The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-01-08
How He Shot
Himself
b. r p CLARKE

S~OAo AA~u - S0AA 4uOoo VSty 4h& ~
cast down.
Here's u pretty how -de-do." e1
claimed the prisoner "IOcked up on
Il charge Ut burglary. insanity or both
For heavens sake. get me out OF this
before my tiancee bears Ut 1t. I wOuid
not have 1t get into the papers for .
milliOn!
What's the troubleY" asked the IL
yer.
We'll. you see. I'm to be married
tomorrow. and last night l gave my
bachelor friends a supper. We broke
ny at z o'clock this morning. u I
z home. Nobody got full. and I
was sober rs a Judge i've In a row
Of ten store front houses. all alike a.
peas 10 u pod My house u the sixth
from ~ end Ut the row and the tfth
from the other enc
The light was turned low In the
ball. | heard something moving in the
parlOr. Remembering that the front
door hadn't been locked. It occurred to
me that a burglar might have come In
What ! heard sounded exactly ike
some one trying to tread softly. My
]ancee lives on one side Of the city. and
] live on the other side Being used to
walking bone nights after visiting Der.
! have become used to carrying y re
volver In my hip pocket a. q prOtec.
don against footpads. On bearing the
sounds In the parIor l drew the weap
on and cooked It. Then I went into
the room.
Il couldn't e anything. but l dis
tinctly beard somebody In the adjoin
ing room In the rear l listened and
heard him 80 into the kitchen. Step
ping out into the ball, | went back to
the kitchen myself and listened at the
door. All was still for awhile; then I
beard the fellow scurry acros the
floor.
Next l heard MIN In the dining
room again. He evidently stumbled
against something. for ! heard It drop
on the door BY this time | mad made
up my mind that either | must get the
burglar or be would get me.
II didn't know exactly what to do
My mother IL In poor health. and /
feared to give an alarm IN her IL
count. Besides. the telephone booth
was upstairs, n If | ent to 1t the
burglar would probably get away with
the plumber. While | was deliberating
] heard 4 tin pan tumble down IN the
kitchen. 1t made q big racket and 1
dreaded lest my mother should b-
awakened. for II she learned that there
was a burglar In the house she would
60 into mysteries
Il Operrd the kitchen door softly ana
looked III, but it was 80 dark that I
couldn't see anything. heard a
scratching. however. that made me
suspect the noises might have been
made by some animal But as We
didn't have any dog or a l didn't
take much stock in this theory.
Not hearing any further noise. !
went cautiously into the kitchen
After standing In the middle of the
door awhile listening for a new sound
| made up my mind to light a gas Jet
and take the consequences. whatever
they might be.
Every house in the block Is bull,
alike. and there Is a square opening In
all between the kitchen and the dining
room through which to pass dishes. I
approached this opening With dread.
because II the burglar was in the din
ing o he could see me through II
and make short work of NE.
"GatherinR courage. | stood at the
aperture and looked into the dining
room There be was, sure enough
Both ut rs raised our weapons. 1t
was n matter Of life and death which
fired drst pulled the trigger. and
there was q loud report
Il supposed I had killed the burglar.
for the range was very short. and !
aimed straight at him. There was
nothing for me to do but await the in
evitabl rousinR Of the household. !
heard footsteps above and voices: then
down came a man in his %nightshirt.
"f!reat Scott: I had never seeo him
before:
Il had got into the wrong house.
The man. seeing me standing with
a smoking revolver In my hand. ran
back upstairs and I heard him call for
the police.
What should I dor
II wanted to get out. but knew that
would be worse for me In the end than
standing my ground. ! heard nothing
from the Durglar-n0t " a moan
While waiting for the police ! deter
mined to 20 into the dining room.
light th- gas and learn the worst.
What ! learned was that there was
no living thing IN the room except y
rat crOuchine In q Ornpr Directly
opposite the uI"rning between the din
ing rOOm and kitchen stood q sideboard
topped by y mirror. The mirror was
shattered. bad put a bullet through
1t trying to Kill my OWL image,
When the police came the man up
stairs called down to them to run IL
any one they might end there. tried
to explain to the police what had hap
pened. showing them the opening
through which ! had fred at the mir
r0r. Some Of them thought me a house