Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-01-18

something much more dainty and origi-
nal. Not even the most up to date nihil-
ist had so far aspired to fame by contriv-
ing a bomb which could be eaten, and
which in the act would destroy forever the
! partaker's taste for the sweets of life 1t
was to be left to Petrus Tritreff to inau-
gurate the chocolate bomb by mrans of
which the head of Alexander II would be
| blown off his shoulders in the midst of
| his courtiers and guards ere hand could
be raised to save him.
Two years had passed in his employers
service before Petrus considered that his
opportunity had come. In Nhose two years
his experiences and nssiduity had gained
him his masters favor, and suspicion, If
any existed land where does it not exist
in Russia?), had been lulled. Petrus was
now competent to take the place of the
master workman who continued to make
weekly fresh supply of the royal sweet
meat should he by any accident be unable
to attend to the important duty.
Needless to say, there came day when
the faithful workman was absent from
his post Found ill in bed after an even
ing's harmless enjoyment in the company
of Petrus, it may have been that the lat
ter's knowledge of drugs had something
to do with his friend indisposition. Any
how, bereft Of the mans services at the
last moment, it fell that Petrus, with
many admonitions and supervisions, was
ordered to prepare the box of sweets He
had been allowed previously to try his
hand at the important preparation and
had succeeded so well that the worthy pro-
prietor had no fear of a complaint from
his royal master.
With ill concealed triumph Petrus
buckled to his task, and in the presence
of tasters from the palace prepared his
sweets to every ones satisfaction. Packed
in delicately lined box, the oblong blocks
of chocolate, about an inch long by half
an inch broad, looked most tempting to
the eye. Little did the supervisors realize
that in one of the top rows of the box
lurked sweet that had been carefully
prepared beforehand and skillfully substi
tuted by Petrus for the real article.
In his chemical researches he had dis
covered an explosive of terrible power
capable of extreme concentration, and
which could be stirred into instant and
deadly activity by fusion with a particu-
lar acid. To this end the interior of the
chocolate had been carefully divided lon
gitudinally by thin wall of soft but i'm
pervious composition. On the one side of
this wall was placed the explosive and on
the other the acid, the union of which
would produce such disastrous results.
With crafty and farscoing deliberation
Petrus placed the division lengthwise in
and not across the sweet and so insured
the fracture of the partition and consequent
explosion should the partaker elect to
make two bites of the confection. Covered
over with its coating of real chocolate, the
deadly engine, as it lay snugly in the box,
detiCd detection, and the moment that its
victim discovered it's unusual flavor that
moment would he cease to feel any other
sensation on this earth.
1t was quite in keeping with Tritrcf''s
ingenuity that this promiscuous placing
Of the fatal sweet in the box should entail
a fair amount of uncertainty as to when
its mission would be accomplished. 1t
afforded him all the joys of anticipation,
and as he found it convenient to take
little holiday as soon as the box was dis
patched he Rugged himself all the way to
the German frontier with the thought
that big sensation was in store for Rus
STA in particular and the world in general.
But as he sat consuming numerous
over the border waiting somewhat impa-
tiently for the denOuement and eagerly
scanning the papers and kilograms moth
ing happened. What could it mean? But
something had happened, and this is what
it meant. The box had duly arrived at
the palace and after passing the customary
inspection had found its way to the cars
table
On the third day after its receipt, seated
on the terrace with favorite bloodhound
rolling in lazy enjoyment on the ground
near by, Alexander, immersed in the pc
rusal of private correspondence and yet
with his favorite sweets handy, mechanic
ally stretched out his hand toward the box
and slowly conveyed a chocolate to his
lips. sudden movement of the dog at
tracted his attention, and finding the ami
NAL gazing cXpectantly at him he act
ing on an unacCountable impulse, arrested
his hand and threw the sweet to the dog
to catch The snap Of the animals Jaws
over the tidbit was followed instantane-
ously by sickening report, and the car
of all the Russias shivered as he gazed on
the manglcd remains of his savior and
family realized his own wonderful escape.
OF course some of us were soon on the
spot and the mysterious nature of the ex-
plosiOn investigated.
Though pretty well accustomed to the
various articles of our blOodthirsty com
patriots, this incident opened up new
field. The strictest secrecy was observed,
and no report of the occurrence got abroad.
Meantime inquiries at the confectioncr's
ELECTED the fact of Tritreffs absence, and
though above suspicion in the proprie-
tors eyes we of the police waited develop
mCnts. | felt sure Petrus had hand in
the business, especially after a talk with
the man whose place he filled, and who
could never fathom the cause of his Sc.
rious though brief illness. 1 felt certain
that ere long the willy Petrus would re-
turn to find out the reason of heapparent
miscarriage of his little scheme.
So we were ready for him when he ap.
peared one day in disguise. He was so up
set poor man, at the failure of his plot
that in order to share at least in the merit
accruing to such daring attempt he con-
fessed all to me. Much to his disgust, his
confession was never made public-noth-
ing encourages crime so much as publici-
ty in these little matters-and he was
sent to keep his friend Janos company for
life on a totally different charge. And
the emperor-well, somehow after that
little experience he lost his taste for
sweets, and until the day of his death the |