Texas grandma fends off burglar with just a stick and boiling water

HOUSTON, July 8 (UPI) -- An elderly Houston woman is recovering after defending herself from a burglar with nothing more than a wooden stick a pot of boiling water.

Lillie McClendon, 83, had just showered and flipped her laundry on Sunday when she noticed one of her windows was ajar and various possessions were out of place.

"I couldn't see his face, just his eyes like that," McClendon told ABC Houston. "All he was asking about was, 'Where's the money at? Where's the money at?'"

The man then attacked McClendon, choking her and making more demands for money. But McClendon fought back.

"I got a stick and tried to hit him. I had sausage on the stove. I put hot water on him...I told him, I said, 'What kind of momma you got that raised you up like this? You oughta be ashamed of yourself.'"

The intruder fled the scene with minor injuries and took nothing from the home.

"Come in here to rob her, hurt her, harm her, to get something from her that she don't have, shame on you," McClendon's daughter Anita said. "That's despicable."

By the time authorities arrived, the intruder had long left the area and remains at large.