The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-02-11
MYSTERIOUS BURGLAR
: Earl Darling Would Dash Out In
truder's Brains.

+, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Darling. who
have lately moved into their new
bungalow ON Weeks street, went
through an ordeal recently which has
| become the best burglar story told
in town in decade.
! Shortly after getting settled in
| their new home, about O'Clock in
/ the morning an alarming smash
seemed to come from their cell
| lar. The noise awakened them both
| and Mr.. Darling lay in bed devoutly
wishing the gun, which he uses in
Bottum's store on those who try to
reach their door without settling their
grocery bills. was within handy reach
| BY all manifestations an Individual
| was in their cellar who emphatically
did not belong there. Also, in enter
ing in the dark he had evidently
pushed over something on the cellar
stairs.
If he had not been made suddenly
nervous by the thought of an intruder
prowling round the place in the dark,
the well-known grocery. clerk
would have turned over and re-
sumed his snoring, But the more he
thought of the crash in the cellar the
mere his hair began TO rise. Finally
he thrust two quaking knees out of
bed donned his slippers and bath
robe and being a young man full of
sand it was most natural that the
implement of chastisement he should
reach for should be dust" mop, TO
lay out that dirty" burglar.
With this murderous weapon he
placed one foot before the other and
eventually reached the kitchen. All
was quiet in the regions below There
were no signs OF intruders anywhere
in the house anu when he switched
on the electric light in the cellar with
his knees humping together like emp.
ty gourds still no signs of anything
ont Of the way lay in the regions be-
meath
Long and carefully he searched the
cellar but no windows had been tam
Rered with, nor could he find anything
which seemed to have toppled over
aud made the unearthly racket Puz-
zled he returned to bed, firmly con-
winged xthe noise had been, made by
the tBaaner man who liyes juF over
the way and frequently .throFs the
furniture Tout OF the windows in his
sleep.
The story might end here, but it
does not
The next morning Mrs. Darling,
who is nsexcellent housekeeper, be-
gan cleaning the kitchen floor and
reached the cellar staira Opening
the cellar door she was horrified to
findthe upper landing and the stairs
drenched with blood. wll4
| Blood,
She shut the door feeling much like
party who suddenly sees forty-seven
thousand ghosts all at once and
doesn't know which one to single ont
and become frightened at. With the
, nocturnal adventure of few hours
previous still vivid in her mind, she
was firmly convinced some awful
and bloody deed had been perpetrated
in the cellar which her husband had
overlooked in his investigations the
night before.
Before calling in the neighbors She
decided to learn whether the blood
came up the stairs or led down
them. She found that the blood was
all over the place. walls and stairs,
even 10 shelf over the cellar land
ing. Net wishing her husband to be
known as braver than herself, she
procured chair and investigated
T, that cellarway shelf.
| Climaxi
\ large jar of grape-iuice placed on
the shelf had fermented and at two
O'Clock in the morning had exploded
with loud report, drenching the cellar.
& way with uOrp