Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-08-08
FREAKS OF LUCK.
TWO PECULIAR CASES PRoBED
BY A SCRIBE.
A Bank Clerk Stopped From Stealing
by Peculiar Arrangement of Mir
rors-A Strangely Deliberate Sui
eide

by Peculiar Arrangement of Mir
rors-A Strangely Deliberate Sui
eide.
The greed of gold, writes 'rDuranda"
from New York to the Cincinnati En-
ouirer, is quite as remarkable as the
whimsicalities of its expenditure. Did
ever man, no matter how good, have
another mans money in his possession
without at least the thought OF stealing
it coming into his head
"Conscience is curious thing" said
one of Byrnes' best detectives. "Let
me tell what | once saw. Twas shadow
ing n bank clerk on Western railroad
train. He had handbag containing
his employers treasure, and was tempt
ed to vamoose with it, The cars rolled
along down from the Rocky Mountains
height of Denver for hours. Tom took
to studying a timetable, in which he
saw that westward train would meet
and pass this eastward train ut Mirage.
What of it He put the question men
tally to himself, and answered that it
meant nothing whatever to him. But
he went on to think that, if he wished
to steal the gold, n way to do it was to
quit this train at Mirage and get aboard
the other. watched the whole mental
process.
He pronounced the idea preposterous,
but he did not get rid of it, and when
the stop was made he alighted with the
lag in his hand. He seemed actuated
by some impulse which got its force out
side of himself. He had the opportuni-
| ty to use the speed of two locomotives to
put distance between the gold and its
owner, who was on the same train. He
walked slowly toward the further end of
tho platform, wondering at his inability
to cease plotting crime, and debating
whether there was any likelihood of his
changing to the westward train when it
came. The most resplendent things in
Colorado are the drinking saloons, and
q new one at Mirage was to be paneled
with mirrors. The big plates of glass
had been delivered at the station. They
were unframed, and some of them were
out of the boxes in which they had been
transported. The owner of the groggery
had discovered that if the edges of two
mirrors are placed together at right
angle, with no frame or anything else to
separate their surfaces, person sees
himself duplicated in the corner thus
formed. Half the image is on one glass
and half ON the other, but the junctura
is not visible, and a singular optical
effect is that, no matter where the man
stands, or how he changes his place, his
reflection will not bulge from its place
i'll the mirrored angle. The name of
Mirage has been derived from the fre-
quency of the visual illusion of mirage
in the rarcfied atmosphere of the ele-
waited region, and it may be that the
whiskey- seller meant to startle his GUS
toners beyond anything known to the
Fata Morgana as they drank at his bar.
AS though impatient to foresee the prac-
ticability of his plan, he had set up
dozen of the mirror plates in right
angled pairs against the boxes and the
side of the freight house. Toward them
Tom Walked uneSpectantly. To his
sudden amazement he encountered him
self in multiple. Each Tom had vii
lainolis scowl and sllulking air as he
standing the absence of frames from the
looking glasses, he would have compre,
hended them ut second glancc Int for
the behaviour uf the reflected images
They did not stir from thoir separate
glasses as he advanced, nor change their
positions in the least when he moved
aside, but stared laok at him like so
many thioves suddenly halted III their
fight. He WAS shocked and bewi der
ed as though by n supernatural vision.
"'That's curious effect, SIR 1t was
my own voice that caused Tom to turn
abruptly, with quivor of fright.
"What d You sayl' he brokenly re-
sponded. DO you mean the effect on
mel'
"O, no, + carelessly continued the
queer optical onoct of such an arrange
ment of mirrors.
" "Certainly-that is--yes, I was OBJ
serving it myself.
"To Tom it remained an uncertainty
whether flight was prevented b. the
encounter of the errors, but / shall al
ways believe that he was thereby saved
from n crime"
shall put that true and curious in
cident into an episode of fiction. And
let me go from that recollection of de-
tective to real occurrence here in New
York, Co show how curiously one man
treated himself while under trihing
misfortune of pecuniary sort. Carl
Werner returned one evening despond-
ent to his apartment in the wilderness
of toncments which shut the sun out
from West Fortieth street, in the neigh
borhood of Ninth avenue. He was u
man between 80 and 60, shaped like one
of those queer, long-bodied and short.
legged dogs which arc sent into holes
after woodchucks. His toes turned in
and he rolled ponderously and ominois-
iy as he walked. His face was MS round
and placid and vacant MS tho moon. No
one could ever guess from its express
ionless surface that Werner was sorrow
ing, and it is possible that, being n de.
liberate mali-his sorrow at that period
had not obtained much hcadway. To his
wife, n gray-haired, plaintive-looking
woman of about his own age, he briefly
confded the information that he was
out of work. The pickle factory in
which he had labored for thirteen years
had suddenly discovered that it was no
longer in nced Of his services. Mira.
Werner burst into tears, and two father
less and mothcrless grandchildren, 4
and years OF age, respectively, cried
to keep her company Werner filed a
pipe, and, seating himself, calmly con
templated his weeping family through n
cloud of smoke. Finally he preferred Il
simple request. "Leschen," he said to
the older of the children, "pring your
grandfather some peer"
The child obtained n brown pitcher
with blue stripes ubon it from the table,
and went forth sobbing upon her errand.
When she returned Werner took fhe
pitcher from her, eyed for moment the
f..nt. ...N,,. Il l. A I A