The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-01-12

see. It's rather gloomy place"
Well, you see it's dark sort of a
day, but with little trouble it might
be made beautiful villa" The man
had moved tosthe door leading into the
bed room, as if he was going through.
When he said this, he turned round
from the door; he had one of his long
arms in the pocket of his coat, whicn
was open. | noticed that many of his
waistcoat-buttons were torn off.
| stood rejecting moment, calcu-
lating the chance / should have in a
struggle with him.
They seemed in his favor.
Il think | may as we'll be going; if
you will give me the address Of the
landlord, | will write to him."
Here's two more nice sleeping.
rooms on this floor," said the woman,
and she opened a door at the further
end of the room which | had not seen.
| followed her down two steps; into a
fair-sized room. The sickly smell was
stronger here. There was a stain on
the middle of the floor, which looked as
if it had been lately washed.
"You can 60 out this way, sir; the
landlord will repaper these rooms, and
do all necessary repairs, he told us to
say, sir. | tried to keep this place as
clean as | can, but, of course, it looks
rather dull" She had got to the door,
and stood still to allow me to pass, with
her hand on the handle. | could not
see the man. | was feeling in my
pocket for a small coin to give her,
when she opened the door halfway, and
cOurtesied. | passed on, and before
had time to turn back, the door was
shut on me. The smell | had already
perceived was horribly strong here.
turned giddy. | had almost lost my
senses, when blow from behind
knocked me down. | had just time to
catch glimpse of some chemical appa-
ratus in the corner of what seemed
more like a dark closet than a room,
when fell.
| remember nothing of what happened
then. The first sign of returning sense
was the perception of pungent odor.
Then | felt something run over my
head. Then | tried to move. | was
covered with straw. | was in the shed
of the stables evidently, and the smell
of the manure acted beneticially in
rousing my brain. | was very weak
from loss of blood, but | knew that if /
didn't exert myself at once had little
chance Of escape. | crawled TO the
door of the shed it was locked. If it
had been open | do not know how |
could have escaped across the yard
without being seen. | examined the
outside wall Of the shed. | found a
place where the boards had been mend
ed, about three feet from the ground.
Fortunately | had with me a pocket
knife, containing, among other things,
saw and q screw-driver. ! worked
away at the boards as quietly as | could,
but it was very hard work. Ny head
was very bad all the time, but my arms
were not hurt. | started at every noise.
Sometimes it was a rat running across,
sometimes horse in the stall, but no
one came to the door. In about half
had sawed through three planks, and
loosened them sufficiently to make an
opening big enough to crawl out. | put
the knife in my mouth, and slowly
crept on my hands and knees into the
open air. 1t was raining, and the rain
refreshed me very much. | could not
walk upright very well, so | crawled on
till | got to the wall, which was luckily
very low. pulled myself to the top,
and then reeled and dropped in a heap
on the other side. There was gutter
in the lane, and it was full, for it had
been raining very hard. | washed out
my mouth with the water, which, dirty
as it was, was grateful to my parched
throat. Keeping by the wall, | stag
gered along till came to lighted
street. Here | got help; the police of
flee was close by. got couple Of pc
licemen then we got into a cab. They
made me stop to have my head dressed,
but | could not rest, though the physi-
clan insisted on my doing so, until Ihad
found what had become of James
Bayle.
We got to the house. The police got
over the wall and lifted me over. We
found the man and the woman sitting
in the kitchen. When they saw me,
all pale and bandaged, she tainted
away and he was paralyzed with terror.
He made no resistance. We went up.
stairs, and | showed them the place
where | was struck. The little room or
closet, at the door Of which | fell, had
been fitted up as a laboratory. An old
retort, on a spirit lamp, stood in the
corner. The window was blocked up !;
there was no chimney. The strange
smell was still very strong, and the
poisonous vapor had not yet all dis
persed. We searched the rooms and
found some other articles which iden-
tilted as belonging to James Bayle, and
which he had about him when he left
my house. The man denied all knowl-
edge of Bayle, and swore the things had
been given him. But we had no doubt
as to his fate.
Both the man aud woman were taken
to the police station at once. | had
tainted, and they took me home. A
policeman was left in charge of the
place. The next day, on examining
the garden, his attention was directed
to the spot where | had noticed how
rank the grass was. He got spade,
and about two feet under the ground he
found a body. When the sergeant
came they worked together, and dug
out three corpses, two in very adj
vanced state of decay; the other was