Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1892-05-12
$50 YOU think" said the metamor.

$50 you think" said the metamor-
phosed, in the tones of gentleman,
that nothing can save Joe johnson
from the rope? Poor fellowl 1t does
look like it, But my dear professor,
Joe johnson is fortunate enough to
have in me devoted friend as well as
brother. have undertaken to save
him, and he shall be saved. In order
to accomplish this end it will be nee
essary to remove from the face ofthe
earth not only the stomach of his
miserable wife yonder, but also, my
dear professor-l am sorry to be OBJ
liged to say it, for ! believe you were
my brothers teacher and friend
yourself as we'll" saw that he was
in deadly earnest.
Your death must apparently re-
suit from accidental least so il
must seem to the authorities. Ny
brother is in Jail and they will not
suspect him, and they certainly will
not suspect me-"
What terrible deed was in this
brain hatching-was he going to
murder me? Was it myself who was
to hang, instead of Johnson?
''No; yes. He placed the line pull
ley like over an arm of a hanging
chandelier. This was altogether to
slight a support even for one
of my tender frame 1t was not TO
be hanging, then. Under the weight
on the floor he placed a can of nitro
glycerine; / recognized the yellow
string; it was a fuse, and il would
burn in sixty minutes. II would run
across the marble slab; there was no
hope of igniting any substance that
would warn my friends.
''Do you begin to see through it,"
asked Joe Johnson's brother.
| believe Icursed him with my eyes.
| could only breathe through my
nostrils, and great veins were swell
ing and growing hot in my forehead.
Drawing a match from his pocket he
lighted and applied it TO the fuse;
that little tyrant that gave a man
an hour to live, to kill him at the
end of it-that little irresponsible
terror that. less nerciful than Provi-
dence, told the man the second he
was to die, if fright and horror spar
ed him TO himself. Slowly the flames
crept snake like around the Irvine.
I'm one hour" said the prisoners
brother, you will be in heaven or
hell. | will watch with you for half
an hour. and the other half you will
spend alone"
He sat down some minutes in a
chair watching the flame Then he
arose and took piece OF porcelain,
with the murderer's name thereon,
from the table. and shook his head
gloomily.
lam chemist enough to know it is
arsenic" he said. Yes. those bright
metallic eyes, a betrayal of the
guilty, Science, thou Touldst kill
my brother-thou shalt save him.
Let me see in whose hands thou art
the most powerful"
The halt hour wore slowly away.
Oh, heavens. What agony did | sui
fer. Not for myself, but for my child.
The fuse burned On-On. The halt
hour is up. The brother of the muir
derer rises to 90. JOY.
Commit your soul to Gods keep.
ing" he said. You hold the evi.
dence OF my brothers guilt-noth-
ing can save you now"
With that he turned to take his
hat from of the table covered with
the crimson cloth beneath which hid
my priceless boy. Something at
tracted his attention. He held out
his. hands and reached forward |
though he bad discovered my boy.
No: he was lifting somethingin either
hand-the wires OF the electric bat
terry In another instant my boy
had leaped from under the table,
and was turning the crank fast and
furiously.
The murderers brother was in the
power of my boy. He could not
drop the wires; he was helpless. How
my boy cried for help! The old college
rang with his voice. The prisoners
brother added his voice to my boys
in his agony. In au instant great
length burned away. 1t would just
last five minutes and no more.
Father" shouted my boy, ''ii no
assistance comes this villain must
die with us. dare not free him.
Help! help. help"
Alas! ! could not answer him.
Thank God! But some one else did.
The fuse is burned up. The door is
on fire-the nitro glycerine. The
door opens. Tom Richards, on a mid.
night visit to the sick, has heard the
cry; he comprehends all: SEXES the
can in his hand, the weight descends
indeed. but not on the death dealing
oil No; down it goes through the
Office hoor-down, down, like an evil
spirit, to give back a dull metallic
echo from the stones OF the cellar be-
meath.
We are saved.
Joe Johnson. the prisoner, was
hanged, but his brother remains I'M
punished by the law, for he stabbed
himself with a knife and thus escaped
the hangman's rope.-H. III. in At
lanta Constitution.
American Girls with Bismarck
A faw wppks AGO :. cnmuany n