Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-03-06
:. All Foreign Rights Reserved.


had engaged detectives, prepared for
whatever might happen, and they hal
advised him to leave the diamonds III
the counter, clear the store and let
the crooks try anything, If they dared.
Just back of us, and around the co.'s
ner as we came in, we had noticed a
Limousine which had driven up. Three
faultlessly attired dandies had entered
a doorway down the street, as we
learned afterward, apparently going to-
a fashionable tailor's which occupied
the second floor of the old-fashioned
building, the first floor having been
renovated and made ready for renting
Had we been there a nl6ment sooner
we might have seen, suppose, that
one of them nodded to a taxicab driv!
er, who was standing at public hack
stand a few feet up the block, The
driver nodded unostentatiously back
at the man.
In spite of the excitement, Kennedy
quietly examined the showcase, which
was, indeed, a vertable treasure store
of brilliants.
Slowly the hands Of the clock came
nearer together at noon.
We all gathered about the showcase,
with its glittering hoard of wealth,
forming a circle at a respectable dis
lance.
In deep-lunged tones the clock
played the chords written, believe,
by Handel. Then it began striking.
Nothing had happened.
We all breathed sigh of relief
'Well, it is still there!" exclaimed
Martin, pointing at the showcase with
a forced laugh.
Suddenly came rending and crash
ing sound. It seemed as if the very
floor on which we stood was giving
way.
The showcase, with all its priceless
contents, went smashing into the eel
lar below.
The flooring beneath the case had
been cut through!
All crowded forward, gazing at the
black, yawning cavern.
Down below, three men, covered
with smocks and their faces hidden
by masks, had knocked the props
away from the ceiling of the cellar,
which they had sawed almost through
at their leisure, and the showcase had
landed eight d+ ten feet below, shiy-
cred into a thousand bits.
A volley of shots whizzed past u.s.
and another. While one crook was
hastily stufing the untold wealth OF
Jewels into a burlap bag the others
had drawn revolvers and were firing
I'D through the hole in the floor des'
perately.
Look OUT" cried someone behind
us before we could recover from our
first surprise and return the fire.
One of the desperadoes had taken a
bomb from under his smock, lighted II
and thrown it up through the hole in
the floor.
1t sailed up over our heads and land
ed near our little group, on the floor
the fuse sputtering ominously.
I heard an exclamation of fear from
Elaine.
Kennedy had pushed his way past
us and picked up the deadly internal
machine in his bare hands.
watched him, fascinated. AS neal
as he dared, he approached the hole Ii
the floor still holding the thing off al
arms length. Would he never throw
It?
He was coolly holding it, allowing
the fuse to burn down closer to the
explosion point,
It was now within less than an inch
of sure death.
Suddenly he raised 1t and hurled the
deadly thing down through the hole.
We could hear the imprecations o
the crooks as it struck the cellar floor
near them.
Leave the store-quick!" rang ou
Kennedys voice.
Down below the crooks were peat
ing a hasty retreat through 1 secre
entrance which they had effected.
"The bag! The bag!" we coul'
hear one of them below.
"The bomb-run!" cried anothe
voice grufily.
The explosion that followed lifte'
-, foirI, eff our foot
As the smoke from the explosion
cleared away, Kennedy could be seer
. the first to run forward.
Meanwhile Martins detectives ha
rushed down fight of back stair
that led into a coal cellar. With Goa
shovels and bars, anything they coul
: lay hands on, they attacked the doc
} that opened forward from the coal ce
3 lar into the front basement wher
| the robbers had been.
r A moment Kennedy and Bennett
] paused on the brink Of the abys
which the bomb had made, waiting 70
+ the smoke to decrease. Then the
Y began to climb down cautiously owe
the piled-up wreckage.
t The explosion had set the basemer
afire, but the fire had not gained niue
n Roadway by the time they reached tn
: basement. Quickly Kennedy ran