The Huttig news., 1910-03-05
board in the floor creaked and the muf.

lied 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 the dim aud i'm movable figure in the middle Of the room must have seemed frightful Had Prindle not spoken it is possible 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- element: 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 a thud and the pistol struck the ceiling and exploded The burglar whirled round and disappeared througa a9 .n- her door leading into the pass, ge- 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 fire 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 a rain pipe into the dark alley at the rear
 Prindle sprang up through the roof hatch as the man crossed the almost flat 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 inc parapei, 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 pinioned his right hand. In that awful moment he felt the cords of his arms and fingers contract until they burned like hot wires. With a cry of agony the robber jerked him back to the roof, then whirled and ran across the roof, drawing his knife as he fled Prindle saw the moonlight glint on the knife blade, and though infuriated with the passion of battle, he recoiled. The burglar turned in the angle oi the wall, striving to regain breath be- fore the next onset.
 An electric power wire stretched across the roof some eight or nine feet above the floor. Prindle drew a pair of rubber-faced gloves 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. ductfon overcome, Manager Towne de. clared the plucky lineman worthy to be any mans son-in-.aw, and he was.
 GOING 69 MILES AN HOUR.