The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-10-14

sibility of his recovery. His hand had not
been steady, and the bullet must have
passed the most vital portion of the heart
without injuring it. tended him as one
tends favorite brother. He was restored
to consciousness, but it was impossible to
extract the bullet. A pleurisy set in with
the worst symptoms; but / saved him.
His first question was, whether | had
removed the bullet | could but acknowl-
edge that to do so was beyond my power,
when, to my surprise, he smiled, and shook
me warmly by the hand. After that he
recovered sufficiently to move about and
mingle with the world; but he, thence
forth, lived utterly retired and alone, never
joining in any festivity, and hardly ever
seen to smile.
"This sort of existence continued for
nearly fifteen years, and everybody res
pected the great sorrow that made him a
recluse. At length, fortnight since, he
sent for me, and, when | called on him, he
said: I'm going to die, sir; she beckons
me to join her
"This peculiar announcement did not
understand, although l knew what he
meant when he said She
Ills ailment was again pleurisy. / did
my best, but in vain. Day before ycster-
terday he asked me whether he was dy-
ing.
az Yes replied, for, as l told you, 1
loved the man and could not tell him an
untruth.
"' Then,' he rejoined, when | am dead
you will extract the ball, and-you. will
keep it, won't yOu?'
Il promised that l would; my friend
died, and | did as he had requested.
g searched for the bullet, and found it
in the place that described to you. But,
here it is, and, as you see, it is not a bull
let in the proper sense of the word, but a
sheath, and it is not lead, but soldered pla-
tinum. The soldering, as you may know,
could be effected only at an extraordinary
white heat. How was it done? and what
mystery does this case conceal? Science
must inform u.s."
BY this time night had set in with re-
doubled gloom, and the chandeliers with
in having been noiselessly lighted by a
servant, while we were both intent upon
the narrative, we withdrew from the ba.-
cony and ascended to den upstairs,
where, in the lower tier of a lofty turret
of solid masonry, have all the apparatus
and material of thorough chemical la
boratory, and above it telescopes and
nay, even the fOggy atmosphere.
The doctor at once went to work, and
quickly succeeded in opening the little
cylindrical sheath. Two things fell out of
it-a little pinch of whitish dust, and
battered ring. The latter was plainly of
pure gold. The electric heat had not
reached it directly, but it had softened.
The ring, the whitish dust, the mystery,
were there, palpable and visible before
us.
The problem of a life had taken shape
and form
The doctor placed the dust under the
lens of microscope
"This," said he, is human ashes"
"Then the ring"
"There are letters engraved upon the
ring Remember ; and below these an in
scription in very fine text : j. l.. February
2Sth, 1854 But J. L.-those were not
the dead lady's initials"
Journal perhaps is the word they
designate" | exclaimed.
The doctor glanced at me with mock
ing look of surprise.
You are jeweller, are yOu?" he said.
Perhaps" was my reply, "but why
may not these letters mean some register,
some memento? There is a date, and
nothing agrees better with the idea
At the same moment, my gaze fell upon
some blank Ooks and documents belong
ing to the deceased, which the doctor had
brought with lim, and had mentioned
to me when lie first came that evening.
He had lai6 hem down upon the open
leaf of my secretary when he began his
experiment with the platinum-casc.
picked up one of the blank books and
rapidly turned over the leaves. 1t was Il
journal regularly dated, and on the last
page was written in large letters, "Fs6ru-
arg 2Stt, 1854"
Il love yOu," ran the text "You have
just placed the ring of our bctrothal on my
finger. Should / die before you do, take
the ring and wear it on your heart for the
remainder of your life"
Lower down, were these words in an
other hand:
& have obeyed. You died The ring
clung tightly to your finger, and have
taken both ring and finger from your be-
loved corpse. l shall not keep them on
my heart only, but IN my heart"
The distracted man had amputated the
joint above which the ring rested. Then,
by whom and how had he caused it to be
enclosed in the platinum sheath? No one
probably will ever tell. At all events, it
was with this strange missile that he had
intended to penetrate his heart, and chance
alone had saved him.
This is peculiar story, but true one
and the annals of surgery show that haz-
ard has, in the lapse of time and the null
tiplicity of cases, produced some similar
escapes, that appear little less than mira
cles To the every day reader.
If you would know the name of him
who thus bore 4 love-tol<en, literally
next his heart, for thirteen years,
glance at the medallion on the
broken marble pillar that counts as the
third from the gateway on the left
hand side as you pass up the willow walk
in the - Cemetery. The device rep
resents heart, on which is carved lady's
finger bearing ring, and the inscription
as we have previously given it:
-.