[_Jim]

I bet the guy was hooking up the first 12 footer and then he was going to pilfer some more wire.

I'll bet he eyed those LARGE-ish posts (insulators with *live* contacts on the ends) sticking out of the pole xfmr and thought to himself: "All I need to do is hook up a pair of jumper cables to those two posts and I'll have power tonight ... and I'll take 'em off in the morning and no one will be any wiser!"

[spunkets]

Well they did say they found the wires hanging on the ladder and running into the house. No mention of a long trail of char. He very well may have polarized himself on the transformer. The primaries certainly would have given him a bigger hum than an output. May he rest in peace, God bless him he gave a lot of folks a good laugh.