Year: 1873

~" AAA' aOP4Sy IDS detained.


The Danbury News says that one


of those distressing accidents which


10 amount Of preparation can guard
against, occurred on Pine street the
other day. Mr.. Hopley, the insur-
ance agent, intended going to New
York at a quarter to ten Am. to see
the daily Graphic balloon. A friend
suggested it to him about a half
hour before the train would leav.


and NJ. Hopley FASTENED home to
change mis- clothes and tell his wife.


When he got TO the house he found


I5 vacant, but hoping that his wife


would come in before he departed, he
got out his Sunday suit and began
dlsro0lng. He had got on his clean
SHIRT, and was adding collar before
! drawing on his pants, when he re-
membered that his sleeve buttons
we're in the stand drawer in the din
ing room, and he cautiously moved
in there after them. He found the
buttons and secured them, when the
hall door opened and his wife's voice
and the voice of a feminine friend
were heard approaching. He would
have fled back to the bedroom, but
he could not leave the apartment he
was in without being seen by them.
For one instant it seemed as if he
would drop dead and run into the
carpet. The next, he perceived the
open door of the china closet, and
Immediately bolted in there and
closed the door Mrs. Hopley and
the lady friend came into the room.
and remarking on the heat, drew
their chairs close to the window and
brought out their sewing. They
fell to talking about the weather and
Mrs. Robbins black corded silk and
remedies for worms and other topics
OF engrossing interest. Mr.. Hopley
hung to the door with awful tenaci-
ty, and perspired and thought. The
darkness was intense. and to add to
the unpleasantness a mouse or rat
was heard among the papers on the
floor. Mr.. Hopley was not timid
man, but he was bare-legged and
barefOoted, and when a man is thus
situated a mouse is about the last
thing he wants to think Of Still,
the voices outside continued, and
greater grew the heat in that china
closet. Mr.. Hopley did not dare to
make the least noise to alarm his
wife, because of the presence of the
other lady, whose voice he could not
recognize. How he did curse the
balloon and the man who suggested
his going to see it, and Professor
Wise, and how bitterly he regretted
that he could not think of that other
.aeronaut's name (Donaldson), that
he might curse him too. But still
the two ladies glided on through the
mazes Of the neighbOr's affairs with
the least sign Of abatement. He
heard the clock strike ten, and also
eleven. Once or twice the mouse
came right close to his feet, starting
the perspiration afresh, until he
could feel it trickle from his chin
and down his body. Then he NOV
ed his foot to rest himself, and it
struck against something soft and
hairy, and he uttered a half stihed
shrek and jumped up, striking his
head against a shelf, and bringing a
piece of some kind of erockery to
the floor His wife sprang to the
door in alarm, but Hopley caught
the knob and clung to it with the
grip of death. Mrs. Hopley tried in
vain to open it. Then she thought
of a burglar being concealed in the
closet and screamed for help, still
clinging to the door to prevent the
ferocious intruder from dashing out
and Draining both of them and burn
ing up the house. Her screams, ad-
ded to those Of the female friend,
alarmed the neighborhoOd in an in
slant, and among those who dashed
in was old Mr.. Stockton with a
double-barreled gun, and as soon as
he learned the trouble, he turned
the dreadful weapon full upon the
door. There was a stunning report,
a chorus Offeminine shrieks mingled
with a terrific howl from the other
side Of the door, and the next in
slant the unhappy Hopley, with both
legs full Of shot, was writhing on
the floor of that closet. The door
opened, the women pushed up to get
"a sight; got it; and Immediately
dispersed with another shrek. Hop
ley was put to bed and Mr.. Myers
summoned, who picked out the shot,
which had merely pricked through
the skin, and applied the needful
remedies, and to-day the patient is
quite comfortable and will be at his
Office again this week.


-------s s------


Call and see the Argaud Coal Stove in op-
Grafton at G. NJ. Dillon q Cos. It boats every