The times., 1899-01-15

THE RETIRED BURGLAR.
One OF she Most Curious of All His
Many Remarkable Experiences,

Many Remarkable Experiences,
(From the New York SUM-
In the course of my time said the
retired burglar. Il have opened consid
cradle number of iron boxes of one sort
and another but never one under more
peculiar circumstances than this one, in
house in a small town in this State.
This safe stood in the dining against
the wall on one side; my light fell on it
when | opened the door of the room to
iCok in. 1t was big, oldfashioned safe;
more likely. here. TO contain documents
and mortgages and one thing and another
like that than money. But a safe is al
ways pleasant thing to look att makes
you think of money, anyway-and SO |
was glad to see this safe and, OF course,
| hoped I'd find a lot OF stuff in il, too.
Then | started to swing my lamp around
to take a glance at the rest of the room
before walking in, but l hadn't more'n
begun to move it before l brought into
the light pair of shoes with the heels en-
the floor and the soles up at an angle of
about 40 degrees, toes toward the safe
There were feet in those shoes. of course
and the legs went UP from the other eide
at an angle Of 45 degrees 10 what ! didn't
need to look TO see was a man sitting
there in a chair in front of the safe asleep.
We'll, now, you know. that was unex-
pected; and while a man in my basin .ss
must expect unexpected things AM be
ready for en-, and not be surprised or
startled. this was really so very unusual
| that | will admit | was just little bit
startled by it. and my hand must have
| shaken a 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 was the one holding the LAMP,
which was at that moment close to the
ia of he | q II
against it; just little bit of tick. but
enough to wake up the sleeper: | cou.d
see his feet draw up toward the chair.
Then | wanted to get out myself, and /
started along the hail | was in toward
the cellar door I'd come in at. but l
hadn't taken two steps before l hard a
man say:
Hold on there-wa!t. Come back
And | went back. 1t was command,
but 1t was an invitation, too; and / was
ready to meet it, or to chance it; and /
| went back to the dining room and looked
| in and saw man lighting the gas; he'd
| been - ying for light before 4 kerosene
| lamp that saw now standing on the ta-
Bile with the oil burned out. The man
| turned and says to me;
Come in
He wasn't quite so tall as | was. but
| he was a pretty solid sort OF q citizen,
| a square rough and tumble, easy; and he
| was a man who was accustomed to bo5 S.
| ing things and having folks do what he
| said. | 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 look
ing after his property. And when I'd
come in he says:
| What's your business, my friend?'
l "A inn
smith.
Him he says You do most OF your
| work nights
And | said yes. 1 did do more or less
night work.
And | imagine you've got handy kit
| of tools right in that bag there, now. he
says. pointing to my bag, that had set
| down alongside of the chair | was sit
| ting in
| And | said yes. | had tools there for
| any ordinary work
You see that safe?' the man says
| pointing toward the safe he'd been sit
| ting in front of when | first looked in, and
| looked at it and saw the big, old-fash
ioned safe. looking very imposing and
| strong but a safe that a man that knew
how could cut into about as easy as he
could cheese, and | said yes | did.
We'll says the man, 1 want to get
|
| there that I've got to have in court to-
morrow morning. this morning rather,
at so-and-so at 10 o'clock. And I've bro
ken the key and I've been trying here for
| half the night TO break the safe open. DO
| yCu. suppose you could open it,
Well. | had to kind of cough to conceal
| my emotions, because / could have open
ed the old box. you know in ten minutes;
| but | said yes. | could open it. thought.
oil he IN Won .tFsl
in and open it, and he sat down in a cter
| there near the safe and got ready to see
me work And put my bag up on the ia
! BILE and got out my tools and went at it.
with the owner locking on, and greatly in
| terested. He was man of years, but this
was something new to him.
In about three-quarters of an hour I
had the door of the safe off and laid on
its back on the floor.
| You certainly are Il handy man with
tools. EN- says the man, and then he ask
ed me to look through the safe and see
| that there was no money i'll 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 | want to thank you for it,
| How much do you think / ought TO give
| you?'
| And l said I'd leave that to him.
How much do you make u day he
says
And / told him that my earnings va
| ried; that sometimes | made nothing and
! sometimes | made a good deal but |
thought | didn't average more than $50
day. He seemed to have his own ideas
about that. too: but he handed me over
$50 note. and said that the work was
worth it 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 visits from me. as far as that was con-
| cerned, and he wasted no words over it.
| He just let me out the door, and didn't
| even say good night.
| Curious things happen in my business?
| Yes. they do. sure; no doubt about ii. a
man may go for days and weeks and moth
| ing whatever happen; everybody sound
asleep and you just walk in and walk out.
and that's all there is to it. but when any
thing does happen it's more'n likely to be
! something out of the usual course"