Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1906-06-02
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BEECHfNBROOK
$500.

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7 will say to you right at the outset
that l was the boy at Beechen-
brook"
Beechenbrook was and is yefa great
house a few miles outside Of Manehes-
ter. At the time of my story 1t was
occupied by the man who built It,
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 ser
wants.
In the bookstore in which l was EN-
ployed In London | was said to have
excellent taste and judgment in the
arrangement of country libraries, even
though l was only boy of l6, and a.
few weeks after the owner of Beechen-
brook had given us an order was sent
up there to put away the volumes.
On the day l arrived the owner
wife and daughter started for Scotland
on a visit, while Mr. Markham MIN
self departed for Paris to attend Ger
tain business. All the servants about
the place except the head gardener
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 l saw
three masked men trying to open the
Mate room door. / crept back to the
hall. across into the drawing room,
and at the far end of the big room
raised the window and stepped to the
ground.
Once out made my way to the sta
bles. but there surprise awaited me.
I found a horse hitched to a 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 ap-
proach.
had my lips parted to speak, when
suspected something wrong. The
plunder was to be carried off in the
cart. and the three men servants were
in league with the robbers. 1t came
TO me like a flash and in time to save
myself | drew back and wondered
what l should do.
Queerly 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. | was out Of the house and
could hide In safety till morning but
that idea never came to me.
was all for preventing the rob-
berry, and pretty soon I skulked back
TO the open window. In so doing I
saw the outside door Of the dining
room ajar. The groom had let the
robbers In at that door, and the dis
lance from the door to the open ditch
was only fifteen feet.
when | had re-entered the house
and crept back to the door leading into
the dining room the fellows had given
IN trying TO open the plate room door
with key and were working at II
with iron bars. Five minutes later
>hey had It open. and then the groom
ps ssed out piece after piece, while the
rol bers deposited them in their sacks
very luinS was VI ooiA rhNtl, duN
to save space nearly every piece wai
bent or broken by hand or foot The
trio worked In hurry and at the enc
OF half an hour the room was empty
and FIVE sacks were full.
| had been watching everything II
a helpless way, having no plan and
no hope, and It was only when tn,
men shouldered the sacks to carr.
them out that l made move.
| determined to try the effect OF I
scare, and as the last Of them stepped
outdoors fired the pistol into the sacl
on his back and shouted at the top o
my voice. 1t was the groom who ha'
slipped upstairs and locked me IN, and
though he may not have recognized m.
voice as I shouted. the sudden alarm
caused greater panic than ! coul'
nave hoped for.
All three men started to run. Tn
groom threw down his sack, but tn
pobbers chung to theirs. They all kne1
sboat the ditch, but in the darkness
snd confusion they made right for
and tumbled In one after enothsr. A
they went In l fred two shots In th
direction OF the stables.
aoth cut the two men there SO clos