Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-09-24

the house win vo,ilke treads. reacu.
ed the front porch without mishap
There was no moon out, and the place
was extremely dark.
When satisfied that everything was
quiet, I climbed up the largest piazzn
post and drew myself noiselesslv mon
the upper porch. Here rested mo-
ment and then crawled along the side
SO as not to make any cracking noise
with the timed roof. gained the dark
side Of the house, and by placing one
foot upon the staples which supported
the blinds ! deity swung myself up
on the slanting roof of the third story.
On the top of the house was round
cupola tower inclosed in glass, and I
judged rightly that no burglar alarm
would be attached to these windows
and that noises made there would
hardly be heard by the doctor and his
old servant in their rooms below.
reached the cupola In safety and after
resting few minutes / proceeded to
work.
In few minutes | had cut out a
small piece of glass from the window
pane, and then. inserting my hand
through the aperture, l easily I'M
fastened the catch. | took the pre-
caution, however, TO be sure about a
burglar alarm. There was none at
tached to the window. and so far I
was safe.
Once inside the cupola, / flashed
bright ray of light from my dark Ian
tern and inspected my surroundings.
1t was n small circular room with the
accumulated dust of many years gath
cred on the window sills and floor. 1t
was perfectly bare of articles of fur
niture and, as judged. had not been
visited by any one for years.
A trap In the floor opened into hall
below. l tried this door and found
that it was locked on the inside. An
ordinary lock is easier to pick than
paddock attached to staple ON the
opposite side of a two inch board.
However, was prepared to encounter
all sorts of difficulties.
l could work in comparative safety
in the cupola. So l took cold chisel
and softly pried up the ends of the
staple driven into the door from the
opposite sides. When l had straight
ened these out, forced them gradual
ly out Of their holes. They fell back
with little clatter that startled me.
Would anybody hear the noise?
l waited breathlessly for full half
hour. squirting my eye through the
small holes to detect any ray of light.
But apparently nobody slept in that
part Of the house, and the noise had
done no harm. tried the trapdoor.
1t stuck little at the corners, but by
prying it up with my chisel managed
to raise 1t without creating any noise.
An old ladder led from the trapdoor
to the hall below. l tested it with my
feet before venturing my whole weight
on 1t, for was not certain whether it
was strong enough to hold me. Then
I quietly dropped down into the hall.
AT last was actually in the DOCTORS
house, but whether would find what
I wanted was another question. Be-
fore attempting any investigation
made sure of where the doctor and his
old servant slept Their sleeping
rooms, discovered, were on the
ground floor. They opened into each
other, and both doors were standing
on the jar
This gave me the two upper stories
all to myself. and began my investi-
cation with an easier mind The first
room l entered was empty, with the
exception Of few old clothes, blan-
kets and discarded furniture. The sec
ond was furnished as for n bedroom,
but very little furniture was in 1t. The
third and fourth were disposed of in n
few minutes because of their barren
appearance.
The large back bedroom which over
looked the woods was securely locked
and the key missing. With fingers all
of tremble in anticipation of great
discovery proceeded to pick the lock.
Fortunately it was common lock
which required but little real skill to
open. The spring was n little stiff and
rusty, but otherwise 1t worked easily,
and threw the lock back In its sock
ct without causing anything more than
a slight grating noise.
Then entered the room and closed
the door behind me. flashed the light
from my lantern on every side, taking
In the whole room in one circular
sweep, and for moment l was disap-
pointed. There was nothing visible in
the room except piles of old furniture
covering. 1t looked as If furniture had
been stored in the room and then COW
cred over with the cloth to keep the
dust from accommodating on the arti-
cles.
But why should the doctor have
such fine furniture stored away in this
!, ,,'|Rsa