The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-06-22
CHE &auailg GHrLe.
Surnlnerfeld's Secret.

tfN TIE Sacramento Daily
Union of a recent date, appears
! 81 the extraordinary statement OF
sasone Leonidas Parker, written be-
fore his death. and giving what
purports to be a true account OF
his connection with the murder OF
Gregory Summerfeld. The latter
individual had been known for ma
ny years as "The Man with a Sc
cret." and he met with a horrible
death at the age of seventy years,
by being pushed from the platform
Of a train upon the Union Pacific
railroad near the north fork Of the
American river, at a place called
Cape Horn. The unfortunate
wretch was hurled downward a dis
tance of over one thousand feet
upon the bristling rocks at the
foot of the dechvity. Parker, who
was upon the platform with Sum
merfieId at the time of the catas-
trophe, was twice arrested and tried
for the alleged murder, but was on
each occasion mysteriously acquit-
ted, once by a justice and the Sc
cond time by a grand jury.
Parker was himself distinguish
ed lawyer of Sacramento, and was
widely respected. He always re-
mained silent concerning the cir
cumstances surrounding the imput-
ed crime; but shortly before his
death he placed in the hands Of a
friend document the gist Of which
we give below, the entire story tax
ing up nearly page in the Union.
Referring to Gregory Summer
field, the murdered man, Mr.. Park
er speaks of him as having been
one Of the deepest chemical stu
dents of the age, a natural mathe-
matician, a profound astronomer,
and a man of excellent general lit
erary attainments. Parker had
known Summerfeld for over TWEEN
ty years, their acquaintance hav-
ing been formed in Texas during
the days Of the republic. Contin-
uing his account, Parker says:
zone day toward the close oflast
September an old man raped at
my Office door, and on invitation
came in, and advancing, called my
name. Perceiving that I did not
at first recognize him, he introduced
himself as Gregory Summerfeld.-
After inviting him to a seat 1 scru-
tinized his features more closely,
and quickly identified him as the
same person whom I had met twen-
ty-two years ago. He was greatly
altered in appearance, but there
was the old charm of intellectual
superiority in his conversation, and
I welcomed him to California as
an important acquisition to her
mental wealth.
1t was not many minutes before
he requested a private interview
He followed me into my back Office
carefully closed the door and lock
ed it. We had scarcely seated our
selves before he inquired Of me "if
I had noticed any recent articles in
the newspapers respecting the dis
coverY. of the art of decomposing
water 20 as to fit it for use as a fuel
for ordinary purposes?
I replied that 1 had observed no
thing new upon the subject since
the experiments of Agassiz and
Prof. Henry, and added that, in my
opinion, the expensive mode of re
duction would always prevent its
use.
In few words he then informed
me that he had made the discovery,
that the art was extremely simple,
and the expense attending the de-
composition so slight as to be in
significant.
Presuming that the object of his
visit to me was to procure the ne
cessary forms to get out a patent
for the right, I congratulated him
upon his good fortune, and was
about to branch forth with a des
cription of some of the great bene-
fits that must ensue to the commu-
nifty, when he suddenly and some
what uncivilly requested me to ''be
silent" and listen to what he had
to say.
He began with some general re-
marks about the inequality Of for
tune amongst mankind, and instanc-
ed himself as a striking example Of
the fate of those who, according to
ali rules of right, ought to be near
the top, instead of at the foot Of
the la6der of fortune. "But" he
said, slpringing to his feet with i'm
pulsive energy, Il have now the
means at my command of rising
superior to fate, or Of iniicting in
calculable ills upon the whole hu-
man race"
Looking at him more closely. I
thought I could detect in his eye
the CLEAN Of madness; but / re-
NAMED silent and awaited further
Developments. But my scrutiny,
ntolor as Il vas had heen detected.