Arizona silver belt., 1894-03-10
LOCKED IN.
Vas ita dream2

As l opened my eyes a strange spec
 Iclo presented itself. In front of me Sas scaffold supporting guillotine. A man was pinioned, with his neck resting on the block, the tall execution CT standing ready to pull the cord and liberate the shining blade that hung aloft Around were grouped priest and state officials dressed in French cos tumes of the last century. And the pale moon shed its somber light over all In Ino;aent reoollected that must be in the chamber of horrors of Paul's waXwork exhibition.
 Twas spending a week in town, sight seeing. Tho preceding day had been a very tatiguing one, but l had promised myself an evening at the waxworks, and l had made arrangements for every other night during my short stay, 80 went
 There is nothing so tiring as an eS. hibition, no matter what it's character may be, and after walking up and down long galleries and climbing and de- scending stairs for seyearl hours l was completely dead beat. Consequently, when found largo block of wood an exccutoueT's block. have since as- cegtaiued it to have been in a seclud- ed corner of tho chamber of horrors, sat dowu 10 rest.
 must have immediately fallen asleep and escaped the notice of tbe at- tendant4 when they closed the building for the night When l awol;c, tho chamber was as still as q tomb, and bright moonlight, streaming iu through the tall window, gave the plaeea weird and uncarthly appearance as 1t fell on the hidcous throng of tho world great criminals
 roso from my seat and glanced around. am not superstitious man, nor am l particularly nervous, bot a queer sensation crcpt over me. Perhaps the night air was chilly. Perhaps had taken cold. 1 must get out of the place somehow.
 Tho moon was now hidden behind a bank of clouds. and the place became quite dark l stretched out my hand, and 1t touched something. Ugh! Cold, like the flesh of dead mani IL was the face of one of that murderous crew.
 What a fcSl l was They were only wax figures. That was all, of course. 1 tried to laugh at my absurd situation, but the atteupt was a failure and left me more uncomfortable than ever Perhaps they were smiling at me in the darkness. Absurdl How could wax fig urcs smi el
 And get suppose that tho spirits ot these evil men and women haunted their counterfeit presentmcnts. Living crim- inals, it was said, could not resist re- turning to the scenes of their crimes, and these mute statues were clothed in the very garments in which the crimes had been committed garments from which the guilty stains had never been washed.
 What was that;
 had taken hold of something made of cold metal. Horrorl felt it to be one of the knives with which murder had been committed. was behaving like an idiot. l knew it, and l told myself 80. But it was no use. could not hel3 wishing were anywhere else A vault or crypt would be cheerful compared with this horrible place. The very air seemed to smell Of crime. I crept forward until 1 came to some steps. Perhaps this was the way out went up and reached out into the darkness.
 A handl A foot! A body kneeling! Great heavens! had ascended the scaffold-was the one solitary living being present at that awful mute num- meIy going on in the darkness of the night.
 This sort of thing leads to madness, " told myself, as I crawled backward down the stairs. But what was to be done? l must get out somehow, or my nerves would not stand the strain.
 Never until now had realized how weak one's intellect really is If any body had told me a few hours before Chat had so much dormant imbecility in me, should have been indignant. am, moreover, an imaginative man, and imagination is curse on such oc- casions.
 However, determined that l would not give way in this manner. Advanc- ing in another direction, was stopped by wooden wall or partition. Just then the moon came out for few mo. ments. and saw that ] was looking in- to a prisoners dock.
 There, close in front of me, stood some of tho men and women who dur. ing the present century had become most notorious in crime. Their fea tures were, in a number of cases, famil- far Go me from old books and recent prints
 instantly recognized, among others, Burke and Hare, the former of whom was convicted in 1899 of horrible series of murders on the evidence of his accolnplice; James Bloomfield Rush, the Stanfeld Hall murderer of 1S4s; Maria and George Manning, the two atrorious criminals of fS49; William Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner of 1856, and William Fish, Catherine Wilson, Henry Wainwright, the stauntons, Lo- froy and Lipski of later dates
 What a blood guilty assemblage with which to pass the night How the crime of every individual seemed indelibly written on his face!
 One man 8 expression transfxed me, held ne speilbound and filled me with bathing and horror Who ho was l did Dot know, but could not take my eyes from his face And when the nlace