Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-04-06
sHor AT HOLD BURGLARS.
They Had Entered the dollhouse and the
Residence of the Toilgate Keeper.

Both barrels of shotgun wers
emptied in the direction of fleeing
burglar at the Concord tollgate near
the city line, early on Thursday; but
the burglar kept on going. and John
Saville, keeper of the tollgate, and
George Cleaver, who was the man
behind the gun are sorry. 1t would
hardly be fair to Mr.. Cleaver to COM
pare his craftsmanship with that Of
the Spaniards in the recent war, for he
labored under disadvantage on &C.
count of having trouble in raising .
window through which to take aim.
1t was in the neighborhood of A
o'clock when the thief or thieves began
operations which presumably had for
their object the securing of the money
received by Mr.. Saville as toll for the
use of the turnpike. And SO they first
broke into the dollhouse, small QUE
story structure, right at the gate. They
did this by prying open shutter on
the north side and entering through
the window. But they found no money,
Keeper Saville being too careful with
the toll receipts to leave them in such
an insecure place. They did take
shoe brush, few cents worth OF
tobacco and a quantity OF matches, and
next turned their attention to Mr..
Sayille's dwelling, which lies nearly
back of the tollgate and only few
yards from it. Mr.. Cleaver, who mar.
ried Mr.. Saville's niece, and who is
employed on Isaac Elliott's farm, lives
with the tollgate keeper.
Two deep chisel marks on the front
door hear mute testimony to an effort
to gain entrance through 1t. 1t was
evidently tried to remove a panel in
order to get at the lock, but this failed.
Efforts on shutter on the south side
of the house were more successful, for
the shutter was forced open, and en-
trance was made through the window,
into the sitting room. A number OF
iiowerpots on the window sill were
carefully moved aside, thus preventing
the danger of their falling and arous-
ing the family. After entering the
house, the burglars took care to open
the kitchen door and one of the inside
doors, in order to have clear path il
sudden flight was necessary.
Turning their attention to desk in
the sittingroom, they unlocked it and
ransacked it, but found no toll money,
the evident object OF their search.
Their next intention, apparently, was
to go upstairs. but q locked and
chained door at the bottom Of the
staircase barred the way. They sue
; cecded, however, in unlocking the door,
but could not get the chain unfastened.
While they were engaged on the door,
, the noise was heard by Mr.. Cleayer,
, who got up to make an investigation.
1t Was Just about o'clock. While hs
> was moving around. the burglar or
: burglars probably heard him, and
: hastened from tho house. Mr.. Cleaver
l got his gun and went into Mr.. SaVille's
I room, which is over the sitting room,
( and looking out the window, saw q
man hurry from the side yard out upon
: the turnpike Mr.. Ceaver caught at
. the window and tried to raise it, but
l it resisted him, having been wedged
: to prevent rattling. Finally, by d
8 supreme effort he threw the window up
j and leveling his gun, fired at the burg
, lar at range of about 20 yards. But
q the burglar kept going and was climb
o ing the fence on the opposite side Of the
: turnpike, when MIR. Cleaver let him
q have the second barrel But that did
o not stop him, either. He rather showed
+. an anxiety to get away from there,
4 and after brief struggle with strand
: OF barbed wire on top Of the fence,
got over it and ran towards tho woods
which lie several hundred yards to the
: east. After the second shot, Mr.. Cleaver
@ rushed downstairs and out into the
y road, and the last he saw Of the burglar
It was when the latter disappeared over
y stone fenco about 300 yards from the
!. turnpike. In the moonlight he noticed
f that the burglar was in dark clothes
d If there were two In the party, the
d second burglar may have kept out Of
d sight by taking an opposite course
ie to that of his pal.
g The sum total of receipts for the
/. burglars was the tobacco and wha
d remained of the matches, for they hat
d burned 20 in the house. The shot
10 brush which was taken from the toll
,r house was afterwards found by Mr.
{. Saville Just outside of the house AM
alongside Of it we're pair of woman
shoes, supposedly left there by tn
burglars, but which had not beel
taken from Saville's house. The toll
1t gate. keeper says that in the II years h
O. has been at the tollgate, the tollhous
a. has been entered 10 times. An attemp
,ls was made to enter the dwelling
III about two weeks ago. He recalls tina
r. he once had fine clock which he WI
20 careful to carry from the dollhouse +
w the dwelling each night. But he for
got to take it home one night, an
= that night it was stolen. The toll
n house was entered about a year age
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