Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-02-02

there to stir any mans cupidlty-the
more especially as gold can't be
traced. II any burglar knows about
those soyereigns that burglar will
turn up tonight"
Accidents will happen; burglars
aren't over scrupulous. Sometimes
| they work with six-shooters, some
times with chloroform pads. They
might happen to overpower ME, and
then they wouldn't have much diff
Guilty with the safe. Perhaps for the
moment the safe isn't really the best
place to keep those bags of gold in
He thought that matter out. The
| problem was delicate one. Sup
posing the gold to be stolen-then If
by any accident it could be proved that
it had been stolen from any place ex-
cept the safe-then clearly it would be
very serious matter for him.
So midnight arrived before Mr.,
| Foster, who had in the meantime been
to his bedroom to put on his dress
! ing gown and slippers, made up his
mind what to do.
by Jove! | have it," he exclaimed
at last Hanged if those beautiful
| jerry builders haven't left plank
loose in the floor! The very thing"
Working as quietly as if he had
! been a burglar himself, he stripped
back a bit of the telling lifted the
loose plank, and slipped the fifty bags
| underneath it, one after the other;
then, by judiciously driving in little
wedges which he cut from the fire.
wood, he made the plank tighter
than it had been before, and once
more fastened the telling neatly over
| ii.
Now Mr.. Burglar he said,
"everything's ready I'll retire to my
hiding place and wait for you"
AS the front of the bank faced the
street, there was no probability OF
burglars entering that way. They
would come, if they came over the
garden wall and through the kitchen.
So Mr.. Foster withdrew into the bank
| itself and watched developments in the
bank parlor through a peephole which
he had bored in the door with a GIN
| let.
The hours dragged on, trying his
patience sorely. 1t must have been
between 8 and in the morning. when
a slight noise which obviously was
neither the rafting of a window nor
the snoring of the housekeeper, arrest.
ed his attention. The door by which
the bank parlor communicated with
the private part of the house was be-
! ing tried.
In a minute or two the lock was
forced and two men entered. Both of
them were masked, and one of them
carried little bag Of tools.
1t was too dark for him to observe
their methods with eXactitude. So
far as he could judge, they forced the
lock gradually by driving in tilmy
plates of steel to act as wedges, until
at least the jimmy could be inserted
and the proper leverage brought to
bear
The process took about 40 minutes.
At the end of that time the door Of
the strong box was open, and the
thieves We're pulling all sorts of papers
out of it in their eager quest for bags
of gold. The psychological moment
had arrived.
What in thunder Mr. Foster
exclaimed, and burst in upon them
firing as he came.
One of the men fired back at him,
quick exchange of shots in the half
light When it had ceased and
Mary'S screams from the top windows
had brought the constables, one of the
burglars lay stretched out with a
broken leg before the violated safe;
the other had escaped over the garden
wall, leaving a trail of blood behind
him while the bank manager himself
had a grazed cheek and a nasty flesh
wound in the shoulder.
A doctor, followed hard on the heels
of the policemen, dressed his wounds
and assured him that they were not
serious. He pulled himself to-
gether, ard gave his version OF the
story.
81 was too late-too late; the other
chap got away. He's carried off
$4,000. It's all the banks fault for
having such silly safe
"Ah, we'll" said the doctor, philo-
sophically, $4,000 won't break ,-e
London and Miscellaneous! In fact,
speaking as a shareholder shouldn't
wonder If the directors found they'd
got bit over to do something for you.
They ought to anyhow"
And they did. They paid Mr.. Fos-
ter's doctor bill, and they gave him
the service of plate which he had
promised himself. and then expressed
the greatest regret, when, a few
months afterward he announced his
intention OF retiring from their en-
ployment on the grounds that "a for
tunate speculation had released him
from the necessity Of working for his
/ living.-London Answers.
THE ANTICS OF A PET DEER.