Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-03-29

Every thing was in splendid working
order. He calculated that he could EN-.
bed his rival in ice about midnight, and
then turn on hot water. In the morn.
ing there would be no trace left of the
freezing. He rubbed his hands with
delight, and then poured in the chem.
zeal proportions, wherein lay the secret
of his discovery. Having done this, be
went back to his room and laid the two
connecting wires Of his apparatus side
by side upon the instrument. 1t was
now 9 o'clock. He turned the gas I'D
to full blaze to disperse the shadows,
took an easy chair and determined to
read until Deans return. The silence
of the house became unbearable, and
the sultriness of the apartment more and
mere oppressive. His excitement be-
gan to tell upon him and he was no
longer cool. The man who is about to
kill suffers more pangs than he who
knows he is about to die. Croftly paced
up and down the apartment, and then o
strange fascination drew him toward
the bath. He entered the room again
and stood gazing into the motionless
water in the tank, and murmured to
himself: "Four hundred and eighty
cubic feet, five hundred omes.''
There was gas-iet above the tank,
and its faint glow was reflected in the
water. To Croftly the atmosphere
seemed to have been generated in blast
furnace. The water looked cool and
refreshing. There was yet more than
an hour. Croftly turned the catch of
the door'from force of habit, and, throw
ing off his clothes, plunged in. He
could discover no disagreeable trace of
the chemicals, and once more he felt
the delightful sensation of being cool.
1t was so agreeable that he began to re-
feet in his mind whether he would not
continue TO enjoy the bath and postpone
the murder.
Suddenly the hall door was slammed
and he heard the voice of Miss ARM
strong talking with her father. The
pair had indeed returned, having left
the theater because they did not care to
be bored with Mrs. Bowers's hackneyed
rendering of "Queen Elizabeth" Pass
ing along the hall they saw the Profess
sor's door open and the gas in tull
blast. Armstrong hated to see any
thing go to waste, and told his daugh-
ter to 90 in and lower the gas, as the
room was unoccupied. Miss Armstrong
went in as directed, and her father pass
ed up stairs While alone, the girl
could not resist the temptation to pull q
little note from her bosom and read it
again. She had received it that morn
ing, and had already perused it about
twenty times. 1t read:
DEAR ALIcE-Win you be my wife? Yours,
EDWARD DEAN.
Dean was young man, who, when
he had any thing to say, said it at once,
and stopped on reaching the point.
She pored over the letter about FIVE
minutes, and then, returning it to its
place, looked about her. Her eye pres
emily fell on the instrument connected
with Croftly's battery. She took up one
of the wires, and was about to lay it on
the other and see if there would be a
shock, when her courage failed her and
she dropped it across its mate. A spark
flashed out, which startled her. She
drew back, lowered the gas, and went
to bed.
At the instant the wires were connect
ed Croftly was in the center of the bath.
A shock and terrible chill passed
through his frame. and he felt cloud
of vapor rising from the surface of the
water and sweeping into his face.
Myriads of spear-like crystals shot out
from the edge of the tank and converg-
ed toward him like so many shafts of
death. He realized his situation, and
dashed to reach the steps; as he did so,
he threw himself against the jagged
edges of sheet of ice half an inch thick.
There was a frightful cash in his side,
from which blood was streaming. He
struggled madly amid the ice, and every
throe brought fresh wounds. His limbs
moved no longer in water; they were
envelOned in slush. The ice closed about