South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1871-10-06


not to be hanging them
To one end of the rope he attached a
weight, aud raised it by pulling the other
six or eight feet from the floor. The loose |
end he secured to the sink. Was he mad |
Did be mean to draw me under this weight, |
and SEQ me out of the world 10 novel |
way by letting it fall, and dashing my
brains out q?
To the sink end he attached long yell
low string.
Under the weight, on the floor he placed |
the can of nitro-glycerine l recognized |
the yellow string; il was fuse and would |
burn sixty minutes. Ii would burn across |
the marble-slab-there was no hope of its |
igniting any substance that would warn
my friends
DO you begin to see through il p asked |
Joe Johnson's brother.
believe | cursed him with my eyes. |
could only breathe through my nostrils,
and great veins were swelling and growing
hot in my forehead
Drawing a match from his pocket, he |
lighted aud applied it to the fuse, that lit
tie 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 man the second he was
to die. if fright aud horror spared him to
itself
Slowly the flames crept, snake-like, a
round the Irvine
'ln one hour said the prisoners broth
er, you will be in heaven or hell l will !
watch with you for half an hour, and the
other half you will spend alone.
lie sat down some minutes in chair |
watching the fame. Then he rose and took |
the porcelain with the murderer's mark |
thereon from the table and shook his head !
gloomiy.
4 am chemist enough to know it is ar
senic, he said. yes, those bright, metal |
&c 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 man who, by |
thy aid, bids the poison-spirit uprise and |
write in brilliant characters a foul confess
sion on this piece of porcelain. But be-
hold, y science 1t is no sooner written !
than, by the aid, the whole confession and
thy chosen servant are annihlated. Let
the good professor use his chemicals, the
bad brother only asks-a little can Of nj
tro-glycerine.'
heard this speech, indeed; but great
heavens it was my eyes aud not my cars
that were busiest then For, from beneath |
the table, covered by the crimson cloth OF |
which have before spoken, and which | |
faced, appeared the head of child. The |
hair was rumpled and the blue eyes were |
just opening from sleep. The intelligent
forehead was wrinkled strangely. 1t was
my boy Billy. / was afraid be would cry |
papa If 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, |
suppos, 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 halt hour when my tormentor
would be gone. Whether he understood
me or not, aided by what he had heard, ]
did not know but no quickly withdrew
bis little curly head, first kissing his hand |
lightly at NE, and then shaking his FIST at
the schemer watching so belligereutly his
dumb fire agents.
The half hour wore slowly away. Of
heavens what agony did suffer not for |
myself, but for my child. A light noise |
might discover his presence the match |
might run its tether sooner than was ex-
pected. He might be murdered OF blown /.
to atoms
The brother Of the murderer rises to 90
Joy
Commit your soul to Gods keeping be |
said You hold the evidence Of my broth |
er's guilt-nothing could cave you now =
With that he turned to take his bat from /.
of the table covered with the crimson cloth. /
beneath which hid my priceless boy. Some /.
thing attracted bis attention. lie held out
bis hands and leaned forward. / thought
be had discovered my boy No be was
lifting something 10 either hands-the wires
Of the electric battery2 Ia another instant
my boy had leaped from under the table
aud turned the crank fast and furiously.
The murdcrer's brother was in the power
Of my boy. lie could not drop the wires
be was helpless and motionless. How my
boy cried for help. The old college rung
again. The prisoners brother added bis
voice to my boys 10 his agony He beg
ged, lie beseeched-all bis nerves we're rack.
ed-grcat waves Of galvanism leaped, surg
ed and lrembled, aud Jared over every sen.
sitive nerve and Ere Still my boy was In
flexible, and shouted and turned faster. -
Unporceved, upon the marble, 10 the track
Of the burning fuse was pool Of indamma.
bic oil In an instant great length burn
ed away. IL would last just FIVE minutes
and 20 more
Father " shouted my boy, If nc assist
aoee comes, this villain INST die with US.