The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-11-26


Within the promised time it was
Locard's dining-room.
Around the table, from which, point
upward, q goodly array of bottles
stand, Locard and his old friends drink,
laugh and sing.
Eleven o'clock, the silver bell re.
cords the hour. What q voice-a
song, ratherl One could listen to il
through the whole night. Midnight
the voice puts forth all its delightful
power.
Attention. One, two! Light tho
punch! The flame fits, goblin like,
over the surface of the bowl, tapping ID
with upthrown tongues of yellow and
blue. The sugar frizzlos. Now put
out the lamp. Huzzahl Hush! the
clock is going to strike.
No, it speaks.
jacques Locardi Jacques Locardl"
"Eh! Who spokeI Who said thatP"
Jacques Locardl Confessl eonfessl"
"Locardl Locardl What jest is this?
How very pale you are'
The voice sounds as if it came from
the cellar.
jacques Locard, you are a murders
er!"
at is false Who has dared TO say
that?"
jacques Locard, it is you who killed
old Lierret! Assassinl'
There are cries, groans. Locard has
risen to his feet-lost, mad. He clutches
at his cravat to tear it from his strang-
ling throat The voice still pitilessly
continues-veiled, distant, as if coming
from the tomb. 1t repeats the word
assassin"
Locard falls upon his knees, rises and
falls again.
81 confess! Icoufess" he cries. "Yes,
it was who killed the old man, and
robbed him; but let that horrible voice
cease"
1t did not stop, but went on repeating
its dreadful aenunciations with the per-
sistency of machine in motion.
ut is the clock that speaks"
screamed Locard, seizing it, shaking it,
dragging it from it's place, casting it
upon the floor. The works were scat
tered, and in their midst was seen a
small cylinder covered with metallic
paper.
Lierret, VINO had heard all, sprang
into the room through the open window
and seized Locard by tho throat.
You are all witnesses that this man
is the murderer of my father!' I'D
cried.
Murder will out; but men who take
the lives of their fellow men for gain
always think their cunning more than
a match for proverbial wisdom. So
thought Locard, and had not seven
years impunity justified his estimate
of his own cleverness? No; it had only
put him off the guard which the MUIR
derer must never for moment cease
to keep. The police had utterly failed
to track him down-had not even as
sociated him in any way with the
crime; yet there had been a detective
at his heels, as he now saw with hor-
ror.
A few years in the army do one of
two things-sharpen or deaden the
wits of a soldier; they sharpened Lier-
rets. The failure of the police left ip
his mind deep and bitter disappoint-
ment. His father had been cruelty
murdered and robbed, almost in the
light of day-a kindly but undemonA
strative man, respected by all his old
townsmen; who was never known to
have made an enemy, who had many
friends-Locard among the number.
Who but one of his friends could have
known that he had, by the mercst ac-
cident of circumstances, the whole say.
iugs of his life in his possession that
day, in view of an advantageous invest.
ment, to be completed on the morrow
that never came for him? No stranger
could have known of this.
No stranger? That idea haunted
Lierret's mind day and night and goad.
pushed on inquiry. Bit by bit he came
upon the history of all his fathers old
friends and associates, and at length
suspicion pointed to the sudden and
vaguely explained uprising of Locard,
nearly simultaneous with the old clock
makers assassination. There was the
murderer's reckoning of chances;
too eager for the enjoyment of his
murder stamped gold, he surprised his
acquaintances by his ostentatious dis
play of means, but Llerret he provoked
to make inquiry as to their origin.
Still the proof, the legal proof,
eluded the young mans search, though
he had come close enough to it to satis-
fly the instinct of his heart; while the
persistency with which Locard, who
had been an almost daily visitor to his
fathers house, avoided him was in it.
self q confession. 1t was at this stage
Of his search for justice that the idea
of laying a trap for the criminal came
into his mind.
Gentlemen of the jury" sSid the
prosecuting barrister, you see here of
what social utility is the progress of
science. Was it not trait of genius on
the part Of poor clockmal5er to have
utilized, by adapting it to the mechan-
ism of an ordinary clock, that immor-
tai invention of Edison's-the phono-
graph?"-San Francisco Argonaut.
Ills Precious Burden.
The wind was blowing 4 gale, the
muddy eXpanse of water was heaving
like an angry sea. Spectators on the
elevated braced themselves against the
breeze and offered up silent prayers
for the heroic men risking their lives
in the rescue. 'Look! lookl IoolS!"
rose the excited cry. A thousand eyes