Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-03-21
pr,smd firmly against the hare sr,x,

kkV0N0e lk AN ~ kAS
his eyes upon the dial plate of q delicate
little instrument which rested in the palm
Of his hand. As Burt felt the tingle of
this faint preliminary current sent though
his huge body, to measure ito resistance,
he slowly opened his eyes and gave q Ian
guild, searching glance from one group of
the assistants to another, then his broad.
deep chest sent forth q sigh, and his lips
moved as he whispered:
"Little Ann! Little ANN"
The electrician nodded. and the village
pastor, noticing the signal, began to pray
with a broken and tremulous voice, for his
ear had caught the words which had fall
en- from Burt's lips, meant, no doubt, to
be his last spoken on earth. Az the prayer
ended with its solemn Amen, the cleo
trician reached but and set the clock
work in motion. The clergyman retained
his kneeling posture by the side of the
electric table, his head bowed in silent
prayer, while the eyes of those present
were fixed in strained and painful effort
upon the face of the condemned. Death
seemed already to have entered the exc
cution chamber, SO deathlike was the 81.
lence which rested upon it.
For a full minute now the deadly cur
rent had been coursing through Tyler's
giant frame, and yet not the slightest
c%onvulsive shudder had made itself mani
fest to the lookers-on. The electricians
lips are parted, and a marked pallor has
overspread his face. He sees that all is
not well. For, look upon the condemned!
What a wonderful change has taken place
in that wasted countenance! It's death
like hue has disappeared. and in it's
stead a rosy food of healthful color has
spread from cheek to cheek. His large
brown eyes have opened wide, and their
p%rotruding orbs glisten with a wild but
fascinating glow. His deep and mighty
chest heaves like a storm-lashed sea, his
arms lose thei r rigidity, his fingers
straighten and his limbs swell till the skin
grows firm and smooth over them! With
a trembling and uncertain hand the elec.
trician turns on the death-dealing current
to it's utmost limit Of power. Breath
grows short and beads of sweat gather
on the pallid faces of the lookers-on, as
they bend forward to watch the effect of
the mysterious fluid on the recumbent
form before them.
And yet there is nothing frightful about
the spectacle. only it is so wondrously
strange and startling. Solemnly convok.
ed to gaze upon the face of death. they see
death vanquished ana a new and wonder.
full life springing from physical wreck and
ruin. Look again at that face. upon
whose cheeks the glow Of health now
burns as if the fires of former years were
leaping within that giant heart, and see
how straight and ever straighter those
crippled hands and feet become.
Instants. seeming hours, go by. The
more timid of the assistants shrink back
and farther backward until the very walls
set limit to their escape.
With a terrible effort Bur. mas wrench
ed his shoulders loose and 10Y sits bolt up
right, his arched breast heaving conyul-
sively, eyes flashing and fingers opening
and shutting as easily as if his dread all
ment had never locked them with bands
of steel. The electricians lips move, but
give forth no sound. So pale and helpless
he stands there that it would seem as if
he and not the condemned had been
struck by the live lightning. With a half
shrek of rage, half cry of triumph, Burt
tears his arms loose and, reaching down
to the leather thongs which bind his body
and limbs to the table, snaps them in
twain as were they of paper, and springs
to his feet. Strengthening himself up until
he towers aloft like a Roman gladiator
who has turned to face q ravenous Nu-
indian lion.
Officers and citizens alike shrink way
from him as if they feared that he might
STAY a dozen of them with a single blow.
Several of the coolest and bravest of the
deputies draw their revolvers, and, with
their eyes fixed upon the officers in com
mand stand ready for action.
Taking a step forward as If to convince
himself that it was not all a scene of
dreamland, Burt glanced from face to
face, and then called out in q voice that
made ever the boldest quail:
"Where m 1? What has happened to
me? Speak, I beg of you! Am / not Burt
Tyler? And yet it cannot be! Where are
my wasted arms and hands? Does no
one know me? Oh, 1 implore you, tell
me what has happened?
at means, sir" cried the electrician, as
he drew q deep breath, that your execu-
ton has failed, and that, although we
have not been able to kill you, we have
shattered the bands of steel which your
dread disease had forged about your
limbs"
"But you must try again, SIR" spoke up
the officer in command: 1.-THE hours set for
the execution have not elapsed. Proceed
at once. Officers, sieze the p~risoner!"
Impossible, SIR" exclaimed the cleo
trician, addressing himself to the COM
handing officer: "a current twice as pow
erful as this would not suffice to destroy
the life within that gigantic form. My
contract a to kill men, not giants"
At this moment the folding doors of the
execution chamber swung open and a
prison official rushed breathlessly in, fol-
lowed closely by q woman who. as her
eyes fell upon Burt Tyler standing, with
flushed face and folded arms, erect, head
and shoulders above the guard which sur
rounded him, gave a shrek of half terror,
half wonderment, and would have fallen
to the floor had not one of the officers
thrown his arms around her.
THANK God it is not too later said
Kate Caneff, for she it was.
But that instant Burt Tyler's eyes fell
upon another woman, half carried, half
dragged along by two elderly people.
With one loud, joyous ryy of Little
Ann" Burt stretched out ais arms, and
sweeping the guard from in front Of him
as if they were made of wire and buck.
ram, he sprang forward and, lifting Ann
up from the floor as a mother might a
child just rescued from death, covered
80 49, 80 1s-- N+"