The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-06-05
RELIEF OF GOTHAM.
Continued from Page 8.

remark and motionsd the policeman to
| wait.
"Can you prevent its" he demanded.
| "Nevertheless you didn't send up the
balloon, and don't know anything about
| it,"
"Then why arrest mep"
Very well. Prevent 1t, and you go
| free"
julius turned away contemptuously.
Then he said:
"Do you really suppose that that bal
loon, charged, as you say, with deadly
torpedo, was sent up simply that l might
tell you how to avoid its effects in order
TO get clear OF arrest for not having any
thing to do with it?"
"What do you meant"
"Simply this. / can prevent this, and
| so save, as you believe, immense destruct-
ion Of life and property. will do SO for
100000.
"a blackm0iling scheme, then"
"How SOP"
"To send up this balloon and threaten
to murder with 1t, unless you are paid
not to do So"
81 did not send up the balloon. Even
the apprehension Of its danger is all
yours-not mine"
'Your game won't work"
very well; lock me up. But remem-
Der you are arresting me as the per-
pertrator OF this supposed outrage-mo
the very person, on your own showing,
best able to apply the remedy-who Is
not only able but willing. Have you
read that noticeY The hours are flying
and 1t will soon be too late. And then
whose 10 the responsibility for the
dreadful result-yours or mine? Black
mail! Is IL blackmail for the physi-
clans who fight the epidemic to ask
their pay? Does the sum ask equal ia
value the good l may dor When the
time comes for puolic execration, Mr..
superintendent, the people will Judge be-
tween the man W no offers himself as their
savior, and you, their servant, who con-
demned them to this calamity rather
than give the just reward for their pro-
tection."
And here the conversation en- ied. julius
was locked up I'm the nearest police sta
ton. Shortly afterward the Mayor, hav-
ing arrived on the scene, entered into
earnest consultation with the superin-
tendent. The result was the posting of
handbills all over the city, and the publ
cation In all the newspapers of a call for
suggestions of ways and means TO prevent
the balloon dropping its load. For any
successful plan q reward OF $1,000 was
offered.
And meanwhile, as Julius had predicted,
the great strike was forgotten.
III.
Throughout the city there was a feeling
OF helplessness, not unmixed with exas-
peration. To see that balloon up there,
placidly swaying TO and fro, to know that
within few hours il might release its
frightful burden, to feel the uncertainty
OF where the inevitable explosion would
occur; beyond ALL to realize that every
instant brought the catastrophe nearer,
was maddening. Where were all
the electricians and the engineers
and the chemists and the invent
I ors generality Was it possible that
the much boasted national ingenuity
had recoiled, conquered, and humiliatcd
before such pro blem as thisY So talked
the angry people in the streets.
Meanwhile the news Of the peril OF the
metropolis had spread over the country,
and, singular to say, its principal effect
upon the suburban population was a
burning desire to witness the big explo-
sion, as 1t could do them no harm. Con-
sequently. the Philadelphians, and the
New Havenites, and the Albanians,
besides the dwellers in osher nearby towns
Hooked In great cohorts into New York.
They came in on the morning train with
their children and their lunch bas kets, and
bivouacked in hordes in the uptown
streets, just outside the police Gordon
which now inclosed the circle swept by
the balloon. They pre-empted the stoops
OF private residences, ate their meals
thereon, and rang the door bells at
intervals to demand ice water or the
loan OF a cup OF milk. One man from
New Jersey brought some carpenters
and tried to erect "grand stand" in
the neig borhood of Central Park, but
he was mobbed by the neie borhood
before he had sold enough seats to
make the enterprise remunerative. An
other person drove a thriving business
in selling pieces OF smoked glass where
with TO look at the balloon; which the
farmers bought instinctively. The peri
patetic telescope men fairly coined money!
This had not gone on long when heavy
rain clouds began to gather in the west,
and then new fear arose. Would the
storm hasten the falling OF the dynamite?
Suppose the balloon should be struck by
lightniugi
Meanwhile the urgent appeals which
had been sent out by the Mayor to all the
scientific people had resulted in an impos-
ing gathering OF professors in the 44th
street boarding house. Each having
answered the call under the implicit con-
viction that all the Others had been sum-
moned Tor the express purpose of hearing
his particular views on the matter i'm
hand, an air ofreservod dignity and graft
ned condescension pervaded the company
as 1t followed His Honor up the creaky
stairs, and into the attic room where the
safe was located.
I'll need not say TO you gentlemen"
said the Mayor, tersely, "why you are
here. You perceive the danger. Can il
be averted? Suggestions are in order
prompt and sharp, please"
No answer was returned, although sew
eral scientists looked Disconnected and
were seen to replace in their pockets
sundry bulky manuscripts.
utah. wauld anouaaf .aGl o,z -