The Red Cloud chief., 1879-04-17

ways took q bath before retiring, which
was about midnight. In the morning
Croftly had purchased two seats AZ the
Metropolitan Theater and given themto
Armstrong, who took his daughter TO
the play. By 3 O'Clock every thing was
quiet In the house. Croftly knew tia,
he was safe from interruption until IL
o'clock. and perhaps later.
He now began TO work In earnest. He
filed the tank with water, and then
tested his wires over and over again.
Every thing was in splendid working
order. He calculated that be 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
ical proportions. wherein lay the secret
Of his discovery. Having done this, he
went back 10 his room and laid the t~o
connecting wires of his apparatus side
by side upon the instrument. II was
now 9 O'Clock. He turned the gas up
TO a full blaze to dispense 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 nan who Il about TO
kill suffers more pangs than he who
knows he is about TO die. Croftly paced
up and down the apartment, and then 4
strange fascination drew him toward
the bath. He entered the room again
and stood gazing into the m~otioniess
water in the tank, and murmured to
himself: "Four hundred and eighty
cubic feet, five hundred ONES"
There was q gas-iet above the tank,
and its faint glow was reflected in the
water. To Croftly the atmosphere
seemed TO have been generated j u a blast
furnace. The water looked cool and
refreshing. There was yet more than
an hour. Croftly turned the catch Of
the doorifrom force Of habit, and, throw
ing off bis clothes, plunged in. He
could discover DO disagreeable trace of
the chemicals, and once more he felt
the delightful sensation of being cool.
IL Was SD tLtttaOlc lGdt DC sB1 Al W IC-
feet in his mind whether he would not
continue to enjoy the bath and postpone
the murder.
Suddenly the hall door was slammed
and be 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
s0r's door open and the gas in full
blast. Armstrong hated To see any
thing go to waste, and told his dsugh-
ter to 60 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 a
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 LICE-Wiu you be my wife? Yours,
EDwARD DEAN.
Dean was a 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 Crofily's battery. She took up one
of the wires, and was about to lay it On
the other and see if there would be n
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 a 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 q 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
~enyeloped in slush. The ice closed about
him like a wise. He was dead.
After the evaporation of the chemi-
Gals the electricity no longer had any
effect, and the heat of the room began
to tell upon the ice. The mass melted,
and by 4 o'clock in the morning the
corpse of Croftly was floating upon the
surface of the bath. He was not missed
until 9 o'clock the next morning, when
Dean burst open the door and found
him as described.
The rest is known. The jury gave q
verdict of suicide, and Miss Armstrong
and Edward Dean were married on the
22d of the same month.
Extension Of the Telephone System.