Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-03-15
BEECHENBROOK BOY

win say to you right at the outset
that l was "the boy at Beechenbrook." |
Beechenbrook was and is yet a great |
house a few miles outside of Manches.
ter. At the time of my story it was
occupied by the man who built it, a |
| large manufacturer Of the famous |
manufacturing town. 1t stood in the
| middle of thirty acres of ground, and |
house, barns, lawns and gardens re-
quired the services Of about fifteen |
: servants.
In the bookstore in which was EN-.
ployed in London I was said to have
excellent taste and judgment in the |
arrangement of country libraries, even
though I was only a boy Of sixteen, |
and a few weeks after the owner of
Beechenbrook had given us an orGar
I was sent up there to put away the
volumes.
On the day 1 arrived the owners
wife aud daughter started for Scot
| land on a visit, while Mr. Markham
| himself departed for Paris to attend
certain business. All the servants
<AGOuL I4AE RAttOE NANNBl AAAN hStl0 StAA
| dener two grooms and two women
IN the kitchen were given leave from
! their employer to go to the station,
| two miles away. They were not long
| gone when passing through the hall /
saw three masked :oen trying to open
the plate room door. I crept back to
| the hall, across into the drawing room,
and at the far end Of the big room I
raised the window and stepped to the
ground
Once out made my way to the sta
bles, but there a surprise awaited me.
1 found a horse hitched to cart and
the gardener and head groom standing
beside the vehicle. Had the two men
| not had their backs to me and been
| so earnestly engaged in conversation
they must have seen and heard my APP
| proach.
had my lips parted to speak, when
L suspected something wrong. The
| plumber was to be carried off in the
cart, and the three men servants were
in league with the robbers. 1t came
to me like flash and in time to save
myself. 1 drew back and wondered
What L should 10.
Queehy enough, was more upset at
the thought of the two mile run in
the rain and darkness to town than in
returning to the house and facing the
robbers. l vas out of the house and
could hide in safety till morning, but
that idea never came to me.
l was all for preventing the rob-
how afaa mr. f%yy + cl-rJIi-oH hopS
to the open window. In so doing l
saw the outside door Of the dining
room ajar. The groom had let the
robbers in at that door, and the dis
lance from tbe door to the open ditch
was only fifteen feet
When I had re-entered the house
and crept back to the door leading In
to the dining room the fellows had
given up trying to open the plate room
door with key and were working at
it with iron bars. Five minutes later
they had it open, and then the groom
passed out piece after piece. while
the robbers deposited them in their
sacks
Everything was of solid silver, and
to save space nearly every piece was
bent or broken by hand or foot. The
trio worked in hurry, aud at the end
Of half an hour the room was empty,
and five sGcks were full.
had reer watching everything in
a helpless way. having no plan and
no hope, and it was only when the
men shouldered the sacks to carry
them out that made a move.
1 determined to try the effect of q
scare, and as the last of them stepped
outdoors 1 fired the pistol into the
sack on his back and shouted at the
top of my voice. 1t was the groom
who had slipped upstairs and locked
me in, and, though he may not have
| recognized my voice as 1 shouted, the
| sudden alarm caused greater panic
than l could have hoped for.
| All three men started to run. The
| groom threw down his sack, but the
| robbers chung to theirs They all knew
about the ditch, but in the darkness
| and confusion they made right for it
and tuInbled in one after another. AS
| they went in L fired two shots in the
| direction OF the stables.
Both cut the two men there so close
| that they took to their heels, and thus
with three shots and foH or five yells
1 had scared off a whole gang. L had
even done better. n falling into the
| ditch the three flows were badly
! knocked about, and when it came to
! climbing out they couldn't do it. es-
pecially as was there with my pistol
in hand and threatened to shoot the
| first man who showed his head.
| The row had awakened the women,
and when they came to know what
had happe,acd they took the horse and
| cart and went for the police, while l
continued to stand guard. In an hour
we had the men out and handcuffed,
and next dry the other two iwere ar.
| rested twenty miles away.
The two strangers were professionals
and desperate men, and but for the fact
that one had an arm broken and the
other a leg by the fall into tie ditch
| they could Tot have been held 5.here SO
| easily.
They got fifteen years apiece in pris-
| on, while the others were let off with
seven. and, though I am not going to
give exact figures. I viii say that Mr..
Markham rewarded me so hberany
! that It was made red letter night in
nv life, The police growled at my