The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1903-04-25
THE WATCHMAN'S
STORY
Copyright. 1903. by c. b. Lew,s.l

lHTktT Dulk lbF III tt No W wv my
adventure happened A burglar alarm
connected with doors and windows AMI
a special wire ran from the bank to the
police station. | was required to send
In signal over this wire every thirty
minutes The code OF signals ran thus:
one push on the button, "All Is we'll
two pushes. Il am III" three pushes,
Help IL wanted at once"
one winters night. between calls, !
fell asleep and was awakened by n
hand clutching my throat. started
up to find three men lowering over me
and allied that burglars had come at
last The first thing one of them did
was to send In the IAN is welf' call.
and was then tied fast to my chair.
and the trio began work on the doors
Of the vault II was done for in abou'
ten minutes.
Then they began work on the inner
doors They used what IL called
blacksmith's drill. All OF them seemed
familiar with Its working. and they
had brought along no less than six dif
ItEtHl ufliiN lol NAV h'i'H WIN
was begun just under the lock, the men
spelling each other at intervals of ten
minutes When the . o'clock signal
was sent In. they had made very
slight impression on the hard metal
but at . 80 the signs were more encour-
aging.
At 3 o'clock the trio were delighted
81. r..Yls 4
they ceased drilling, blew n lot Of pow
der into the hole aud inserted fuse.
and pretty soon there WAS an explosion
which tore great piece out OF The
door, but did not burst II open,
They did not use the dlll again on
the door, but ON II closer examination
decided 10 blow IL open. At ilO all
was ready. While the leader placed
the fuse the other two picked up my
chair To carry me into the president
room. All were To remain there uhill
the explosion was over. Just what
happened to bring about the premature
explosion could never be- learned. mt
the probabilities are that III his haste
the man cut the fuse too short. IL"
was still knccliug at the door nnd the
three of US had our backs 10 II ami
were about eight feet away when tue
mine was sprung. The Jar of the es
plosion WAS felt two blocks away
cannot remember that heard til"
explosion. | simply remember being
lifted up and hurled forward. The
next thing | knew was sitting up
with Il hand over each ear, nnd the
room was In midnight darkness.
felt no stupid and dazed that II was
many minutes before ] could place my
self. The gag was out Of my mouth,
and the ropes with which | had been
bound to the chair were hanging loose
~ Oh my arms and legs. When be
gan TO feel around to see where ! was.
| discovered that ! was close to the
wire gate 10y which all employees en-
tered the bank Enclosure. The door or
the vault was almost on II line with
this gate. but sixty feet away. he
tween the gate and the vault were The
compartments OF bookkecper, paying
teller, receiving teller aud discount
clerk, each rallied of with wood or
wire.
You can Judge OF the strength Of that
blast when | tell you that everything
In that sixty feet was lcNeled, the
small safe blown over and the counters
twisted like rail fence. As soon as
realized the situation ! CROPPED for
match and lighted gas jet though
the room was SO full OF powder smok"
that IL was some time before ! could
see a foot from my nose When the
smoke lifted 30 that | could get about,
/ lighted more gas and then looked for
the burglars.
One of them lay In heap against
the front door, second under the
counter near where | had picked my
self up, and the third | could not md,
though | knew he must be under the
vault door. which had been blown off
and lay on the floor The man at the
front door was stone dead. The doc
tors said that his body must have
swept down all the ratings and paru
tons as he was hurled forward, The
man under the counter began 10 show
signs OF life as ! overloaded him, and
thinking he might prove troublesome,
l tied him hand and foot. You will
wonder that | was not severely hurt,
but that was the chance OF accident,
The chair was completely wrecked but
! got OF with three or four painful
bruises.
The mar under the counter had his
nose broken. two ribs fractured aud re.
ceived bad scalp wound, but he had
no sooner recovered consciousness than
he began to struggle and curse, When
l told him tha' both his partners were
dead, he was awe3 to silence for awhile.
Then he began cursing again. and
stepped over to the police wire and sent
In the signal Help wanted AT once.
II had never been sent In before, nor
have the words gone over that wire
since. In Ave minutes there were four
bluecoats knocking al the door, and
when let them In my prisoner greeted
them with jeers and curses and swore
be would get even with me n II took
100 years.
The leader, as told you, was kneel
ing at the door when the explosion o.
Cured. We found him under IL. crush.
ed and burned and bearing little sem
blance to human being. The one who
escaped with his life was sent up for
twelve years, and thus the trio were
wiped out.
have mn old scrapbook In which are