The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-08-05

tooth out, but that was not very comfort
ing to me, for remember the pulling of
q molar that was
SIMPLY ExCRUCIATING AGONY.
II remember the last words uttered by
the warden, and his whispered instruc-
tons tor the fellow behind the screen to
get ready to turn son the current. He
thought did not hear, but such time
ones senses are unusually active.
II cannot describe my anxiety while
waiting for that shock of 1850 volts.
They say time flies, but to me the mo-
ments were very long. I waited and
waited but the electric current did not
come.
"The machinery is out of order l
thought, 1t won't work, and l sup
pose I'll have to 90 back while they fix
it, and have to go all through this again,
The air of the room had changed, and the
temperature was much colder than when
l entered the death chamber.
"Tbere was some confused noise which
l took to be made by the electrician, and
l concluded that my execution was about
to be postponed when familiar voice sa-
luted me with: 'Hullo, Harris turned
my head and beheld the two men who
had escaped from the condemned cells
and with whom could have gone had /
been 80 minded.
"'Can it be possible that they have
been retaken and are to suffer with meY
l asked myself. But that idea was dis
PEELED when they asked me to get up and
go with them to less exposed spot.
"'Do not the fools see that I am
trussed in the chair and unable to move?'
was the thought that came into my head.
But they seemed to know what was pass
ing in my mind, and bursting into wild
laugh one Of them said: BLESSED if Har-
ris isn't waiting to be electrocuted. Ho,
no.
II became indignant at their coarse be-
havior. Of course I was to be electrocut-
ed, as they ignorantly called it, but l
knew that if l had to wait until they had
to yacate the chair for the next l would
not have disturbed their last moments
with laughter or by illusions to the object
tor which they were seated and strapped.
sin my indignation I made kick at
them, forgetting the broad straps which
bound my legs, but to my amazement,
when the thing occurred to me, my limbs
were perfectly free.
81 stood up without difficulty and
looked about me. This was not the
death chamber. Where was the warden,
where the witnesses of my death, the Off
GERS and the minister2 All had disab
peared. l felt cold, terribly cold, and
stopped to pull down the leg of the pant
aloons which had been cut and drawn up
to the knee, to accommodate 1.-THE elec-
trode"
"You appear puzzled, sir"
II turned, and this time stranger was
speaking to me-" 800
IL admitted that my mind was little
hazy; I suppose 1 tainted when the cleo
trio apparatus would not work and / am
waiting here for renewal of operations
l remarked. He, too, laughed, and I
wondered what there was to laugh at.
"'Harris, you might as we'll know it
poned. You will not have to sit in the
chair again.
"'Then l am pardoned or reprleved.
l shall live. Merciful God l thank thee,
l thank thee!"
Again the stranger laughed.
"You will, indeed live, Harris, for you
the chairs need have no more terrors.
You were executed in 1t two hours ago.
Impossible, man. l waited in vain
for the shock, and if were executed how
could be alive and here?'
"The strange man smiled again and
reiterated his assertion that had been
killed in the chair and that was dead
before the nerves could convey the shock
to the brain, which would account for
my knowing nothing about the event
beyond the waiting for the current.
"a sense of relief came, and my next
question was where am II I soon
learned that I was an inhabitant of that
uncon6ned territory called space, with a
life for good or bad as events may deter
mine.
''Tbe extreme cold was due to the po-
sition of the place, for in that two hours
had, all unconscious of my flight, ira
versed boundless tracts of space. With
my guides assistance reached more
congenial cline and am now stopping on
earth awhile"
"Have you met Miss Potts sir2" in
quired one of the company.
Harris was not put out by the question.
He replied in the negative. He heard of
her; that she was doing we'll and had no
desire to renew the acq uaintance which
had led to such a trouble. He, too, was
not DESTROYS of meeting her. He respected
her of course, but would make no effort
to effect q reunion or reconciliation. Each