New Ulm review., 1913-09-24
Stranger Enters Summer
Kitchen, Builds Fire and
Toasts Shins.
On Departing He Approprz-
ates Clothing of Un-
knowing Host.

rising from your warm Ded one OIL
these frosty mornings to build a.
warm fire in the kitchen stove, to-
find, upon entering the business end
of the house that someone-for the
moment at least unknown to you
had "beat you to it" to use popular
if somewhat slangy phrase? Of
course you would not mind, but
If, after looking around to find
the mysterious benefactor, you should
notice that he had, after doing you
the favor of lighting the fire, de-
parted with some of your very neces-
sary cold weather duds as a rather
exhorbitant fee for his services, and
that a more or less valuable but
nevertheless indispensable butcher
knife which the mistress of your
home had prized highly had SEEM
;ngly disappeared simultaneously
with the party who had made himself
conf ortable at your fireside, would
you still wear smile?
After carefully perusing the above
preamble, you will be better able to-
imagine the CONSERVATION and the
surprised look depicted in the coun-
tenance of Mrs. Anton Adam, who
resides with her family in their home
adjoining the Cottonwood Roller MILL
Saturday morning when she arose
to build a fire and prepare break
fast for her son, Otto, who is en-
ployed at the Hauenstein brewery
Mrs. Adam went out to the summer
kitchen, which stands a short dis
tance away from the house, and up
on entering the structure noticed
that fire was burning briskly in the
stove. To say she was surprised is
expressing the situation mildly. She
knew that no member of the family
had built the fire, as her husband
and sons were sleeping soundly when
she left the house.
1t did not take her long tosEform-.
ulate definite suspicious, for when
she glanced at the place on the wall
where her sons, Richard and Otto,
were accustomed to hang up their
outer garments, she noticed that a
fur-lined overcoat, a cap and hat
were missing, and when she looked
for her butcher knife it was nowhere
to be found. With true Sherlock
Holmes instinct she reasoned it out
that someone, suffering from the chill
ly atmosphere, had entered the sum-
among other things it contained a.
stove; and had made himself COM
Portable after building a warm fire,
and had then departed with the mis-
sing articles.
Mrs. Adam naturally told her hus-
band and her sons about the sing
ular occurrence and the matter was
! discussed at length at the breakfast
table, each member of the family Of
| fering suggestions as to who the
guilty party might be.
After partaking of his morning
meal, Otto Adam left for his work,
his thoughts busy with possible clues
| whereby the bold intruder and thief
might be apprehended. He was leis--
urely walking along, when upon
reaching Hunters Rest, he suddenly
came upon weary Willie" who
had built fire and was preparing a.
scanty breakfast Mr.. Adam stood:
stock still and carefully rubbed his:
eyes for he could hardly believe
that he was awake. The stranger
was wearing his (Otto's) fur-lined
overcoat and cap.
The surprised young man lost no.
time in retracing his steps and re-
turning to the family home, where he.
promptly informed his father of:
what he had seen. Father and son.,
armed with a shotgun, hurried to-
the place where the tramp had BEEN
observed and found him still there.
Upon reaching his side, Mr.. Adam
in no uncertain terms demanded the.
return of the stolen garments, en-
phasizing his command with -four
ish Of the dangerous looking frearm~
This proved sufficient inducement for
the hobo to reluctantly shed the.
warm coat and cap and to hand
them over to the rightful owner.
The butcher knife was found in one.
of the overcoat pockets, but the man
would not say what he had done with
the hat. He was not pressed very
hard for an answer, as Messrs. Ad-
am were satisfied that they had re-
covered the more valuable articles
Mr.. Tramp must have realized that
it was wiser for him to make him.
self scarce in this section, so he de-
parted with due haste.