The Penn's Grove record., 1896-04-03
AST summer | was stewing away

r Asst summer | was stewing away
In the office and wondering what
- crime I-or my representative in
some former State-had committed to
be doomed to such a life, when one
morning l received a note from my old
friend, Tommy Cameron, of Clinton.
He begged me to come and stay will
him for a month.
Cameron met me at the station, and
after an hours drive through a most
beautiful country we reached Clinton.
Here a surprise awaited me, for two
young ladies came forward to greet us;
they were the Misses Cameron, n
kept house for their brother.
i got on fairly well during the first
week, as / kept with Cameron most Of
the time.
Whether he gave me away or not
cannot say, but they seemed to know
] was stunning them, and they tried
every dodge-as only women know now
to draw mt out.
I struggled hard against what now
considered my natural self, but II was
too strong for me One by n all the
theories and arguments l had fed on
disappeared, melted by the sunny eyes
Of these girls. .
As I said, there were two Of them,
Madge and Floss. Madge was the
younger and prettier; she represented
the musical and artistic instincts;
Floss. on the other hand, was the man
ager; she had the brains of the estab
tishment.
She was very nice, hut she went In
for such awful things; she had some
fayorite toads In the conservatory, n
she would go rambling about the u
try and bring home all sorts Of animals,
insects and other u~nthinkable things
and cut them upI-imaglne a girl doing
lhatl
The other one, as l said, was not so
heavy, and went In for art; and, as you
know, have a little learning in that
direction myself. 1t was natural, there
fore, thai when she told me she was
going to paint a little river scene near
the house l should ask If might be Of
use. 1 obtained permission TO walt Oh
her and we started the picture.
In this pleasant way the days passed
until Cameron's return-he was away
the second ~week-when. Of course,
there were innovations, We would
have a days fishing, and then a day of
shooting. or a long tramp over the hills.
When out on one of these early MORN
ing tramps we met a young fellow
whom Tommy introduced as Arthur
Clisby, a friend of his.
Hewas the son of a large ship owner
of Dundee and was the family failure;
his chief failure, as far rs l could
gather, being that he couldn't knuckle
under.
He had been a student at Glasgow
University and had promised to come
off well, but his indivlduality-which
always came to the top at the most
awkward moments-asserted itself.
As a result he left Glasgow and Don
after had a quarrel with his father,
and, having decided that they could
not get on together, they agreed to
dlffer-and part. He had come out
here into the wilds to live and devoted
his time to abstract scientific problems
chiefly in the electrical line.
Dinner time came and with It IL
guest, but instead of the jolly good fell
low of the morning he was now quiet,
oppressively so; never speaking unless
directly addressed, and only then an
swering with n few quiet, direct words.
A few days after, having nothing
particular In view, l determined to
avail myself of his invitation, and set
off in the direction of the Hermitage"
The house was an u~npretentious con-
Germ, but IA eloquent of the indi-
yiduality of its master. The top floor
had been turned into n large room,
and this he used as a laboratory; 1t was
a literal armory of scientific appar.
Ntus.
After a time the talk veered round to
electrical executions, and he said:
"You may remember, perhaps, the
irst man they executed In this way In
New York State, and what a fearful
hash they made of itf I was there aud
saw 1t all; it was simply awful Re
Tolting!
1.-The doctors, bahl they're fools.
They thought they understood It all,
and applied the death current at what
they considered were the nerve GEN.
tiers, the top of the head and the base Of
the spine.
IF they had only used their common
ems and powers of observation, they
would at once found that In ninety
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 muscular, IRE
full Of blood, and, therefore, good on,
ductors.
~ set to work to devise an appliance
that would administer the death pen
atty with the minimum amount OF tor
ture, both bodily and mental, to the
criminal. We will now take a look at
the apparatus itself"
We left the house, and he led the
way across the open until we stopped
at n door. He entered, and after CROP
ing for a moment found the switch,
and Immediately the place was full of
light.
l noticed that this room was partly
cut out from the rock and partly built.
as were the others that ] afterwards
saw. Passing through a passage VIC
entered a larger room.
aaThIs Is a turhina hnuSau cnId 10