Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-03-05
A STRUGGLE WITH 4 MANIAC.

Up in a great warehouse. six high
stores above the ground, and every
where about me wool--baies upon
| bales of wool, which we had been
| craning up all day, and in at The open
door. Floors and floors beneath
slowed with jute and dyewoods. teas.
coffees, spices, t6baccoes; and, lowest
| of all, tallows in huge hogsheads.
Riches from all parts of the world ~
ing Oh hand d waiting the finish OF
the commercial enterprise which
should consign them to traders, and
then to the people of busy country.
Whats the matter with Jack
Wood % said one of the men in the
afternoon.
But, excepting that he looked lit
tie wild about the eyes, L dldlt See
ANYTHING more about him than might
often be seen III men who drink heavily
at times; and so [ said. But at last,
towards evening, when I was longing
| to get away home to spend my even
ing comfortably, 1 was left alone upon
that floor with him, and felt bit
startled to see him go all at once to the
| open door where the crane landed the
| bales, aud cut some strange capcrs.
| like man going to dive off a board
| into the sea.
| Putting down my work, which was
! getting ready two or three burst bales
| for the hydraulic press, SO that they
might be tied up again, I slipped
| quietly up behind him, and laid nv
hand upon his shoulder, when, with a
yell, he shrieked out:
Devil! devil devilr'
And the next moment. by the light
of the gas of that foggv winters after
noon. we two were wrestling aud fight
ing together, within few feet OF the
door, out of which we should have
fallen clear a hundred feet upon the
stones of the wharf below.
| should have shouted, but all power
of speech seemed taken away, as locked
! together we wrestled here and there,
while bis hot breath hissed against ny
cheek, and [ could look close into his
wild, glowerlng eyes as, flashing with
rage, he bore me nearer and nearer to
the doorway.
Used rs [ was ut all times to stand
ing close to the edge aud receiving
bales aud packages, l could lean over
usually without shudder; but nov
with this madnIan slowly forcing M
back towards the ertain death Icu,Ilu
face, and treu.b iGd 80 with ,tr,..,u that
my resistance became :tetl an't
feeblcr: aud as a iast Resource / inau
aged to get 10y leg between my "ppo-
nent's, and tripped linn. when we fell
heavily.
Fortunately for me my enemy was
undermost, and the force !th which
his head came against the warehouse
floor partly stunned him, so that
shook myself free, and turned and
fled toward the stairs. But tie Dext
moment thought of the opel. door
way, ard the state the poor fellow was
in, 0 l turned back 10 lock it, and -
insure that he did not come by hi
death by falling ont before | could get
assistance.
My hand was Oh the door, but
could not close 1t, for Wood lay III the
way; and shuddeling at how near he
lay TO the gulf, l stopped 10 draw hin
OH one side, which he started up and
seized me again.
To beat Up his hands, and turn and
flee down between the piled Up bales
was the work OF an Instant, while roar
ing with rage [ could hear tearing
after me.
= The stairs were pretty close, :;ut as
IAN round the end OF the bales | found
: the door closed, and had to dart past
to avoid being caught; when L turno,
down another opening between the
{ packages, and ran painting on.
, Vast as the door was, there was
passage after passage between the
| wool, which WAS piled up eight 81
nine fset high, and | tore OF III the
hope OF so far distancing my pursueI
that | could dart through the stair
/ door, fa-ten it after me and so escape
r summon assistance. On and OF ]
ran, now getting ahead. and now with
the painting breath close to my shout
der, SO that / expected every nome ut
: t feel savage hand laid upon me to
drag me down. At last he got SO nct II
that his hand brushed me; but, with q
/ yell of horror, leaped forward again
lodged round corner, ran down a
short passage, and again on, past pit
, lars aid piles, when turning round l
found that ] vas aloue;a hurrying t.
about the center of the narrow pas
sage, between the high walls, |
leaned against the side painting and
bceathless.
: Now, if could but reach the door
! while he was at the other end
! thought, Il should he safe" and L
kept OF nervousiy Watching the two
ends of the passage lest | should be
taken surprise; when to my horror, [
saw by the gas shining upon 1t Il say
ege head peer round from the end
nearest the way of escape. watch me
for moment. and ttcu disappear.
It was quite dim and twilight in all
the passages, and NY fl Isl Impulse was
to dart off in the opposite direction;
but little thought told me that per
haps the :wrf tch did not see me, and
| had better stay where | was; and SO
L stood minute after minute, expecting
TO see him come round one end or the
other and dash down upon me.
L knew that about half-past five the
Waterman would come round, and
then / would give the alarm; but it
wanted nearly an hour of that time,
aud how | was to hold out until then
[ could not tell, for the very thought
uunerved me; and overcome with fear,
[ could feel my knees tremble and
seem ready to give way beneath my
weight
Five minutes passed ten minutes
and still no sign. My SPLITS rose Il
little. and began to hope that escape
was yet possible. but abated nothing
of my watchfulness. Another five
minutes, and [ had almost determined
trying to steal down towards the door,
where the reflection from tho eaaligi.t
made the end of the passage quite
bright, while where I stood was in
fast-deepening shadow. l took two
steps forward noiselessly, and then
stopped; stole on again and stopped
with dead silence all around, through
which could hear the singing of the
gas and the lond "throb, throj' of
my heart. 1 had somewhat recovered
my breath, and kept sinking silently
on, every now and then looking back
to See that there was no pursuit.
What I should have liked, and which
would have been IN accordance with
nay feelings at the moment, would
have been to dash forward; but [ kept
down the desire, aud crept slowly on
between the huge walls Of wool bales
piled some eight or nine feet high.