Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-10-21
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.

sion Save the Intended Victims Life
A Farmer Has Terrible Experience.
1t was on the fifth day of our voy-
don News, and we were amusing our
selves on deck when message was
brought to me to say that Mr.. A
| would like to see me in his cabin.
1 had no difficulty in finding his
room, and was met at the door by Mr.
| A himself. He shook hands very COR
daily, and invited Inc to enter and
take a chair. No sooner had 1 done
so than he carefully locked the door,
Thinking this rather strange, / in
| quired as to his illness. He did not
reply for some time, and then said:
81 am not i'll. I sent for you," lay
ing his hand on large knife, ''to cut
your throat.
He was n man I had not before par
ticularly noticed, but now, as looked
up, 1 fully made up my mind that he
was maniac.
am not a coward, yet even now the
thought of that moment makes me
shudder. There was, in remote
part of the ship, alone with a madman
of twice my strength, without chance
of escape, or means to give an alarm,
and being unarmed, quite at his
mercy.
| I had heard of other somewhat SINH
lar cases, and, though tyro in the
profession, had had some experience
among the insane. knew, therefore,
| tla+ x,-a,,11 1>a ne L.
service to me, and that apparent ac-
quiescence would be best. All this
quickly flashed through my mind, and
accordingly, feigning the utmost in
difference L could, said:
| "Ah, yes, Mr.. A, to be sure. 1t
won't take long, will it?"
"Oh, no." said he, calmly, survey
ing the knife he now held in his hand.
"Oh, no; the job is quite a light one"
Here he poured out glass of wine
and begged me to drink it. AS L did
SO an idea struck me, and said:
''By-the-by, Mr.. A, your knife
| doesn't look very sharp; the trachea
is tough, you know, and will want
some cutting"
| He looked hard at me, as if to read
my thoughts, but after time, CON
vinced that my suggestion was good
one, and examining his knife more
closely, he said
''Yes, doctor, 1 think you are right.
A little grinding will do no harm, so,
if You don't mind waiting, 1 will Just
run to the carpenters shop"
This was exactly what L wanted, as
feeling sure he would not lock the
door after him, 1 thought my escape
would be easy. Whatwas my dismay,
then, on his departure, at finding that
it was locked rs securely as before!
Ipassed up and down in despair,
tore at the door, flung open the port
hole window, and shouted with all my
might, but all without avail.
Time went on, minute by minute,
and he could not be long now. In
the frenzy of despair L groped about,
from corner to corner, in search of
some weapon of defense; but no, not
even the merest stick, not the smallest
thing upon which to lay hands. And
then 1 heard the footsteps approach
ing in the distance.
1 felt my pulse quicken, my brow
brow hot. Impulsively L flung
off my coat, got to the farthest end of
the room, and, standing as defensively
as possible, resolved to fight to the
last.
remember then the door bursting
open, and the cry OF A, not alone,
as I thought, but securely pinioned,
and attended by two of the ships
crew, in charge of the second officer.
The relief of the moment was SO
great that it completely prostrated me,
and my nervous system was much
shaken for some time, while the inten-
Bity and reality of my situation often
now makes me feel something akin to
what the condemned, about to be
hanged, must experience.
learned afterward that the peculiar
and excited manner of the maniac, the
large knife in his possession, and his
anxiety to sharpen it, drew suspicion
on him, which, with the fact that 7
had been called to see him, induced
the officer to secure him and come to
his cabin.
For the remainder OF the voyage he
was kept securely confined, and
watched day and night, and on arriv-
ing at New York was handed over to
the proper authorities, who, on inves-
tigating the case, found that the man
had escaped from q private lunatic
asylum near Liverpool, and had by
strategy and cunning eluded the vigi-
lance of his keepers and taken pas
sage in our vessel. He was, believe,
transferred to England again, though,
happily, not under my care.
IA Farmer Has Terrible Experience.
A Jasper tFla) dispatch to the