The Huttig news., 1909-04-10
,oard in the floor creaked and the mnf

board in the floor creaked and the mnf- fled noise of the saw suddenly ceased The lineman held his breath A misty kind of darkness filled the room, the moons radiance being reflected dimly | from the opposite wall of the alley An instant later he saw the door of the closet pushed open and the outline of human form rising in the opening. To the burglar ethe dim and i'm movable figure in the middle of the room must have seemed frightful. Had Prindle not spoken it is pos sible the | robber would have fallen on his knees, thinking he was confronted by spirit, but when Prindle said quietly, though with distinguishable tremor of ex- citement: Throw up your hands mis- ter, or I'll fire sudden fury of en- ergy moved the man. He came across the room in one long leap and struck against Prindle like bolt The line man went against the wall with thud and the pistol struck the ceiling and exploded. The burglar whrled round and disappeared through ar in her door leading into the passage way.
 Prindle hastily felt about the floor for the revolver but the weapon not meeting his hand at once he rush after the burglar. His blood was on lire with anger. Listening an instant, he heard feet flying up the stairs above him. Apparently the robber had planned to escape to the roof and slide down rain pipe into the dark alley at the rear
 Prindle sprang up through the roof hatch as the man crossed the almost fiat roof toward the rear, and caught him as he reached the low parapet wall at the roofs edge
 The robber was of larger and heav- fer mold than the lineman, and was desperate. As they grappled he tried to draw knife from his pocket, but Prindle clutched those awful fingers of his into the mans throat and tripped him backward. They fell to. gether on the pitch and gravel of the roof, but the rush and fall threw Prin- dle beyond his antagonist, tearing his hold loose. In another breath they were together again, fighting desper- ately.
 As they came striking and strug- gling into the angle of the parapet, Prindle suddenly found himself lift ed bodily, and the next instant he was being pressed. over the wall Feeling himself going, he set his fingers into the biceps of the burglars left arm and rinioned his right hand In that awful moment he felt the cords of his arms and fingers contract until they burned like hot wires. With cry of agony the robber jerked him back to the roof, then whirled and ran across the roof, drawing his knife as he fed ! Prindie saw the moonlight glint on the knife blade, and, though infuriated with the passion of battle, he recoiled. The burglar turned in the angle ot the wall, striving to regain breath be- fore the next onset
 An electric power wire stretched across the roof some eight or nine feet of rnb5ssfsracHeed sr acHed glo1es from his pocket, pulled them on, and suddenly leaped up and caught the wire. As he de scended the wire snapped and fell to the roof. Instantly he caught up the two ends of it and sprang at the rob Der, who met him with uplifted knife.
 The cracksman seemed to divine the terrible nature of the tiny weapons in the lineman's hands, for his face blanched white. In the moonlight Prindle looked equally pale. If he could touch the robbers flesh with the bare ends of the wires he would win if not, he would probably die by the others knife
 It was strange duel. They feint- ed several times, then struck togeth- CT. The clothing was sheared away from Prindle's arm, but the burglar fell in knotted. quivering heap. The point of one of the live wires had gone up his sleeve, the other had punctured his neck.
 When the burglar recovered his senses Prindle had him securely tied with detached pieces of the wire and was at the front parapet of the roof looking up and down the street for an officer
 The bank people gave Prindle a handsome reward. When metallic cir cults had been run by the telephone company. on his suggestion, and they found the troublesome electrical in duction overcome, Manager Towne de- clared the plucky lineman worthy to be any mans son-in-aw, and he was
 GOING 69 MILES AN HOUR.