Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-23

to say it. for believe you were my broth
ers teacher and friend-yoursef as we'll
| saw that he was in deadly earnest.
" Your death must apparently result from
accidental least, 50 it must seem to tn,
authorities. My brother is in Jail and they
certainly Will not suspectme
What terrible deed was on his brain hatch.
ing? Was he going to murder Inc The
hard earned knowledge of a score of years
would have given for power to utter one
single cry.
He took me in his arms and placed me in
n chair and bound me to it. and then from a
side pocket he procured another rope
Was it myself who was to hang instead
of Joe johnson?
No; yes. He placed the line pulley-like
over an arm of the hanging chandelier. This
was too 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 letting it fall, and dashing my
brains out?
To the sink end he attached a long yellow
string.
Under the weight on the floor he placed
the can Of nitro-glycerine. | recognized the
| yellow string it was fuse, and would
burn sixty minutes. 1t would burn across
the marble slab-there was no hope of its
igniting any substance that might warn my
friends
" Do You begin to see through it ?'' asked
Joe ,Johnson's brother
believe | cursed him with my eyes.
could only breathe through my nostrils, and
the great veins We're swelling and growing
hot in my forehead.
Drawing match from his pocket, he
lighted and applied it to the fuse, hat little
tyrant that gave a man an hour to live, and
killed him at the end of it-that little ir
responsible terror that, less merciful proyi-
dence, told man the second he was to die.
if fright and horror spared him to itself.
Slowly the flame crept, snake-like around
the twinc
81 In one hour" said the prisoners broth
er, 80 You viii be in heaven or hell | will
watch with you for half an hour the other
half you will spend alone"
lie sat down some minutes in a chair,
watching the flame. Then he rose and took
the piece Of porcelain with the murderer's
mark thereon from the table, and shook his
head gloomily.
'' am chemist enough to know it Is ar
senic. he said. " Yes those bright me-
tallic eyes, betnyer Of the guilt Science,
thou wouldst kill my brother. Thou shalt
save him. Let Us see in whose hands thou
art most powerful. Here Is man who, by
thy aid. bids the poison~pirit upri-e and
write in brilliant characters foul confession
ON lhis piece Of porcelain. But behold, o
science. it Is no sooner written than, by thy
aid, the whole confession and thy chosen
servant are annihilated. Let the good pro-
ieSsor use his chemicals the bad brother
only asks-a little can of nitrO-glycerinc.
heard this speech indeed but, great
heavens, it was my eyes and not my ears
that were busiest then. For from beneath
the table. covered by the crimson cloth Of
which | have before spoken. and which |
faced, appeared the head Of a child. The
hair was rumpled. and the blue ewes were
just open from sleep. The intelligent fore
head was wrinkled strangely. 1t was my
boy Billy. | was afraid he would cry ont
80 papa If he did. the implacable man
would add the murder of my child to the
murder Of the father.
But my boy did none of this He had. |
suppose, crert under the table unknown to
me, and fallen asleep there. | tried to tell
the little fellow to hide again, and wait for
the final half hour when my tormentor would
he gone Whether he understood me or
not, ai,lt1 by what IL had heard, did not
kEow but he quickly withdrew his little
head. first kissing his hand lightly TO me,
and then shaking his fist at the schemer
watching 50 beligerently his dumb fire
agents.
The half hour wore slowly away. o heav-
ems, what agony did | suffer; not for my
self, but formy child. A slight noise might
discover his presence the match might run
its tether sooner than was expected. lie
might be murdered or blown to atoms.
The fuse burned on-on. The half hour
Is up.
The brother Of the murderer rises to 90.
joy
- Commit your soul to Gods keeping,
he said - Nou hold the evidence of my
brother guilt-nothing can save You now.
With that he turned to take his hat from
off the table covered with the crimson cloth,
beneath which hid my priceless boy. Some
thing attracted his attention. He held out
his hands and leaned forward thought he
had discovered my boy. No ; he was lifting
something in either hand-the wires Of the
electric battery. In another instant my boy
had leaped from under the table and was
turning the crank fast and furiously.
The murderer's brother was in the power
Of my boy. He could not drop the wires
he was helpless and motionless How my
boy cried for help. The old college rung
again. The prisoners brother added his
voice to my boys in his agony. lie begged,
he beseeched-all his nerves were racked-
great waves Of galvanism leaped, and surged,
and trembled, and prred over every sensitive
nerve and fibre. Still my boy was intiexible,
shouted and turned the faster.
Jnperceived upon the marble, in the
track Of the burning fuse, was pool of in
hammable oil. in an instant a great length
burned away. 1t would last Just five min
uteS, and no more.
Re Father 80 shouted the boy "if no assist
ance comes, this villain must die with rs
dare not let him free Help help help ;"
Alas | could not answer him.
But some one alse did. Thank God The
fuse is burnt up. The rope is on fire, the
weight trembles ; another minute it falls
upon the nitro-glycerine The door opens
Tom Richards, on a midnight visit to the
sick, has heard the cry. lie comprehends
all, seizes the can in his han ds-the weight
deScends, indeed. but not on the death
dealing oil. No; down it 90 p through the
office floor, down. down. like IN evil spirit,
to give back dull, metallic echo from the
stones of the cellar beneath
We were saved
Joe johnson. the prisoner. was hanged,
but his brother remains unpmlished by the
law, for he stabbed himself with knife,
and thus escaped the hangman's rope.