Press enter after choosing selection

Woman Routed A Burglar

Woman Routed A Burglar image
Parent Issue
Day
21
Month
August
Year
1903
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Remarkable Presence of Mind of Mrs. Hogoboom of Los Angeles.

 

For courage and presence of mind Mrs. Francia Hogoboom of Los Angeles, Cal., can hardly be equaled among the gentler sex, and there are few men who would have held their nerve so well under especially trying circumstances as did she a few days ago.

 

One morning recently while employed about her household duties in the lower part of the house she heard the front door open and shut. Supposing her husband had entered, she called to him, but there was no answer. She thought he was trying to tease her, as he often did, by hiding behind a door.

 

Expecting to see her husband. Mrs. Hogoboom rushed upstairs with laughter on her lips and love in her eyes. At the head of the stairs she faced a villainous looking man.

 

[Image caption: The Ruffian Turned and Fled.]

 

"Get me all the money you have in the house, and get it quick, or I'll kill you!" he hissed.

 

"But we haven't any money!" stammered the startled woman.

 

"Get that money!" And he raised a knife and stepped threateningly toward her.

 

Mrs. Hogoboom was thinking hard. She had an inspiration. "Oh, you mean the money we got last night?"

 

"Yes. But get a hustle on!"

 

The gleaming knife was brandished close to her throat. Mrs. Hogoboom hustled. She stepped into her room and rummaged in her top bureau drawer while the man watched her from the doorway. Running her hand along under the ribbons and laces her fingers feverishly clutched a powerful six shooter. Turning quickly she leveled it on the man and fired. Taken completely unawares, he didn't hesitate an instant, but fled down the stairway in a panic.

 

Mrs. Hogoboom gathered up her skirts and gave chase, unlimbering the artillery as she ran. Her victim dashed around corners and out through the back door, the only evidence of his having been hit being a piece of broken button, which was found on the carpet afterward.

 

In speaking of the affair the little woman said: "I tried my best to hit him, but I aimed at his legs, for I have often thought that if a burglar did get into the house I would not kill him, for what an awful thing it would be to know I had killed a man. But I scared him off the premises at any rate."