Year: 1879

Old Mrs. Hull was murdered in he bed. An aged lady at Pelhamville, near New York, was tied by burglars, who searched her house, having first taken her oath on her own family Bible that she would be quiet and not ring the big dinner bell which she kept at her bed side for the purpose of awakening her neighbors in case of need. A Brooklyn man heard a burglar coming in by the way of the back parlor. He shot the.in truder, who crawled home and died. A physician near New York heard burglars in his house at three o'clock in the morn- ing. They got away with his cigars and some surgical instruments, but also took several bullets which the doctor lodged in their fugitive bodies as they made good their escape. A Long Island thief chloroformed an old lady and extracted her seventy-dollar set of gold teeth The use ofchloroform in dental opera tions is not always attended with con- plete success. In this case a reaction took place, and, although the thief es- capped, he was afterward arrested. He IS now in jail and the teeth are safe at home in the old lady's mouth. Three lone ladies, who were non-residents, were awakened by the sound of burglars on their portico roof. They opened the window and gave each of the burglars tract and made them wait to listen to the reading of chapter from the Bible The woman who stole the Chinese washerman'si hundred dollars from his pantaloons pocket slipped away in the confusion, while poor Washee got bull let in his cheek which laid him on New York hospital cot. Thus with various success and sometimes with no success at all do thieves and burglars prosecute their business.

 The power of the suddenly entering thief, either by day or night, seems little short of supernatural. A spare and di- minutive burglar can inspire some peo- | pie with as much terror as a regiment of ! soldiers ought to cause. The fact that there is " a man in the iouse " is sufficient in many instances to render whole fami- | lies helpless. If, instead of one burglar, there are half a dozen, who stand in a TOW by the bedside of partially awakened householder, the effect is more terrifying. A black muslin mask over the burglars face and deep bass voice from his throat to the effect of '' your money or your life " is not calculated to brace up the spirits of the person ad- dressed. Sometimes, however, the in | tended victim is nerved to a desperate deed of self-defense. Thus it was with John HuisOff, of Western Pennsylvania John is a well-to-do German, living by ! himself. Thieves came upon him while . eating his solitary dinner. They clubbed him, bound him, tossed him on the woOd-pile as so many pounds of useless l lumber, and proceeded to ransack his house, The brave old man wriggled out of the ropes and silently seized the sharp axe with which he was accustomed to l split wood. With this in his hand he went for his enemies. In moment he had chopped all the fingers from the right hand of one scoundrel and taken a steak or two out of the flesh of another. Dead men are said to tell no tales, but wounded ones do. When these fellows applied to a neighboring doctor to be put in repair, the marks which John Hull sOtf had put upon them told the story of their misdeeds. They were put under arrest and will be soundly punished for their sins.

 The axe is a clumsy weapon in most hands, but is a very effective one when skilfully used. John Hulsoff did a good deed in using it on his assailants It was as If public proclamation had been is- sued to all the tramps, thieves, burglars and assassins in that section, saying the people will defend themselves to the ut termost when attacked. The lesson taught to these fellows will not be thrown away on the profession. To take the law thus into ones hands is disa- greeable, but the men who dare to do ii are masters of the situation. It is req sonably certain that MT. Hulsoff will not again be attacked by this class oi miscreants. Had he killed the intruders nobody would have blamed him. Il such men were sure of just such a re- ception as this in every house which they might illegally enter, the profession would decline in profit and incrt ase in risk, until it would not be worth follow ing Philadelphia Tunes.

 Speaking of Snakes.

 The late Isaac White of Pennington,