The Columbus journal., 1892-07-13

80 50
Though I had known George Martin
a long time, he had only lately initiated
me into the mysteries of his life. ]
knew well that he had been guilty Of
many kinds of excuses and indiscre-
tons in his youth, nevertheless, l was
not a little astonished to hear that he
had once sunk SO low rs burglary.
Without further remark here l relate
the chief episode out Of the remarkable
career of this strange man:
"Yes," said he, 81 had a hard time
of it in those days, and finally l became
a-burglar. When Robert Schmiedlein
proposed to me that We should break
into the somewhat retired house of two
doctors, DIR. Engler and Dr.. Langner,
1 thoughtlessly agreed. Both doctors
were well known on account of their
scientific researches, and one of them
especially for his eccentric manner.
well, the night fixed for the carry
ing out of our design arrived, and we
went to work with the greatest conf
dence, for all the circumstances were
favorable. for a burglary. 1t was pitch
dark, neither moon nor stars visible,
and in addition a strong west wind was
blowing, which was very welcome to
us, as it promised to drown every
sound, however slight
at was toward 9 in the morning as
we. assuming all was safe. began by
fling through a chain which fastened
a ladder to the wall. The ladder we
placed under a window in the first
story on the left side of the house. In
less than five minutes we had opened
the window, and hearing nothing,
Schmiedlein climbed through it and l
followed him. After carefully reclos-
ing the venetians we ventured to light
"A lantern, and then discovered we were
in q kind of lumber room, the door Of
which was locked.
AFTER picking the lock we deter
mined first to explore the rooms on the
ground floor, thinking we should thus
run less risk of waking the Inhabitants
of the house.
''To our no little establishment we
perceived, as we crept down stairs, a
ligh: shining under the door of one of
the rooms at the back of the building.
d. 'tAt first we were both for beating a
hasty retreat. S~chmiedlein soon re-
covered himself and proposed we
should force our way into the room,
bind and gag every occupant and then
obtain by threats all desirable informa-
ton.
II agreeing, we approached the door.
While carefully throwing the light
round, / noticed, seven feet from the
floor, a wire which appeared to pass
through the door we approach
ing, and on pointing it out to my COM
paniou. he thought it would be con-
nected with some bell.
81 replied in a whisper that we
should try and avoid any alarm by cut
ting the wire, and as / could just reach
it with my hands 1 would hold it firm
whilst ~Schmiedlein cut it between my
hands. and thus prevent it jerking back
and ringing the bell.
Setting the lantern on the floor, I
seized the wire, whilst Schmiedlein
drew a pair of pincers out of his
pocket. But the moment / touched it
1 felt a frightful shock, which quivered
through and through me, SO that 1 fell
all of heap, tearing the wire down
with mt. i remember hearing the loud
ringing of a bell, whilst S~chmiedlein-
whom, moreover, / have never een
since-disappeared like lightning into
the darkness and escaped, very likely
by the way we had come.
ION falling down l struck my head
violently against the opposite wall and
became unconscious. whilst the cleo
ric bell-at that time a novelty-rang
increasingly.
"Regaining my senses, l found my
self bound and helpless, which, after
all, did not surprise me, as / concluded
l had been caught where I fell. cit
soon struck me, however, that there
were some peculiar circumstances con-
with my captivity.
Il was nearly undressed. and lay on
q cold slab of slate which was about
the height of a table from the ground,
and only a piece of linen protected my
body frem the immediate contact with
the stone. Straight above hung a
large lamp, whose polished reflector
spread q bright light far around, and
when 1, as far as possible, looked
round, / perceived several shelves with
bottles, TASKS and chemical apparatus of
all kinds upon them. In one corner of the
room stood a complete human skeleton.
and various odds and ends of human
bodies hung here and there upon the
walls / then knew 1 was lying on the
operating-or dissecting-table of q
a discovery which naturally
troubled me greatly: at the same time
I perceived that my mouth also was
gagged.
''What did it mean? Had some acct
dent befallen me, SO that q surgical
operation was necessary for my re-
But l remembered nothing of
the kind, and also felt no pain; never
theless'here l lay, stripped and helpless,
on this terrible table . gagged
and bound, which indicated something
extraordinary.
at astonished me not a little that
there should be such an opera
ton Don in such q house, until
I remembered that DR.. Langner, as the
district physician, had to carry out the
post mortem examinations for the cir
cult. and that in the small provincial
town no other room was availa BILE for
a purpose. felt too miserable,
however, to think anything more about
it. But ] soon noticed, after another
vain effort to free myself, that l was
not alone In the room, for 1 heard the
of paper. and then some one
aid In quiet, measured tones:
UsYes. Ianpper.I rm unite convinced