The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1871-10-27

brother is in Jail, and they will no
suspect me-"
What terrible deed was on hi
brain Matching? Was he going t,
murder me? The hard earned knowl
edge Of a score of years 1 woulc
have given for a power to utter on
single cry.
He took me in his arms aud plae
ed me in a chair, and bound me tC
it, and then from a side pocket hc
produced another rope.
Was it myself who was to hang in
stead of johnson?
No; yes. He placed the line pull
ley-like over an arm of the hanging
chandelier. This was altogether toe
slight 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 end six or eight feet from
the floor. 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 a
novel way by lettin it fall, and dash
ing my brains out?
To the sink he attacked a long
yellow string.
Under the weight on the floor he
placed the can of nitro -glycerine! 1
recognized the yellow string; it was
a fuse and would burn sixty min
utes. 1t would burn across the
marble slab-there was no hope of
igniting any substance that would
warn my friends.
''Do you begin to see through itY'
asked Johnson's brother.
1 believed I cursed. him with nv
eyes, I could only breathe through
my nostrils, and great veins were
swelling and growing hot in my fore
head.
Drawing a match from his pocket,
he lighted and applied it to the fuse,
that little tyrant that gave a man an
hour to live, and killed him at the
end of it-that little irresponsible
terror that, lsss then merciful Provi-
dence, told man the second he was
to die, if fright and horror spared
him to itself!
Slowly the flame crept snake like,
aroung the twine.
''In one hour" said the poisoner's
brother, 'you will be in heaven or
hell, / will watch with you for half
an hour, and the other half you will
spend alone.
He sat down some minutes in q
chair watching the fame. Then he
arose and took the piece of porcelain
with the murderer's mark thereon
from the table and shook his head
gloomily.
81 am chemist enough to know ii
is arsenic" he said. "Yes, those
bright metallic eyes, a betrayer oi
the guilty Science, thou wouldst
kill my brother? Thou shalt save
him. Let us see in whose hands
thou are most powerful Here is {
man wholly thy aid, bids the poison
spirit Uprlse and write in brillian
characters a foul confession on thi
piece of porcelain. But behold,
sciencel It is not sooner written
than, by thy aid, the whole confes
sion and thy chosen servant are an
initiated. Let the good professo
use his chemicals, the bad brothe
only asks-a little can of nitro-gly
cerine.
I heard this speach, indeed; bu
great heavens! it was my eyes AM
not my ears that were busiest then
For, from beneath the table, covere
by the crimson cloth ofwhlch 1 hav
before spoken, and which faced aI
peared the head ofa child. The hal
was rumpled and the blue eyes Wer
just opening from sleep. The intelli
gent forehead was wrinkled s.
strange. 1t was my boy Billy.
was afraid he would cry "papa." !
he did, the implacable man woul,
add the murder of the child to th
murder Of the father.
But my boy did none of this. H
had, / suppose, crept under the tabl
unknown to me, and fallen asleel
there. l tried to tell the little fellow
TO hide again, and wait for the fina
half hour when my tormenter would
be gone. Whether he understoot
me or not, aided by what he ha(
heard, 1 did not know; but he quick
ly withdrew his curly head, first kiss
ing his hand slightly at me and thel
shaking his fiistat theschemer watch
ing SO beligerently his dumb frt
agents.
The half hour wore slowly away
O, heavens! what agony did suffer
not for myself, but for my child. a
slight noise might discover his pres
ence; the match might run its tethe
sooner than was expected. He might
be murdered or blown to atoms.
The fuse burned on-on. The hal
hour is up!
The brother of the murderer rise
to go! JOY!
Commit your soul to Gods keep
idg," he said. "You hold the evi
dence ofmy brothers guilt-nothin
can save you now!'
With that he turned to take hi
hat from off the table, covered wit
the crimson cloth, beneath whie
hid my priceless boy. Some
thing attracted his attention
He held out his hands an
| leaned forward. / thought b
had discovered my boy! No! he W;
lifting something in' either hands
the wires of the electric battery ]
another instant my boy had leape
| from under the table and turned til
crank fast and furiously.
The murderer's brother was in tt
power of my boy. He could NJ
drop the wires; he was helpless an
: motionless. How my boy cried fc
help. The old collgerung again. tt
, prisoners brother added his voice
, my boys in his agony. He begge'
he beseeehed-all his nerves wei
racked-great waves of galvanisl
leaped, surged, and trembled, an
Jared over every sensitive nerve an
fibre. Still my boy was inhexibl
and shouted and turned faster. u
perceived, upon the marble, in tt
track of the burning fus was a POI
- - 4 o,,,.oT,Io oil In on iDGtqnt