The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-07-12
Ratchet, probably left there by the

Ratchet, probably left there by the
linemen. after making some repalrs
upon the wires. Catching this up with
the back of the blade, | gave his knuck-
les such a severe rap that re was glad
to relinquish his hold and drop to the
floor.
A second time he tried 1t with the
same result as before, when, evidently
irving of this mode of procedure, he
gave utterance to nearly the first artic-
ulate words | eve heard him utter.
Boy he said, I'm have your life
for that, if nothing more. Strike my
hand but n c more and | set fire to
this depot, and roast you like a rat in
his hole"
This threat, which | had no doubt he
would have carried out, filled me with
dssmay. Oh. for IA weapon with which
-ould disable him at once! A blow
upon the head with the Ratchet |
dared not risk now. | had nearly Civ
en- up all hope, when a bright thought
occurred to me. had a weapon. Il novel
n to be sure, but deadly-the electric
light wtrcs. Our depot. and indeed. the
entire village, was lighted by electric
ity, generated by water power at the
dam, which al the dynamos. Though
it was late, the power was still on.
Grasping my Ratchet, with one
strong cut | severed a wire. Instantly
all was darkness, or nearly so. Two
lanterns, one white, the other blue,
still burned in the Office below, for it
is u rule Of the company that at all
times after dark these two signal lam
terms shall be ready for instant use in
case of necessity. By their pale light
| could see every movement Of the
mailman below, who still sat where he
had fallen upon the floor, grooming
and nursing his knuckles. The wire
now, of curse, was harmless; being
severed, no current could pass through
it. Taking my knife from a pocket,
cut off the insulating material for
three or more inches from each end OF
the severed wire and awaited his
coming. My assailant was evidently
surprised at the sudden eXtinguishing
of the light, and with a yell started to
his feet, and began his third and last
attempt to reach me.
| held the two ends OF the wire, one
in each hand, above the exposed
points. my hands resting safely upon
the Insulation. As he clambered up
as before, | struck the ends of the wire
together to try the power, Instantly
following the contact, the light leaped
brightly forth, and showed him stand
ing there upon the little shelf, pre-
pairing to make the spring for
the opening, with puzzled
expression upon his iendish
face at my evident control of the light.
Then he sprang; both hands caught
the coping and rested there. Now IA
my time. Quickly separating the
wires again, | touched lightly one to
each Of his bare hands a they chung,
and let the full current pass through
his body. The shrek that followed |
hope mover to hear duplicated. A
c~onvulsiye trcpor passed through his
body, and. relaxing his grasp, he fell
heavily 10 the floor.
| remained above long enough to
satisfy myself that he was past doing
further harm; tho~. hastily de-
sccnding. | ran to the baggage room
and released the imprisoned watch
man. Together we moved tho l~ifoloss
body from the Office to the waiting
room, and a physician was summoned.
Every thing that could possibly be
done was attempted, to resuscitate
him, but was Of no avail. His life
went out with electric current.
The Waterman had made every en-
dcavor to escape from his prison, the
windows Of which were securely barred
and locked from outside; but without
implements his efforts amounted to but
little.
The coroner's jury, after listening to
our story, wholly exonerated Us from
all blame, as We had but acted in self
defense.-H .. Wuldr0n, IN Drdbe's
MiUu,i4r.