The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1871-07-29
A REMARKABLE STORY.
The Fate of a Man Who Burnt Up a
Mountain Lake i'm Fifteen Minutes

LII tUC cdCIdlHtnto Dd1N - llO1i VI
a recent date appears the eXtraor-
dinary statement of one LeOnidas
Parker, written before his death,
and giving what pllrports to be the
true account of his connection with
the murder of Gregory Symmetrical.
Tie latterindividual has been known
as "The Man with q Secret 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 un-
fortunate wretch was hurled down.
ward a distance of over one thousand
feet upon the bristling rocks at the
foot of the dcclivity. Parker, who
was upon the platform with Sum-
merfeld 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 second
time by grand jury.
Parker was himself a distinguish
ed sawyer of Sacramento, and was
widely respected. He always re-
mained silent concerning the circum-
stances of the imputed crime, but
shortly before his death he placed in
the hands of friend @ document,
the gist of which we give below, the
entire story taking up nearly page
of the Union.
Referring to- Gregory Summertield,
the murdered man, Mr.. Parker
speaks of him as having been one of
the deepest chemical students of the
age, a natural mathematician, a pro
found astronomer, and man of
excellent general literary attain
ments. Parker had known Summer
field for over twenty years, their
acquaintance having been formed i'll
Texas during the days of the repub
lie. Continuing his account, Parker
says:
lone day toward the close of last
September all old man raped at my
Office door, and Oh invitation came
in, and advancing, called me by
name. Perceiving that [ did not at
first recognize him he introduced
himself as Gregory Summerfeld. AT:
ter inviting him to q seat [ scrutin-
lied his features more closely and
quickly identified him as the same
person whom / had met twenty two
years before. He was greatly altered
in appearance, but there was the old
charm of intellectual superiority in
his conversation, and l welcomed
him in California as an important
addition to her mental wealth.
at was not many minutes before
lie requested a private interview. He
followed me into my back Office,
carefully closed the door after him
and locked it. We had scarcely
seated ourselves before he inquired
Of me IF I had noticed any recent
articles in the newspapers respect
ing the discovery of the art of de-
composing water SO as to fit it for
use as fuel for ordinary purposes 2
II replied that 1 had observed
nothing 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 it's
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 insight
fcant.
"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 description of
some of the great benefits that must
ensue toilthe community, when he
suddenly and somewhat uncivilly
requested me to 'be SILENT and listen
to what he had to say.
"He began with some general
remarks about the inequality of for
tune amongst mankind, and instan-
ced himself as a striking example of
the fate of those men who, accord
ing to all the rules of right, ought
to be near the top, instead OF at the
foot of the ladder of fortune. But, ,
said he, springing to his feet with
impulsive energy, Il have now the
means at my command of rising
superior to fate, or of infiicting in
calculable ills upon the whole human
race
Looking at him more closely, |
thought I could detect in his eye the
CLEAN of madness but [ remained
silent and awaited further develop
ments. But my scrutiny, stolen as
it was, had been detected, and he
replied at once to the expression of
my face: No, sir, [ am neither
drunk nor d maniac; [ am in deep
earnest in all that | say; and am
fully prepared, by actual experiment,
to demonstrate beyond all doubt the
truth of all | claim
C For the first time I noticed that
he carried a small portmanteau in
his hand; this he placed upon the
table, unlocked it, and took out two
or three small volumes, a pamphlet
ortwo, a asmall, square, wide-mouthed
phial, hermetically sealed.
II watched him with profound