Hutchinson gazette., 1900-07-12
THOUGHT he Was DONE TOR.
caught His Finger IN II MousetrAp ~
IA Dark Room


n Dark Room
"Talk about your peculiar mishaps,"
SnId q young man employed In one OF
1Ne railroad offices in Sll. Charles,
something happened at our boarding
house the other night that is entitled
10 first money, One OF our dodgers Is
a very fat man, who has job as book
keeper IN Wholesale house ncur The
river, lie is almost as tall lying down
~ he Is standing up and, with such
pOunch, is rather slow IN getting
around but for all thOt he Is perfect
bundle OF nerves aud 1he most cNcit-
able man ! ever knew In my llfc Well,
he has q room directly under mine,
and lately We have all been bothered
more or less by mice, The lNndlady
declared war on them, and for light
jlcrY she bought lot Of small
wire tHps--thosc domp-shaped Affairs
with holes around the top for the
b2USts 10 stick lhnlr heads into,
"Thc servant put one in each room,
and u few evenings ngo when shewas
going around batting the lot, was
careless enough 10 leave the fat mans
standing on top Of his dresser lie
happened to be out attending u sing
ing society that night and didn't get
home until about | u, m. His room
was pitch dark, but he knewthNt there
were some matches on the dresser,
and moving cautiously across the
iloor he began paving around for the
boN, AT about The first plunge he
made he stuck his fat roreilngcr into
one Of the npertures OF the mousetrap
and the thing snapped down on him
Nike the Jaws Of n bulldog"
Nov, imagine II you can, continued
the railroad clerk, chow you would
feel yourself il you were prowling
around ia Il dark room and some un-
known monster suddenly nailed you
by the finger and hung on, am free
TO soy would probably have howled
just as loudly as the fat man did He
supposed, Of course, that the thing
that had hold OF him was 0live, and
when he tried 10 knock II of his hand
encountered the corpscS OF two mice
that had been caught in the other
holes before he came ln The touch
Of their soft, furry bodies confirmed
the idea that it was n living creature,
and II was then, rs he explained after
ward, that he fr/d to escape to the
hall and got tangled up with the fur
nitWr.
How he came 10 dcmolsh 80 many
different things In such u short tme
Is a myltory, but you know how easy
II is to bump into all the articles in
dark room under the most cXtrOordln-
0ry clrcumstanceS,and fat man with
n moUser0P hanging 10 his finger
would naturally be great deal more
destructive, Anyhow, II was that first
below Of mortal terror that awakened
me, and The next thing heard was
succession Of frightfu crashes mixed
with the noise Of breaking glass, shuf-
Ming feet, torn cloth. falling furni-
ture and ten-ply profanity could
have sworn that my ncghbor was hnv.
Ing fight with at least eight burg
lars, and, needless 10 say, the whole
house was up i'm moment, OF course,
nobody was anxious to go in and get
murdered while that awful row was in
progress, but presently IL died down,
and when we pushed open the door we
found the booltkeeper sitting in the
middle Of the room, totally collapsed,
with the mousetrap still hanging 10
his finger, and the floor Uttered with
the wreck Of all his belongings
IA ffty-pound lydditc shell couldn't
have produced more picturesque
ruin, Ever since then n desperate
argument has been in progress as to
who is responsible for the damages,
The landlody declares the fat man will
have to pay for the smasheddurnitnrc,
and he sweors by the nine gods he
won't give up cent. On The con"
trary he wants remuneration for his
lncerOted finger, the shock Of Ibis
nerves, and the suit Of clothes ruined
In the BATTLE wouldn't be surprised
il the case got into the courts with
the mousetrnp as 'EXhibit A."