Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-05-25
CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XII
The reader must go to Laran at the
| beginning of the last half of the
second year of preparation and en-.
deavor, not only to get clear view OF
what had been done, but prepared to
view with astonishment the still more
audacious projects of this man.
Laran was now hidden hive OF
energy. The great sanltarium which
lifted It's rude but imposing proper
tions out of the wilderness and poured
an almost continuous stream of black
smoke from its chimney stack, held Q
varying population, some OF whom
were woman, and all of whom were
Hendricks agents. Sixteen miles
away was another large house, reached
on the surface by an almost impassa-
bic and tortuous road of rocks, but
accessible to all the inmates OF the
sanitarium in less than half an hour
by Underground means and connected
By telephone and telegraph of the lat.
est and incest adjustment along the
same subterranean passages.
The shaft from the sanitarium to the
labyrinth beneath had been perfected
by the most consummate mechanical
skill Of Laport, and it was hidden from
casual observation by the most cum
ming adjustment of materials. That
end of the house which covered the de-
scent had cost Hendricks and Laport
more thought and ingenuity than all
else. The shaft had been enlarged
and fitted with an iron lift down to the
narrow passage that led from IL to the
arena. The circular steel cage wmcn
fitted into the shaft could be turned
round from below, so that its iron
door that furnished an exit into the
passage would be on the opposite side
against a solid wall of rock and the
passengers, II enemies, would have to
cut their way through a half inch OF
steel to get into the passage and, when
there, would have to walk through In
single file at the mercy of anybody at
the lower exit, who could pick them
off in detail without any danger to
himself. The exit above was covered
with the hard floor of a room whose
mobility was undetectable by anybody
who was not already aware of the de-
vice. In addition to this, steel door
had been fitted to the end of the pas
sage below where it opened into the
vast work-room, because Hendricks
thought at times he heard in the room
above the sound Of the engine and
dynamo.
A sense of absolute security was
thus obtained when the inmates Of the
sanitarium went below. 1t was
physically impossible for force of any
calculable kind to reach them in that
direction.
The next and obvious consideration
to which Hendricks had directed his
whole energy was the provisioning Of
the retreat and the securing of safe
and hidden exit far removed from tho
sanitarium. In carrying out the frst Of
these precautions, he had managed,
with consummate care, during period
oi eight months, to load into the south
western entrance vast store OF ma
terial, purchased at Cincinnati, Louis
Vile, st. Louis and Memphis, and de-
iivered by boat at the Wash bayou,
where there was q storehouse and
whence the goods were hauled for the
apparent use of the two surface hotels.
Other and smaller streams of supplies
were reaching the sanitarium overland
continuously. 1t is calculated that dur
ing the eight months over eleven hun
dred thousand dollars were spent for
supplies In the lists of purchases ap-
peared two items of unusual import
lone thousand magazine rifles
eighteen thousand dollars" They
were contracted for in the east by .
western dealer ostensibly to be sold on
the plains and were bought in three
lots. But they reached the Wash
BAYOU without attracting attention,
for they were shipped in pieces at in
tervals and put together in the Laran
works. The other item was-'hve
hundred polished nickel steel plates"
made to order by the Corinth Steel
company and consigned to Bradshaw
& Fenning, Memphis, Tenn" These
plates figured in the mysterious Laport
gun which afterwards caused such
CONSERVATION.
Hendricks, during these eight
months, had evidently calculated to
offset the increased probabilities Of
exposure in making such vast pur-
chases by the increased security af-
forded when he got his material into
his fortress-and this alone would
show that he had other and vaster
schemes in allegiance, and that, after
all, the fitting out of the Laran cave
was only a provisional step to some
thing else.
Our imaginary visit, therefore, at
this time discloses at Laran an entirely
different condition of affairs. The
sanitarium looks like q rural hotel
There are several persons on the broad
balcony, but they exhibit only the in
dolence of country boarders. The
warm sun lies peacefully on the lawns,
but there is a simmer in the air above
the big chimney which tells of a great
volume of heat pouring into the blue
sky. There are servants about the
kitchen and there are two Royal Dane
mastiffs with their heads on their
paws asleep on the steps of the main
entrance.
There is not the slightest indication
in this quiet hostelry hidden among the
trees and rocks of the great slope on
which it stands of the activity under
meath its foundations.
The moment we arrive In the lower
domain, we find the place lighted as II
with the light Of day; the hum of ma
chinery and the murmur of voices reach
us. The whole area is encircled with
wooden structures, Offices, warerooms
and habitations, some of them tastily,
though fimsily, built. In the center
of the area is pavilion and overhead
is big electric sunlight. On one of
the walls is the terminus of Laport's
railway, with its suggestion Of little