The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-09-07


I imb,bed the poison. - *.
The fame upon the altar Of liberty burne,
nercest here. but no less deep was the hom
age paid to the discoverer In the realm o
science. He who snatched from out the un
known a new fact became q demigo1, or
occasionally, by . misuse Of his talel1t, /
D.. but that II anticipating.
In the course Of my delvings / was throw,
into the society of singular man. Frtt,
Won Gutenberg. a poor but we'll born stu
dent. whose family inhabited dilapidatst
castle near Starnberser See, in Bayern. H,
occupied chambers, - did 1 also, opposit,
him. in great tumble-down pile IL
-sasse. extending over the greater par,
OF square. one side rising sheer from tn,
river. Our rooms constituted the choic&
part Of the building. and the only marks Of
humanity about were on the tagging in thu
court near our wing. the rest being quite
moss grown. There were other occupants
however, few. The ancient porter drank
arac continually. to fight of the rheumatism
he said.
From remote part on the other side O,
the court came on certain nights of the
week snatches of beer INSPIRED song. m.
Wenn ma freien will
Freit ma in der still,
LIST des madr reich,
Gibt's auch gelt zugleich,
LIST sic dennoch DUNN,
Bucklich. schell und Krumm.
Bleibt sic doch die schonaste
Welt und brett.
Once toward daybreak Gutenberg and !
were awakened by the clack of schlagers in
the court. and peering from the easement,
saw shadowy forms with pallid, furtive
faces. hurriedly extinguishing lantern and
carrying limp form through an archway.
"a brawl has been settled" dryly re-
marked Gutenberg, seriously it would
seem. Stay, was there not registering in
Busch's apartments last EVENING""
I said I believed there was sound of
revelry in that quarter about bedtime
We retired once more. On knocking at
Eulenberg's door next morning to discuss
the event OF the night, I found that he was
not In. although it was about the usual time
for his kaffee and semmel. On the ensuing
morning my knock received no response
and inquiring of old Xafferl the reason. was
told that Herr Won Gutenberg had been sud-
denly summoned to his home in Bayern to
attend the deathbed of his aunt whose heir
he was.
The character of this man had impressed
me very much. There was that about him
what might be termed the attraction of re-
pulsion. I couldn't keep away from him.
SO to speak. although not often invited to
his rooms. He spoke little and smiled
never. His head reminded one of Schiller.
only with a Mephistopelian cast He had
written things that had set all Germany
talking for time, but his "Ausser Natur.'
subsequently published, had injured his rep
utat1on. He was evidently getting outside
the periphery allowed to the human intel.
ligence. In other words, to express it in
our homely American phrase, 'he was get
ting of his base"
Gutenberg had strang way Of disappear
ing. Twas said he had laboratory some
where about the building. Nobody, so far
as known to the rest of us, had ever been
In It, drunken student said he saw
parsonage in red, wearing a caudal appen-
dage, traversing the corridor in which Eu-
lenberg's laboratory was supposed to be-
AS the student in question was known to be
frequently on the brink of I'd. It's" his story
was smiled at.
This same fellow told many marvellous
tales, and boasted much in his cups At a
kne1pe, where Gutenberg happened to be
present, he exhibited a small gold key.
which he said could open the door to vast
treasure. His deceased father was known
to have been formerly rich smuggler, but
still no particular attention was paid to his
boast, except to elicit demands for more beer
at his expense.
Gutenberg asked to be allowed to exam
me this key, the handle of which repre-
'ented miniature dolphin, and he said it
was gold and the eyes rubies During his
zatzen5ammer the owner denied the whole
ming. This mans name was Busch. It
vas in his apartments that the singing was
heard on the night Of the duel
Old Xaherl was too full of arac brandy on
hat night to give lucid explanation of the
MYSTERY, but said that Herr Hofbauer had
hrown masz of beer in Herr Busch's face.
md they had fought. and that Herr Busch
lao peen taken away in a cab, badly |
wounded.
l missed Gutenberg soon after that, and
me evening, rambling about the corridors, |
found myself unexpectedly in that one !
where the laboratory was said to be- II
oked in vain for door. but only after close !
OF the walls did discover a KEY |
ole In a narrow panel. ingeniously con-
ealeo. 1t was locked. and contemplating
tnousntfuIly became aware Of an indis-
met murmur as of a mufiled voice.
looked into the court. No one was there.
gain the murmuring. 1 looked in vain
trough the keyhole All was black, I an
lied my ear. voice within unmistakablv
What could 1t be? Gutenberg was away.
his must be the laboratory. l thought Of
he drunkard's story, and glanced with a
hiver over my shoulder.
The sound ceased. 1 paced the corridor
onsumed with curiosity. In one Of nv
rips observed at the other end Of tho
orridor narrow stone staircase. Being in
n investigating frame of mind. eroned
~ way up 1t. through network of dusty
piders' webs. the denizens Of which ran
YER my face and hands
AT length perceived feeble lieht which
rowing brighter as I advanced guided mo !
ITO the moonlight. out upon a narrow ledge
the roof. overlooking the river. Up at
y side rose great skylight dim and wealth.
stained. Through the half obscured panes
became aware of a dull red glow In
riking contrast with the BLUSH moon.
Eht.
Bending over and rubbing away the dirt
saw what was indeed lamplight. and NV
res became glued to the pane, as I sank
pom one knee and grasped the stone work
steady my shaking nerves
GOO spare my reason! Was I awake, AT
e eno OF long vaulted chamber filed
I'm all the complicated appliances of the
lemists art, lighted by rows of tall stu
nus lamps. stood a pedestal of what |
emeo req glistening stone, from either
e Oh wnlcn ran tubes. communicating with
Nt{ Ia 80 !