Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-10-05


| case of need.'
/ / bowed, and attributed his visit to ;
| feeling of curiosity. He sat on the sink
one rubbered foot thrown over the other
and wiped his nose with dirty hand
| kerchief several times, while his eye
wandered about like Christopher Colum.
| bus, after discoveries. Finally he spoke
like one who thought himself called or
to say something.
professor, there has been an accident
this afternoon; terrible, too" Et
"Ah!'' said 1.
| "Awful - said he.
ssWhat was it ?n IN
ssNitro-glycerine explosion up, in the
ron mills-a hundred fellow-mortals
busted ~ .,.s....-- r- y
"Sadp' err.-i-e 5re-. .. e
affecting, very" Here he rubbed
his mouth with the back of his hand
cerine ?'' 1 -' a
cit is very dangerous article" / an
swered, happy to display my knowledge,
taIt has nearly twice the desrructiveness
of gunpewder, but, unlike it, does moi
explode on the application of heat. "A
red-hot coal dropped into it will not ex-
plode it. 1t will freeze; it is yellowsafu
greasy. Its symbols in our nemencla-
1 ture are CO. H5, (No. 81 8, o." =
"You don't mean to say sop said the
koffcer, ,interrupting me in disagreeabie
tones in the very middle of a choice ex-
tract from one of my lectures. "Why
| but you hain't told me how it does GO
off,, IF fire won't bust it, what in-(hem)
will ?'' ~, 80. ,..e--4. 9=-r {.
1 told him if it were pressed or any
thing fell on it, it would explode.
place it under the crusher of a cider
mill, strike it with hammer, let a weight
4 fall on If. from q heipht-n -
tiYes," said my man, land that rolises
is vo olcaner, does it? How does it come.
] Perfesser P' a. :. 81
| sin little cans-why, like these?''
said I, discovering that there was little
can of it on the marble sink, which had
carelessly neglected to replace in the
cellar + then took a little of the gly-
cerine. spread it on an anvil and strnek
| it with a hammer. A slight explosion
and flame burst from the paper.
.ssNo, really" said the policeman
starting back; 'sI suppose, Professor,
that there can would make mighty
noise if allowed to explode all at onoe?''
sit would blow the entire building to
atoms,'' said l, resuming the analysis OF
Mrs. Johnson's stomach.
| "Nop' heard the policeman remark,
in deliberate Yankee tones; "you don't
say so ?"
The next moment I lay on my back, a
gag in my mouth, terribly frightened
policeman, and the first thing that func-
tionary did was-looking me straighI in
the face-to take off his nosei Hethen
rid himself of his red eyebrows, hair
cap, and became determined looking
fellow, with the eyes of fiend and the
nose of a Roman. is,i3lB ES
$50 you think" said the metamor-
phosed, in the tones of a gentleman,
tsthat nothing can save Joe johnson from
the rope? Poor fellowi it does look like
it.. But my dear Professor, Joe johnson
is fortunate enough to have In me de-
voted friend, as well as brother. have
undertaken to save him, and he shall be
saved! In order to this end it will be
necessary to remove from the face of the
earth not only the stomach of his misera-
BILE wife yonder, but also, my dear Pro-
| fessor-I'm sorry to be obliged to say it,
for believe you were my brother's IS
teacher and friend-yourself as well"
/ saw that he was in deadly earnest.
"Your death must apparently result
| from accidental least, so it must seem
| to the authorities. My brother is in Jail =,
and they will not suspect him, and they
certainly will not suspect me-"
What terrible deed was on his brain
Matching? Was he going to murder me
The hard-earned knowledge of a score of
years would have given for power to
utter one single cry.
He took me in his arms and placed me
in chair, and bound me to it, and then
from sido pocket he produced ap0her
rope.
Was it myself who was to hang in
stead of johnson?
No, sir. He placed the line pulley-like
over an arm of the hanging chandelier.
This was altogether too slight a support
even for one OF my slender frame. 1t
was not to be hanging, then?
To one end of the rope he attached a
weight, and raised it, by pulling the
other, six or eight feet fromlthe 1oor.
The loose end he secured to the sink
Was he mad? Did he mean to draw me
under this weight, and send me out OF
the world in novel way by letting it
| fall and dashing my brains out? !? cd
To the sink-end he attached q long yel-
low string. HL -.-- =. =
Under the weight ON the floor he placed
the can of nitro-gl lycerine! recognized
the yellow string; it was fuse, and it
would burn sixty minutes. 1t would
no hope of its igniting any substance
that would warn my friends.
| "Do you begin to see through it ?''
asked Joe Johnson's brother. -
believe / cursed him with my eyes
1 could only breathe through my nos
trils, and great veins were swelling and
growing hot in my forehead.
| Drawing match from his pocket, he
lighted and applied it to the fuse that
| little tyrant that gave man an hour to
live, and killed him at the end of it-that
| little irresponsible terror that, less than
merciful Providence, told a man the
second he was to die, if frightand horror
| spared him to itself!
Slowly the flame crept, snakelike,
around the twine.
"In one hour" said the poiOner's
brother, "you will be in heaven or hell.
1 will Match with you for half an hour,
and the other half you will spend aone.''
He sat down some minutes in chair
watching the flame. Then he arose and
took the piece of porcelain with the muir
derer's mark thereon from the table and
shook his head gloomily.
"I am chemist enough to know 1t is ar
senic," he said. eyes, those bright, me-
tallic eyes, betrayer of the guilty! {!
Science, thou wouldst kill my brother
Thou shalt save him. Let us see in
whose hands thou art most powerful.
Here is a man who, by thy aid, bids the
poison sprite uprise and write in bril-
liant characters foul confession ON this
piece of porcelain. But behold. o
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