Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-12-21
A LONG JUMP.

Toward the end of the seventies was in
Ireland on journalistic business. | had
been north and south and nearly all over
the country, observing the condition of
things, and was finally ordered by the
chief Of my paper which was a transat-
lantic one, to go TO Dublin, put myself in
communication with certain political lead
ers and keep the paper posted as to what
was going on. AS the world now knows
we were then on the eve of political move
ments which proved to be of the most mo.
mentous Importance both on that side and
on this side Of the herring pond.
Those movements however, do not in
themselves concern us here, except in so
far as the duty Cntailod upon me of watch
ing and reporting what was going forward
nearly cost me my life, and rat in So
strange a fashion that it j. W - '..'tI..-
on record ~
There was TO he an imH.. - ".jr-
OF leaders in the l'Otanra, al ln'Nrusr
building, rs every one knows WGu has any
experience of the lrtah capital, containing
"a great number Of FOODS up stairs and
down stairs, and no end Of corridors laby
Tinthial passages and the like enough to
confuse and cuulOund a person fairly well
acquainted with the place, but absolutely
bcwildcring to one entirely new to them.
The conference was to he hold in one of
the lower rooms, and there wore to he pres
ent men from al! parts Of Ireland, parlia
mCntCry leaders from London and certain
delegates, so it was said, from the United
States. | was not anxious to be present
That l knew was impossible, but ! had
been told by one of the leaders Of the party
that there was no objection to my pres
enCe-OutSidu the door In fact, he ad
vised it. Then if there was any news to bu
given l should have it.
So at the hour appointed ! duly pre-
scented myself at the door Of the Rotunda
and asked to be shown to tho room where
the meeting was being held The man
whom | addressed was in his shirt sleeves
and had n broom in his hand, being EN-
ployed about the place. He gave me a sus
picous look, and | FASTENED to say that |
knew Mr.. So-and-so and wished at his
request, to see him when the conference
was over. The fellow made no other reply
than to bid mo 90 along "a certain passage
descend some stairs, make turn this way
and turn that, follow corridor to the
end and-in short, | had to find nv way
through a labyrintb of stairs and passapcs
and turnings to and fro.
1 started, and after, as 1 thought, max
ing one or two false turnings. arrived at
the end of a long, narrow corridor. with
an open door at the end of it, As the
room to which it gave admittance seemed
to be empty, peeped in. thinking il might
lead to the one wanted The plnce was
absolutely bare of furniture, but at the
farther side was another door Deter.
mined to sec whittier that wouId take me.
l entered. walked across the aDartment
and tried the door. 1t was locked
turned to retrace INV steps when suddenly
a strong gust of wind coming throunh an
omen window closed tho door with "A loud
hang.
At first I had n very faint conceptiop Of
what had bapUcncd when I advanced ia
omen the door, however. and found that il
had mn handle. uorceivcd that WAS a
prisoner, but that did not discomfort mo