Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-11-18

Slowly the fame crept snakc.like around
the twinc. ... ,.., 49,. t,... .... .
10 one hour, said the prisoners bro.
ther, you will be in heaven or hell. Twill
watch with you for half an hour; the
other half you will spend alone '. 80
lie sat down sOMe minutes in chair,
watching the flame. Then he arose and
took the piece Of porcelain with the mur.
dcrcr's mark thereon from the table, aud
shook his head gloomily.
l am chemist enough to know it is ar
scnic,' he said. Yes; those bright metal
lie eyes, are betraycrs Of guilt! Science,
thou wouldst kill my brother. Thou shalt
save him. Let US see 10 whose hands
thou art most powerful. Here is a man
who, by thy aid, bids the poison.sprite up.
rise and write in brilliant characters foul
confession on this piece of porcelain. But
behold, o science, it is no sooner written
than, by thy aid, the whole confession and
thy chosen servant are annihilated. Let
the good professor use his chemicals; the
bad brother only asks-a little can of nitro.
glyceriuc.'
heard this speech, indeed; but, great
heavens! it was my eyes and not my ears
that were busiest them. For from beneath
the table, covered by the crimson cloth Of
which have before spoken, and which [
faced, appeared the head Of a child. The
hair was rumpled, and the blue eyes were
just open from sleep. The intelligent FORE
head was wrinkled strangely. 1t was my
boy Billy. Twas afraid he would cry papa
he did, the implacable man would add
the murder of the child to the murder Of
the father. #
But my boy did none of this. He had,
suppose, crept under the table unknown
to me, and fallen asleep there. tried to
tell the little fellow to hide again, and wait
for the final half hour when my tornentor
would be gone. Whether he understood
,nc or not, aided by what he had heard. l
did not know; but he quickly withdrew
bis little curly head, first kissing his hand
lightly to me, and then shaking his fist at
the schemer watching so bclligercntly his
dumb fire agents.
The half hour wore slowly away. 0
heavens. what agony did suffer; not for
myself but for my child, A slight noise
might discover his presence; the match
mi sht run its tethcr sooner than was ex-
pccted. He might be murdered or blown
to atoms.
The fuse burned on-on. The half
hour is up.
The brother of the murderer rises to go.
JOY.
Commit your soul to Gods Keeping, he
said. You who hold the evidence Of my
brothers guilt--uothing can save you
now.'
With that he turned to take his hat
from off the table covered with the Grim
sou cloth, beneath which hid my priceless
boy. Something attracted his attention.
He held out his hands and leaned forward.
thought he had discovered my boy. No;
he was lifting something in either hand
the wires of the electric battery. In an
other instau: my boy had leaped from under
the table, and was turning the crank fast
and furiously.
The murdercr's brother was in the power
of my boy. He could not drop the wires
he was helpless aud motionless. Now my
boy cried for help. The old college rung
again. The prisoners brother added his
voice to my boys 10 his agony. He
begged, he bescechcd-all his nerves were
racEcd-srcat waves of galvanism leaped,
and surged, and trembled, aud Jared over
every sensitive nerve and fibre. Still my
boy was infexible, shouted aud turned the
faster.
Uuperceived upon the marble, in the
track of the burning fuse, was pool OF
imflammable oil. In an instant great
length burned away. 1t would last just
Eve minutes, and no more. - .E
Father. shouted the boy, if no as
sistance comes this villain must die with
US. I dare not let him free. Help
help! help!
Alas! could not answer him.
But some one else did. Thank God
The fuse is burnt up. The rope is on fire,
the weight trembles another minute 1t
falls upon the nitro-glyceriue. The door
opens Tom Richards, on midnight visit
to the sick, has heard the cry. He COM
preheuds all, seizes the can 10 his hands
the weight descends, indeed, but not on
the death dealing oil. No; down it goes
through the Office floor, down, down, like
an evil spirit to give back dull, metallic
echo from the stones Of the cellar beneath.
We wore saved.
Joe johnson, the prisoner, was hanged,
but his brother remains unpunished BY the
law, for he had stabbed himself with kuife
and thus escaped the hangmao's rope.
e A contract for making new teles-
cope for the National Observatory is now
being carried out BY a firm in the city OF
Boston. 1t must be ready, according to
| the terms of contract, in about two years.
1t will be 30 inches in diameter, and the
plan furnished to the contractor rs pro-
nouuced by scientific gentlemen to be an
excellent one, and it is expected that the
telescope when finished will be the finest
one in the world.