It’s a stick up! Dan, 81, beats thieves with shillelagh
AN ancient Irish walking stick helped an elderly couple fight off three burglars.
The 1800s family heirloom belonged to Dan Donovan’s I rish grandfather and helped the 81-year-old and his wife Barbara fend off a home invasion in Illinois in the US.
The family welcomed a person they thought was an electrical worker into their home in the village of Niles – and Dan escorted the man through the house.
But he heard Barbara cry out from upstairs as two more intruders came for her with a pillowcase. Exmarine Dan grabbed the closest weapon he could find – his grandfather’s old shillelagh.
He told Pioneer Press: ‘I was trying to find some type of persuasive weapon, so I picked up the Irish shillelagh and that turned out to be the equaliser because I managed to chase them out of the house.’
He whacked one of them over the head and chased the desperate trio out of the house, running down the street barefoot.
The would-be burglars got in their car to flee the scene, but Dan hit the windscreen and the hood as he pursued them.
A relieved Barbara told ABC 7 Chicago: ‘ Grandpa was looking over us, so everything turned out okay, when you think what could have happened.’
Dan added: ‘ They were backing up at high speed so I hit the windshield and I hit the hood on the way out and was chasing them down the street.’
Barbara considers her husband a hero, but Dan said he would not have been aware of the burglars without her.
He explained: ‘If it wasn’t for her I would have been helping the guy into the car and waving goodbye to him.’
The couple said it was unusual of them to let a stranger come into their house, but that they had recently received a letter from their energy company saying crews would be working in the area.
‘I hit the hood on the way out’