The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-06-08

are your nerves today? Pretty
steady? The thing may try them"
Before l could reply there was a
sound of footsteps In the yard outside,
approaching. Hewitt lifted his finger
instantly for silence, and whispered
hurriedly. "There's only one. If he
comes here we grab him"
The steps came nearer and stopped
outside the door. There was a pause,
and then slight drawing in of breath
as of person suddenly surprised: at
the moment the door was slightly
shifted again, and one eye peeded In.
Catch HIM" said Hewitt aloud, as
we sprang to the door. "He mustn't
get away"
l had been nearer the doorway, and
was first throught 1t. The stranger ran
down the yard at his best, but my
legs We're the longer. and half way to
the street l caught him by the shoul-
der and swung him round. Like light
ming he wiped out a knife, and l
flung in my left instantly on the chance
of flooring him. 1t barely checked
him, however, and the knife swung
short of my chest by no more than
two inches; but Hewitt had him by the
wrist and tripped him forward on his
face. He struggled like a wild beast,
and Hewitt had to stand on his fore
arm and force up his wrist till the
bones We're near breaking before he
dropped his knife. But throughout the
struggle the man never shouted, called
for help, nor, indeed, made the slight
est sound; and we on our part We're
equally silent. 1t was quickly over, of
course, for he was on his face, and we
were two. We dragged our prisoner
into the stable and closed the door be-
hind us. So far as we had seen, no
body had witnessed the capture from
the street. though, of course, we had
been too busy to be certain.
There's a set of harness hanging
over at the back" said Hewitt. ~'I
think Wen tie him up with the traces
and reins-nothing like leather. We
don't need a gag; l know he won't
Shout
While I got the straps, Hewitt held
the prisoner by peculiar neck-and-
wrist grip that forbade him to move
except ait the peril of a snapped arm.
He had probably never been a person
of pleasant aspect, being short, strong
ly and squatly built, large and ugly of
feature, and wild and dirty of hair and
beard; and now, his face flushed with
struggling, and smeared with mud
from the stable yard, his nose bleeding,
and his forehead exhibiting a growing
bump, he looked particularly repellent.
We strapped his elbows together be-
hind, and as he sullenly ignored a. de-
mand for the contents of his pockets
Hewitt unceremoniously turned them
out. Helpless as he was the man
struggled to prevent this, though, of
course, Intellectually. There were pa
pers, tobacco, a bunch of keys and
various odds and ends. Hewitt was
glancing hastily at the papers, when,
suddenly dropping them, he caught the
prisoner by the shoulder and pulled
him away from a partly consumed hay
truss, which stood in a corner, and
toward which he had quietly sidled.
Keep him STILL" said Hewitt, 1--WE
haven't examined this place yet" And
he commenced to pull away the hay
from the corner.
Presently a large piece Of sackcloth
was revealed and this being lifted left
visible below 1t another batch of loaves
of the same sort as we had seen in the
cart. There were a dozen of them in
one square batch, and the only thing
about them that differed from those in
the cart was their position. For the
batch lay bottom side up.
That's enough, I think" Hewitt
said. Don't touch them, for heavens
sake" He picked up the papers, he
had dropped. "That has saved a little
he continued. See, here
Butt. I was in the act of telling you
my suspicious when this little affair in
one or two of these letters, you'll see
what should have told you; it's An
archism and bombs, Of course. I'm
about as certain as I can be that
there's reversible dynamite bomb in
side each of those innocent loaves-
though assure you don't mean med
ding with them now. But see here, will
you go and bring in q four-wheeler?
Bring it right down the yard. There's
more to do, and we mustn't attract at
tention."
I hurried away and found the cab.
The meaning Of the loaves, the cart
and the spring mattress was now plain.
There was an Anarchist plot to carry
out a number of explosions, probably
In different parts of the
city. had, of course, heard much of
the terrible reversing" bombs-those
bomb which, containing a tube of
acid plugged by waddlng, required no
fuse, and only needed to be inverted
to be set going to explode in a few
m loo ,do;v nj NJ
bombs would form an effectual "blind,"
and they were to be distributed, prob
ably in broad daylight, in the most
natural manner possible, in q bakers
cart A man would be waiting near
the scene of each contemplated explo-
sion; he would be given loaf taken
from the inverted batch; he would take
1t, perhaps wrapped in paper, but still
inverted, and apparently the most i'm
nocent object possible, to the spot Sc
lected, deposit 1t right side up (Which
would reverse the inner tube, and set
up the action in some quiet corner. be-
hind door or whatnt, and make his
own escape, while the explosion tore
down walls and, If the experiment. were
lucky, scattered the flesh and bones of
people. The Internal
loaves were made and kept reversed ITO
begin with, in order to stand more
firmly and 0f observed) more nat
urally when turned over to explode.
Even If child picked up the load and
carried 1t off, that child, at least, would
be blown ito atoms, which at any rate
would have been something for the
ito congratulate them
selves upon. The spring mattress, of
course, was to ease the jolting to the
bombs, and obvlate any random jerk
ing loose of the acid which might have