Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-12-19
A BURGLAR ALARM.
Tae Experience Of an Augusta Man in Protect
ing His Store.

There is an uptown merchant who
has always been an enthusiastic advo-
cate of burglar alarms, and who not
long since installed one of his own in
ventions in his store, but owing to an
experience which he underwent the
other night. he is not now as enthusi-
astic by several degrees. He carries
an extensive stock of goods, and oc-
cupies two floors of the building IN
which he is located. There is a back
door on the second floor, and as he is
busy on the street floor the greater
part of the time, it occurred to him
that a thief might possibly gain ac-
cess to the second floor while he was
down stairs, and walk off with what
ever his fancy led him to take.
Accordingly he decided to install an
alarm that would prevent the occur
renee of anything of the kind. This
was accomplished by placing a kind of
spring board near the back door, and
connecting it by means of a wire to a
bell in the front of the main store, SO
that if anyone should step on the
board, the bell would ring, and thus
warn the proprietor. The apparatus
was tested, and found to work TO a
charm. He then told one of the night
officers of what he had done, and also
told him that if he should hear the bell
at any time in the night, he might
know that there was something wrong
in the store, and to proceed according
ly.
Now, in addition to the large stock
of goods in the store, there is also a
nf r,,ine IL, cipnt l.
bers to constitute a decided nuisance.
The merchant does not own cat, so
one day recently, he went out to a
neighboring store and borrowed one
for the night, and later went home,
giving her the freedom of the building,
hoping at the same time that before
morning she would capture every
mouse in the store.
That night, at a late hour, the police
man was coming down town, and as
he approached the store, was sur
prised to hear the bell ringing like
mad. He could see nothing inside the
store, but knew that something had
set the bell ringing, so he decided to
send for the proprietor and to watch
the store in the meantime. There
happened to be a 10-cent team nearby,
and this was sent after the merchant
post haste. OF course that individual
was in bed, and was dreaming sweet
dreams of the holiday trade that was
soon to come. and it was not a pleas
ant thing to him to be hustled out in
the middle of the night, and rushed
down to the store on a burglar hunt.
But he had to do it. and hurriedly
dressing himself. he climbed into the
cab. and was soon at the store. 1t is
rather risky business entering a build
ing where burglars are supposed to be.
for they are more disposed to shoot
than answer questions when you catch
them dead to rights, but our hero
never hesitated a minute, and lighting
up the store. proceeded to make a
search. Everything was all right on
the street floor. and going up stairs, he
hunted high and low, in every conceiv-
able place wherein a man might hide
himself but the only living thing that
was discovered was the cat. The door
was locked as usual, and in the discus
sion that followed it was finally decid-
ed that the cat must have jumped
down upon the board, and in doing
so, had set off the alarm.
AS a result of the incident the mer-
chant lost several hours of sleep, had
to pay for the cab, and if reports are
true. furnished quite a number of
cigars for his friends gratis. And this
is the reason why he is undecided as
to the practicability of his invention.