The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-07-28
A STRENUOUS LIFE.

who had been in New York city about
two months, that you can get more
excitement out of living in New ORR
fiat than in any other way know OF.
The man who made this statements
n bachelor. He insists that there is
only one way to live, and that is to
have your own little fiat and cook your
own meals. Since he has been in New
York city he has had two flats and
here are his experiences as he tells
them:
''The first fat had" he said, was
nice one in Harlem, but the janltor
was a careless person and in about a
month | received an unsolicited visit
from burglar There was nothing in
the fiat that any self-respecting bur
glar would take.
but this burglar was a mean cuss,
and if they ever caught him in the
part of the country come from I'm
afraid that he would come near swing
ing to the arm of a lamppost. lie
turned upside down everything that !
had in the fat and then took the
trousers to my evening clothes and a
dress shirt. If he had taken the entire
suit and the shirt / wouldn't have
minded bit, but as it happened had
an engagement for that evening that
required me to put on glad rags or not
go.
without the trousers the suit was
no good, and couldn't get trousers in
an hour. So l couldn't keep the en-
gagement and begged off on the plea
that had sprained my leg.
after that experience I decided
that it was up to me to get another
fiat, and l did. ] found coy apart
ment over on the West side and moved
in. In the back was a room for a
servant, but | utilized it for store
room. Next to that came the kitch-
en- and the dining-room.
"The first thing / did was to bore
hole in the dining-room door to the
main hall and put in a good strong
lock that no burglar could jimmy, I'M
less he cut down the door Having
fixed the door to my satisfaction, |
put a strong paddock on the back room
window, which fronted on a fire es-
cape.
"Then I got key for the door be-
tween the back room and the kitchen
and key for the door between the
dining-room and the Kitchen. When
ever / went out put the paddock on
the window, locked both doors and
then closed the hall door.
"If burglar ever succeeded in get.
ting through the window was pretty
1, -
troubles in forcing the other two
doors. After having rugged up that
scheme l was pretty confident that
my property was beyond the reach OF
any burglar.
Zone night returned home late and
saw a light burning in the dining
room. That surprised me, because
/ knew that there wasn't any light
burning when / went out. / softly
opened the door and slipped inside
) 60 my bedroom.
without making any noise,
reached under my pillow and got ;
good-sized gun which / always keel
! ready for an emergency. With tina
in my hand l felt much safer, for
was sure that there was at least on
burglar in the house.
81 crept cautiously back to the din
I ing-room. A glance around the room
! showed me that the door betweel
the Kitchen and dining-room, whicl
:. had locked before / went out ha
been removed from its hinges an
was resting against the wall.
: with the gun extended in front G
Z me, made straight for the kitchen
i There was a light there, too. TIL
!, door between the kitchen and tn
= back room had been taken down an
) was lying against the stove. A pan
i OF glass had been knocked out of tn
!, window, which / had padlocked, an
= the lock had been cut away from tt
20 casing.
There was nothing to show thi
e. anything had been stolen. Ever
ri minute / expected to see burgli
~ show himself and | was prepared
n use the gun. Finally, I decided TIL
: the intruder had heard me comiI
~ and skipped out. / walked back
M the dining-room and just then Il
st hall door opened and man in p
ct iamas came to view. l had the 81
of pointed at him and he threw up DO
k. hands.
nd Don't shoot, old man he shoute
ur I'm all right; j live upstairs.
Sc "Then / lowered the gun and
NJ ierked down his hands, relieved.
of "'Say,' he went on, did you THU
wv burglars had called on you"
re 81 said did and | wanted to knC
ay what he knew about it,
= "'No burglars he went on, laug
" ing. 'You went out and left the "
70 ter running in the bathroom. So
~ it came pouring down stairs like
q Niagara and we got the janitor.
" took him long time to get in, as
~ seems you have sort of an air-tip
~ =, burglar-proof arrangement here.
~ had to cut his way through the W
- dow and pull down doors, but fina
:, managed to get to the bathroom a
a. shut off the water
"Then it dawned on me how it
NH