The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1899-02-14
A RETIRED BURGLAR.
HE TELLS OF A CURIOUS INCIDENT
IN HIS CAREER.

opeheH Hetnre morniuBs
''In the course Of my time, " said the re-
tired burglar 81 have opened a consider
able number Of iron boxes Of one sort and
another but never one under more pc
culiar circumstances than this one, in
house in a small town In this state This
safe stood in the dining room against tho
wall on one side. My light fell on it when
opened the door Of the room TO look in.
Itwas n big, old fashioned safe, more like
ly here to contain documents and mort
Cages and one thing and another like that
then money. But a safe is always pleas
ant thing to look at 1t makes you think
Of money anyway. And so / was glad TO
sec this safe, and, Of course, hoped I'd
find lot OF stuff in 1t too. Then 1 start
ed to swing my lamp around 10 take a
glance at the rest of the room before walk
ing in. but | hadn t more n begun to move
it before brought into the light d pair Of
shoes with the heels on the floor and the
soles up at an angle Of about 45 degrees,
toes toward the safe. There were feet In
those shoes, Of course, and the legs went
up from the other side at an angle Of 4b
degrees to what didn't need to look to
see was man sitting there in a chair In
front of the safe asleep.
pected, and while man in my business
must expect unexpected things and be
ready for EN- and not be surprised or star
tied this was really so very unusual that
| will admit | was Just little bit startled
by 1t, and my hand must have shaken a
little, and while under most circum-
stances that wouldn't have made the
slightest difference in the world here it
made all the difference, for the hand that
shook WAS the one holding the lamp,
which was at that moment close to the
ia1nb of the door. / knocked the lamp
against it--iust little bit of "A tick, but
enough to wake up the sleeper l could
see his feet draw up toward the chair
"Then 1 wanted to get out myself, and
| started along the hall was in toward
the cellar door I'd oome in at, but hadn't
taken two steps before heard a man say:
Hold on there--waitl Come back'
And l went back. 1t was a command
but it was an invitation, too, and 1 was
ready to meet it or TO chance it, and I
went back to the dining room and looked
in and saw a man lighting the gas; he'd
been having for light before a kerosene
lamp that l SOW now standing on the ta-
bic with the oil burned out. The man
turned and says to me:
Come in.
He WASH t quite so tall as was, but
he was pretty solid sort Of citizen, who
could have held his own with me in a
square rough and tumble easy, and he was
a man who was accustomed to bOssing
things and having folks do what he said
1 couldn't tell for the life Of me what he
was, what his business was but 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:
What's your business my friend2'
And said was a travelling black
smith
"'H'mr he says You do most Of your
work nights3'
And said yes, did do more or less
night work.
"'And imagine you've got a handy
kit Of tools right in that bag there now
he says, pointing to my bag, thaSI had set
down alongside of the chair was sitting
In.
And said yes, l had tools there for
any ordinary work.
You soc that safe9 the man says,
pointing toward the safe he'd been sitting
in front of when l first looked in, and I
looked at it and saw the big, old fashioned
safe, looking very imposing and strong,
but safe that man that knew how could
cut into about as easy as he could cheese,
and I said yes did.
Well, says the man, I want to get
into that safe. There's some papers In
there that I've got to have in court tomor-
row morning, or this morning rather, at
! So-and-so at 10 o'clock. And L We broken
the key, and I've been trying here for half
the night TO break the safe open. Do you
| suppose you could open it2'
"Well, I had to kind Of cough Co conceal
! my emotion because could have opened
| the old box, you know in ten minutes,
| but said yes, 1 could open it, thought
=" Well, now, says the man, you pitch
in and open it, and he sat down in chair
there near the safe and got ready to see me
work. And put my bag up on the table
and got out my tools and went at 1t, with
the owner looking on and greatly interest
ed. "In about three-quarters Of an hour
had the door of the safe off and laid on It's
back on the floor.
You certainly are a handy man with
tools, ehY 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 We saved me lot of bother and trou-
Bile, he says, getting those papers for me
In time, and l want TO pay you for 1t.
How much do you think l ought to give
your
"And 1 said I'd leave that TO him.
How much do you make a dAyf' be
says.
And l told him my earnings varied
that sometimes l made nothing and some
= times l made good deal, but thought
/. didn average more than $50 day. He
seemed TO have his own Ideas about that
too, but he handed me over a $40 note and
= said the work was worth 1t to him.
And then he escorted me TO the door
And he didn't ask me not TO come back
nor threaten nor warn nor anything. He
knew that my knowledge of his habits
! about money insured him from any fur
ther yisits from me, as far as that wal
concerned, and he wasted no words oveI
It. He just let me out the door and didn't
even say good night,
Curious things happen in my businessI
Yes, they do, sure; no doubt about It, A
man may go for days and weeks and moth
ing whatever happen everybody sound
asleep al d you just walk In and walk out,
and that s all there Is TO it, but when
? anything does happen it's mors'n likely
to be something out Of the usual course. "
New York sun.