The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-02
THE MADMAN'S FAILURE.
A SCOTCH ADVENTURE.

-AEaul 4naEaIlut
a possible repetition. I went on. and on
turning "A slight bend ! saw our friend. the
hermit standing with folded arms on some
nigh ground close by. AS soon a. he saw
me ne came eagerly forward. taking or
his hat with quite French flourish
IT'S rather strange" he said. but was
hali-eNpecting youswOuld come tonight 90
] made no answer to this. and he eontin-
ued; Il came out here to see the sunset I
come here every night fSr a time, II has a
soothing effect after the excitement of the
laboratory"
We stood there for a time watching the
sun as IL dropped behind the distant hills
and the sky as II turned from yellow 10
orange and from orange to red: then IL
went gray and the light died out The
house was an unpretentious concern. but
was eloquent OF the individuality of its
master The top floor had been turned into
one large room. and this ne used as a la
boratory; 10 was a literal armOry Of scien-
tihc apparatus; splendid electrical and
chemical apparatus filed the shelves and
tables, and IN the center on a raised plat
form stood a large astronomical telescope;
while electric glow lamps with frosted
bulbs threw a soft light all around
lie told me the names and the use of the
numerous beautiful instruments, and talk
ed Of the progress he had made in certain
experiments. Here this otherwise some
WHAT fNtclitilc MAJ was AT MS best. ana as
We sat there talking-he. with his face
flushed his eyes sparkling. and his tongue
speaking with an eloquence born of enthu-
slasm, 1 more than once thought that If
Madge could see him thus. she would not
then say. He is so very quiet" All men
are the same; we cannot hope to shine in
everything, and before we Judge a man we
should see him in his natural environ
ment, or probably he will appear to us
awkward. or even STUPID.
After a time the talk veered round to
electrical executions. and he said.
You may remember, perhaps. the first
man they executed in New York state and
what fearful hash they made OF il? | was
there and saw 1t all: 81 was simply awful
Revoltingi The doctors bah, they're
fools. They thought they understood it ALL
and applied the death current at what
they considered the nerve centcrs. the top
of the head and the base OF the spine
Nerve centers, forsoOth, the parts
OF the whole human system that offer the
greatest resistance to the passage of the
current; whereas, II they had only used
their common sense and powers OF oh
servation, they would at once have found
that IN ninty-nine cases in every 100 of the
fatal accidents in New York alone the
fatal shock was received through the
hands, for the hands and arms being mus
cular, are, fun Of blood. and. therefore
in their pig-headed course. and as a result
Kemmler was done to death in a horrible
manner. Immediately after Witnessing
this revolving sight, set to work to devise
an appliance that would administer the
death penalty with the minimum amount
Of torture both bodily and mental, TO the
criminal There Is 40 doubt that before
Kemmler was bungled ont of existence he
suffered far more torture mentally than
bodily-the months OF suspense and all the
fears that ignorance could coujure up had
made him as a maniac.
4 have worked at this scheme for year
and am now only awaiting the carrying
out of certain legal formalities before sub
hitting my plans to the authorities. We
will now take a look at the apparatus it,
self"
We left the house, and he led the way
across the open until We stopped a door
He entered, and after cropping for a mo-
ment found the switch. and Immediately
the place was fun of light At this mo-
ment l was conscious of an irritating SEN
sation in my throat. l coughed; he noticed
IL, laughed. and said:
IT'S the gas from the batteries you can
feel-this is the battery room: these cells
are now running the lights of the house
and those here. Accumulators are great
convenience, as they make night labor un-
necessary"
l noticed that this room was partly cut
out from the rock and partly built, as were
the others that | afterwards saw.
Passing trough passage we entered a
larger room
This is the turbine house" said he.
There are sluices running from here to
the stream a hundred yards away, and
when 1t has done its work. the water leaves
by two tunnels beneath the floor and Joins
the main stream lower down This is the
dynamo specially designed for execution
purposes And he pointed to a piece of
apparatus that resembled somewhat a
large, slender wheel. with numerous fine
spokes. See, / viii set the thing running.
and let you see It working" He unserew-
ed the valves the governors began to spin
and the dynamo to hum, so quickly did +
run. Not much noise, is there?" was his
next remark 'and there is 2G0-horse pow
er latent in this apparatus. Let us row ex-
anime the lethal chamber and the seat of
Justice"
He opened a door and brought into view
a small room in which stood a remarka BILE
piece of furniture. He was about to enter
when he stopped suddenly Half a mo-
ment, though | must slacken those valves
a Bit" he said, and stepped over to the
turbines. l entered and began curiously 10
examine his invention; next moment there
was sharp click, and, turning, | found
the door closed on me.
moment more and l was clutching
wildly at my throat, and fell to the ground
choking. l didn't choke. however. for.
some time afterwards, 1 became conscious,
and when l had collected my scattered
wits l found myself seated in his horrible
chair-strapped in. This is a little Joke
of his" l thought; but this COMPOUNDED
chair is not at all comfortable"
l tried to free myself but l was firmly
held my hands We're each fixed in a kind
of wise, leather outside and metal within.
as l could tell by the feel. These things
were hollow, and large like mittens, and
within them and inclosing my hands was
some liquid-mercury, l afterwards discov-
cred. My legs and body were fastened bv
straps, and my arms were inclosed I'm a
kind of tube at each side of the chair. AS
l took in these details the door opened and
Clisby appeared.
"Ha! ha! my fine bird, you're Gagged at
last, are your
Don't stand fooling there" muttered:
your Internal chair is breaking my back"
"Oh! is it? Wen soon alter that"
He stepped to my side, but instead of re-
leasing me he simply loosened the straps
at my back. This was too much for me: I
Ill Ii.