
Yes, they do, sure; no doubt about it. A
man may go for days and weeks and
/ nothing whatever happen; everybody
sound asleep and you just walk in and
walk out. and that's all there is to it,
but when anything does happen it's more n
likely to be something out of the usual
| course"