Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-05-04

Ii: Irelccture.' or IONcC, WHICH kHt" Was
situated in the immediate neghborhool. A
Sub-pretect," and several picked men among
lis subordnatcs, happened to be up, maturing,
bieve, some scheme for discovering the
perpetraur of IL mysterious murder which all
Paris was talking Of just then. when began
my story, in brcathless hurry and in very
bad French. could see that the Sub prefect
suspected ME of being drunken Englishman
who had robbed somebody; but lie soon al.
tered his opinion an | went on, and before ]
had anything like concluded, he showed all
the papers before him into drawer, put on
his hat, supplied me with another (for was
hare-headel, ordered file of soldiers, desired
his expert followers to get ready all sorts of
tools for breaking open doors aud ripping mp
brick.hoorns and took my arm, in the most
friendly and familiar manner possible, to lead
me with him ont Of the house. will venture
to say. that when the Sub.prelect was little
boy, and was taken for the first time to the
Play, he was not half as much pleased as he
was now at the job in prospect for him at the
gambling.housc!
Away We went through the streets, the Sub.
project crossexamining and congratulating
me in the same breath as We marched at the
head of our formidable posse comitatus. Sen.
tinels were placed OF the back and front Of the
house the moment we got to it; trenen-
dous battery of knocks was directed against
the door; light appeared at the window; |
was told to conceal myself behind the police
then came more knocks, and a cry Of
"Oren in the name of the law!" At that
terrible summons bolts and locks gave way
before an invisible hanl, and the moment
after the Su6-preiect was in the passage, con-
fronting a waiter l:all-dresScd and gbaStly
pllc. This. was the short dialogue which i'm
mediatcy tnok place -
ave want to sec the Enslis?lman who is
sleeping in this house"
"IIe went away hours ago."
lie did no such thing. His friend went
away lie remained. Snow US to his bed
room y
81 swear to you, Monsieur lie Sous-prefet,
he is not here! he"
81 swear to you, Monsieur lie Garcon he
is. He slept li.re-he didn't inl your bed
comfortable--he came to Us to complain oft
hero be is among my men-and here am
ready to look for fru or two in lis bed.
stead. Renaudin calling to one Of the
subordinates, and pointing to the waiter)
collar that man, and tie lis hands behind
him. Now, then, gentlemen, let us walk up
stairs %
Every man and woman in the house W
secnred-the /" Old Soldier the first. Tnel
I identified the bed in which had slept, all
then we went into the room ahuve.
No object that was at all extraordinary ap-
peared in any part Of it. The Sub bprelect
| l.. tI,n ,lnno lp,1
! body to be silent, stamped twice on the floor,
spot he had stamyel on, AMI ordered the
flooring there to be carefully taken up. This
was done in no time. Lights were PRODUCED,
and we saw deep raftered cavity brtw een
the -four of this room and the ceiling OF tile
room beneath. Through this cavity there
ran perpendicularly Il sort OF case Of iron
] ,thiekly creased and inside the caseappear-
ed the screw, which communicated with the
hed-top below. Extra lengths of screws,
freshly ciled; levers covered with felt; all
the complete upper works Of heavy press
constructed vita internal ingenuity so as TO
| iuin tie fixtures below, and when taken to
pieces again to so into the smallest possible
co,npass-werc next discovered and pnlied
cut on the floor. After some little difficulty
the Suo-prcIcct succeeded in putting the
machinery together, and leaving his men to
work it descended with Inc to the lmdroOin.
The smothcring canopy WAS then lowered,
but lot 50 noScIcs.ly as Fad seen it lower
ell. When mentioned TIL, to the Sub-pre-
feet, his answer, simple as it was, had
terrible significance. My nlen," said he,
"are working down the Led.tUp for the first
time-the men whose money you. won were
in better practice
We left the house in tie sole possession of
two police agentS-every one of the inmates
being removed to prison on the spot. The
Sub-prefect, after taking down my "proccs
rerbaL in bis office, returned with me to my
hotel to get my passport. DO you think"
I asked, as I gave it to bin, that any men
have really been s,nothercd in that bed, as
they tried to smother mcr
II have seen dozens of drowned men laid
out ut the Mvr- ua,' answered the Sub-prr-
feet, in whose pocket-books were found let
ters. stating that they had committed suicide
in the Seine, because they hal lost everything
at the gaming table. DO know how u.any
of th,,se men entered the same gambling g-lnu,e
that you entered wun is yOn won? took
that he'd as ym took it slept in it were
suothrrrl in it ? and were privately thrown
into the river, with letter Of explanation
written by tie murdercrs and placed in their
pockct-buOks No man can say how many
or how few have suffered the fate from which
YOU have escaped. The people OF the gain
bling house kept their beistcad machinery
secret from ns-even from the puiiac! The
dead kept the rest Of the secret for them.
Good night, or rather good morning, Mon-
sicur Faulkner! Be at my oilisc again ut
nine o'clock-in tie me ntime, at rcror! "a
The rest of my story is soon told. waa
examined and re. examined; tile gambling
house was strictly seal lchrd all through from
ton t. bottom; the prisoners were se!'arate'y
jnterroyatci; anal two nP tie less guilty
among thgu ln1dc n confession. ! discover.
! ed that the Old Suldicr wa5 tho master CT
! the rer1bIins. ns.lulse~~.j,lsticc discovered that
he had heen drummei out of. tue army as
vagabond years ago that he had been guilty
Of all sorts of rillaiies since that he was in
possession of stolen property, which tue OWL
ers identified; an that lie, the crouper,
another accumplice, and tue woman who had
made my cup uf coffee, were all in the secret
o. the htdStcad. There appeared some reason
to d.ui.t whether thcinferior per OILS attached
to the house knew anything Of the suffocating
machinery and they received the benefit OF
that doubt, by being treated simply as thieves
and vagabond<. AS for the OLD Soldier and
his two head myrmdons, they went to the
galeys; the woman who la drugged my
c,,itce was imprisoned for forget how many
year.: the regular attendants at tile gam.
bIing-house were considered suspicious"
and placed under suryeillance;' and be-
came, for nne Whole week (Which Is long
timc.) the Lead Lion" III Partisan society
Nv adventure was dran,aiizsd by three Illus
trious ph.ymalscrs, hut never saw theatrical
daylight for the censorship forbade tn. !: :
PRODUCTION On the stage of a correct copy of
the gambing-housc bedstea'l.
One good result was produced by my ad-
venture which any censorship must have ap-
proved sit cured me Of ever again trying