The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-08-26
EXTRAORDINARY STORY,
A French Count a nd His Abode--Secret
Springs and murders Drew onder-
ful Experiments I'm Electricity.

Springs and murders Dire--Nonsler-
full Experiments i'm Electricity.
Correspondence of the Missouri Republican.
The trials of the Communists develop
some startling phases of depravity III
this gay centre of the world of mode
In one of The fashionable streets of the
aristocratic QUARTER ST. German dwelt
noble marquis, in whose veins the
blood, blue as terrestrial Turquoise, OF
cerulean cloud, flowed as once danced
merrily though the veins of the first
Bourbon king of France.
But French bullets find their way
through the cuticle of the king de-
scended, as easily as if it covered the
carcass of the unwashed canaille of St
Antoine. SO, one fine July morning, q
government bullet from the chasspOt's
deadly tube found its fated home in the
breast of the noble Gaul-and the use
less mouths in Paris the beseiged were
less by one, and the academy lost one
of It's most 81 fled members.
His house was of course searched, for
evidence to convict others, and the po-
lice discovered that here under their
own protection had lived for years be-
ing who Ii d made of Death study and
who had treated murder as one Of the
fine arts. HIS house was a small one
for the locality and detached from all
others. He occupied two rooms on the
second floor as bed chamber and IL
brary and between the two was a double
wall the space between which was titil-
lzed as closets, with doors opening into
! each room. Any one passing from one
room to the other necessarily went
through one OF these closets On the
| ground floor and directly underneath
the bed room was room communicating
with the main street by an alley. While
| the officers of the law we're searching
the rooms, a gendarme stepped into one
| Of these closets ami at once found him
self rapidly descending and finally safe
| " landed on the ground floor of q room
or dungeon. We copy the following
| from the process verbal made by the
sergent in charge of the party to the in
spector of the district:
Windows of the lower room were
! built up with brick, and by az ingenious
continuance the door leading INTO the
alley was made to open from the out
side into passage way leading to an
other suite of rooms, while the real en-
trance from the alley consisted of d
swinging door cut out of the solid wall,
the bricks of which were held together
| by bands of iron encircling the whole
mass, which swung upon a pivot. So
lngeniously contrived, and so skillfully
executed was this work, that only by
chance was it discovered at all
''The door leading from the house
into this den lad nothing unusual in
It's appearance on the outside, but was
III reality double, and of extraordinary
thickness, and filled with sawdust tight
ly packed. This room was used by the
Count ostensibly as a lumber-room, for
storing disused property. On sound
ing the walls of this dungeon, a large
and deep closet was discovered con
structed on the same plan as the out
side door of solid brick, and it would
have escaped detection had not the
door given or party the hint The
contents of this closet consisted of q
variety of tools used in the construct
ION and arrangement of the rooms. it
being evident that the occupant had
performed all this labor by his own I'm
aided efforts. Here followsa schedule
or list of the tools, among which are
surgical instruments of every descrip-
ton, jars of chloroform and Narcotics
of all kinds, and all the paraphernalia
OF a chemists laboratory A power
ful battery, and other instruments, APP
parently for electrical or galvanic pur-
poses, were found"
The room was lighted by gas, to effect
which he had actually t,,nneled into
the street, and tapped one of the main
gas pipes, and then laid pipes of small
er caliber into the dungeon By means
of flexible tubing he was thus enabled
to conduct the gas wherever he chose.
These tubes and their burners were
hidden in the closet.
But the most important and hideous-
ly interesting object in the collection is
a quantity of manuscript purporting to
be record kept by the count for sew
eraI years, Of experiments made by
himself III electricity and ga1vanism.
1t is well known that he has, during
the past four years, read several lee
lures on these and kindred subjects
! before the academy, and has advanced
! some startling theories relative thereto.
| One of the papers, entitled 1.-The Mech
auism of Life, procured for him a
| pm ttt diiil tOuilttltldI llbtIN1tW WlUll
the Emperor.
These manuscripts prove conclusive
/ ly that their writer decoyed persons in
| to his house on preteXt of business
entertainment, or some other sufficient
excuse, and at a convenient moment the
fatal step was taken, the trap was
sprung, which consigned the victim to
death. Most of the experiments seem
to have been made with view of re-
storing suspended animation; e.,
raising from the dead.
Such 4 brief and unadorncd state
ment of the facts and since the divulge
ment the gossi ps call to minds numer-
Gus cases of mysterious disappearance,
but not breath of suspicion has even
attached to the count. The neighbor-
hood of the house is now thronged with
those who delight to ''sup on horrors
multiplied and these retail to new
corners, and to one another exaggerated
statements of facts The above [ nave
obtained from police headquarters and
from a visit to the house in company
with the perfect.
Expulsion of a Rabbi.
Rev. Elkan Hersman, pastor of the I
Fifth avenue Synagogue. in Chicago. |