The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-01-21

To breathe heavily ana regularly, as III In
sleep, and, after few moments hesita-
ton, felt, rather than heard, the door
open. A slight jar against the press told
me it was wide open, and that the spring
was to come.
had no idea, you see, of the nature
of the attack. Would Sturm fire on mel
Would he spring upon the bed and
smother mel Would he stab me or beat
out my brains? The catalogue, YOU
will admit, has certain interest for you
now Judge how it affected me then. 1
heard, or fancied heard, a heavier and
more decided step than any which had
been taken before, and knew that the
moment had come.
l have seen perfor ned most OF the
great operations of the day, and 1 have
more than once Witnessed certain
tremor and hesitation on the part of the
surgeon just before the operation began.
The moment the knife touched the flesh
his nerves were steel and the work was
done as if by machinery.
DO not talk boastingly when / say
that, whereas when L listened to the
footsteps and felt the door open. it was
only by a superhuman effort preserved
myself from a dead faint, yet, when L
one way or the other, my hand was firm
az a rock, and held the syringe charged
as coolly as / now hold this cigar, or l
should hold the knife Mt an operation.
Sturm was breathing heavily but for
moment heard him catch his breath
in, and then. with low growl, like q
wild beast rushing Mt its food, he sprang
forward. and with a short crowbar, dealt
fearful blow at the place where, but
for Gods mercy, my head would have
been. Again, and again, he repeated his
blows, not seeing, in tho wild fury of
murder, that they were falling harm
lessly and then, seemingly exhausted,
he drew back, and with wide-open blood
shot eyes, gazed upon his handiwork.
Then was my chance. The murderer
crouched over the bed, with the moon
light full on his face, hardly foot from
me. In another minute he would have
discovered mis- mistake and seen me but
steadily L raised the syringe, and, ex-
actly at the time when his gaze turned
TO me, 1 gave him full ounce of the
acid straight in his eyes.
1 have no words to describe the fear
full yell of establishment, of fright, and
of pain which he emitted. He would
have faced either blow, stab, or a
shot, boldly enough, dare say, though
in any case he must have been terribly
startled but had used a weapon un-
known in his armory, and the effect was
like that of t.lunderbolt.
He gave q spasmodic leap into the air
the crowbar fell from his hands, and
then he fell prone. Then, with repe-
tition of his awful yell, accompanied
with perfect hurricane of oaths and i'm
precautions, he staggered to his feet with
the evident intention of finding his as
sailant.
But it was in vain. The strong irritaut
had done it's work, and he could not open
his blighted eyes for second. He was,
indeed, blind and, after frantic rush
against the press, in which he cut his
forehead severely, he felt the door, and,
staggering out, fell headlong down the
stairs. l heard the crash, and then all
was still.
simultaneously with his fall 1 must
have tainted aud had Sturm had any
accomplices must have fallen al easy
victim to them. At last L reused my
self, and, still hearing no sound. ven
tured down stairs, the way through the
front room being the only means Of
egress. l imagined my antagonist had
gone out, but, at any rate, knew he
must be blinded still but before l got
down stairs 1 could see him lying flat on
his face, his head buried in his arms. A
bottle was thrown down beside him, and
he was breathing stertorously. He had
evidently taken refuge from his agony
in the stupor of drunkenness.
1 was passing lightly ont when it sud
denly struck me that, except when [ saw
it in tho moonlight, had never obtained
a good view of my antagonists face. He
had shaded it, as / said, coming int
was terribly distorted when L saw 1t for
that single moment-and l could not be
certain of recognizing it; while it was
hidden on his arms now. had blinded
him, you will say, but could not Judge
of the effect of the acid, nor how long it
would last. At all events, L determined
to mark my friend, who was quite insen
sible, so that for ten days or 30 l should
be able to identify him. took my lit
tie bottle of strong solution of nitrate of
silver, and just under his handkerchief,
ut the back of his neck, / traced, with n |
pencil accompanying the
the figure of a cross. You |
know the action of the sun upon salts of |
silver if his eyes recovered quickly, l |
should still have something to identify |
my man by; for 1 did not know then
whether it was Sturm or some lodger
who had made the attempt on my life.
was, however, to meet my assailant again
sooner than 1 expected.
Immediately on reaching home, before
couldsee any one. / was called off to
another case, which kept me till the
of the next day. Arriving
home then, was told that DR.. Green
field had gone to an inquest on man
who had met with his death at Gabriel
Sturm's inn. At Gabriel Sturm's! AS
you may imagine, 1 hurried off, and WAS
inst in time to hear my late adversary
tell the following ingenious story, which
revealed to me, and to me alone, the
fearful extent OF his crimes.
The body of a man had been found in
he inn, with his skull broken in by
i