Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-06-14

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81 HAVE ONE HERE TO LIBERATE
YoU!"
in u~nsealing Laport's lips and had al
ready got from him some intimations
of the political gang which had at
tempted to use him. He then narrated
a story of his own invention which
was so ingeniously fabricated that the
governor was deeply interested and
himself proposed that Kent should
stay until he had got the whole of it
and this Kent at last consented to do,
merely remarking: I'D keep the fell
low in hat cell till I get it, if l were
you. The confinement gals him and I
have no doubt he will sooner or later
give away the whole matter in order
to get back to the workshop. Keep
him locked up twenty-four hours
longer"
The next day there was another
interview. The moment Kent was
alone with the prisoner, he asked:
Did you get the stone out?"
Laport took from his breast where it
had been concealed under his wooden
shirt, a small folded packet. Kent
took it, fingered it a moment. and put
it in his hip pocket. The two men then
wen to the dark corner of the cell ard
Laport, getting down on his knees,
showed him that he had loosened one
of the small fagstones in the flooring.
Kent looked closely at the work, saw
that no one could perceive the differ
ence in the seams unless he brought n
light to it and merely said: Good"
Then the two men sat down on the
edge of the iron bed.
Kent had brought with him a circular
steel cutting say which fitted into the
case of his gold watch. The brace ard
other appliances he took from differ
ent parts of his person. and Laport.
with the instant divination of a me-
chanician, fitted them together. They
were lender and apparently fragile,
but had been made by a surgical
instrument manufacturer, and were of
the finest material. Laport examined
them with unconcealed admiration.
Kent, however, did not allow him to
waste the fraction of a minute. Put
it away at once" he said. Laport
touched the fiat stone with his foot on
one corner; it tipped at the pressure;
he inserted his finger and, lifting it up,
placed the implements in the space be-
meath. He also received from Zen a
little coil of steel wire. 1T is to let
you down from the window to the
laundry roof he said. every inch of
it has been tested up to five hundred
pounds. But all this mechanical assist
ance is OF no sort of avail if you fail to
follow out my schedule of time and
sc~rupulously fit every move to my
arranged programme. You will cut
the bar tomorrow while the engine in
the laundry is running. How long do
you calculate it will take you?"
"If it is an iron bar, l can do it in
two hours with that saw"
VERY good. You are to leave a seq
nlent of iron to hold it in its place and
rub the rust into the fresh cut. You are
TO get out the window on Saturday
morning at exactly half-past two to
the minute. l will bring you to-mor-
row a tiny duplicate watch set to one 1
have myself, and a little box Of wax
matches. l will also bring you a pair
of kid gloves padded, Sc hat you can
use the loops in the wire without cut
ting your hands. You must be at the
far angle in h wall exactly ten min
utes later and you will find the other
wire thrown over for you. 1t will not
do to have it there before and you are
to pull it after o when you are on
the other side. One other thing: ltu
must manage in some. way to set the
bar back in its place. No one will look
into your cell till five o'clock from the
wicket in the door, but the absence of
the bar might be detected by the patrol
On the wall. lie carries a bull's-cye.
Can you do that?"
"Yes," said Laport, ''if I have any
footIlold on the wire and you can bring
me half an ounce of gum shellac soft
ened in alcohol"
Every good. You will have eight
minutes to get over the wall and you
will land in a high clump of jimson
weeds. want you to remember the
rest of my directions. 1t is necessary
that you commit them to memory. At
the time you and in the weeds, there
will be a mar on a horse in the road
and he will start cast at break-neck
speed. You are to give no heed to him,
but cross the road, drop over the bank
it is shale and cinders and will leave
no footprints-and turn to the left and
follow it west for one hundred feet
where you will come to a culvert and
brook crossing. You are to take to the
middle of this stream and follow the
bed five hundred feet, rolling your
trousers up SO as to keep them dry, un-
til you come to an clubhouse painted
red, which overhangs it. Light a
match and if there are two crosses in
chalk on the lowest clapboard, you
will know that is the place to turn.
Then follow the path from the
clubhouse up to the dwelling, but be
careful to walk on the gravel and not
in the grass. There is a back kitchen
with a side door and a common latch.
It will be open. There will be a hot
fire burning in the large kitchen stove.
You are TO lock the doc and divest
yourself of every bit of clothing and
burn it there before doing anything
: else and see that all the shreds are de
. !. stroyed. When that is done, go to the
: second story, front room, where you
will find the disguise you are to wear
!, In the breast pocket of b blouse arc
three photographs OF the man who has
been wearing it. You are to be care
: full about the wig and mustache. You
!. ought to be in the upper room not latel
) than four. The alarm will be giver
about five-thirty. That will give yor
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