Williams news., 1920-08-06

automatic revolvers and put
 them in the show case. One
 prospective customer asked tc
 see one of them and looked it
 over, then gave it back and it
 was returned to the box in which it came. The next morn
 ing one of the two was gone.
 Had the customer come in af- terward and slipped the gun
 out of the case?
 By this time the disappear
 ances had gotten badly onto the nerves of MT. Spellnire
 and his assistants. MT. Spell mire decided that something must be done. It appeared that at least a part of the thefts had been made at night. The value of the goods taken was constantly mounting upward and was coming to total a dis tressing sum.
 On Friday night after the show, MT. Spellmire, accom- panied by his young son Aubrey
 went to the store to spend the night there. Aubrey was de- lighted with the prospect of six shooters and burglars. After giving the matter a little moro thought, it occurred to MT. Spellmire that this was no boys business, altho he did not yet suspect that the burglar was a dangerous character. He took Aubrey and went home for that night.
 The following night, Satur- day, he decided to sleep in tho store alone. Despite the pleas of his family, he went to the store at 1O:3O, turned off the ice machine and set all the lights so that they could be turned on from the balcony switch, but they could not be turned on by anyone from be- low. He then prepared to take a good nights rest on one of the couches in the furniture bal conv, upstairs. He was prepar- ed for trouble. placing a short rifle on a chair near the bed and convenient to reach as he might go to the light switch. At the side of the bed, with his hat over it, he placed a 32 Saw age automatic. At the head of the bed he placed his fiashlight and watch. A deep sleep soon overlook him.
 The next thing MT. Spellmire knew he was awakened by something and became immed- lately conscious of the presence of a man near him. The only sound he heard was a slight creaking of the stairs as some one ascended them. This un- usual noise might have awak- ened him. The intruder came cautiously up the stairs to the balcony where the ladies' suits are hung on a rack. The moon shone thru the windows up. stairs placing MT. Spellmire a. a disadvantage as the man wal backed by intense darkness, while except for being hidden by bedding and furniture, MT. Spellmire would have been wis. ible to the intruder. The slight est move on his part would un- doubtedly have brought tho rays of a fashlight upon him and he would have been at tho thief's mercy. The burglar looked over the dresses with the aid of a spec ially prepared fashlight that emitted only a tiny streak of light which now and then play. ed upon the ceiling, while MT. Spellmire lay perfectly still conscious that his life depended on his not being discovered, tho chills running up and down his spine and his own breathing sounding so loud to him that de. lection seemed certain. After choosing three of the dresses. the burglar returned to the stairs and descended, again passing within about two feet l of MT. Spellmire. The darkness was so intense that it was inn possible for MT. Spellmire to re- cognize the thief or even seq him.
 After descending again to the main floor, the intruder