The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-09-21

the business that had called me down
father and mother also pressed me to ~
main and 60 up on the morning train.
and so ] became guest for the night
reasoned it out that If Wilbur had come
down for any evil purpose he would b,
seen or heard from before the evening
had passed. but as 10 o'clock came and
our pence had not been disturbed, / went
up stairs. thinking that I had been I'M
necessarily excited. 1t was summer, with
all the windows above the FIRST floor open,
and the evening had been sultry. Al
though went to my room at 10, ! did
not 60 to bed. ! lighted q cigar, turned
out my light and sat by the open window
for o. smoke. and half an hour had pass
ed away when ! heard the rumble of
. thunder. a storm was coming I'D, and,
though had finished my cigar, / waited
for the atmosphere to cool. 1t grew very
dark as l sat staring out of the window,
and could not even make out the shade
trees. which knew to be less than 80
feet away. Between the rumble of thun-
der. however. | made quite sure that I
heard some one moving on the lawn be-
low. / did not suspect that it might be
Wilbur. l had given him up long ago.
l wondered, rather, if it was not tramp
pCONliuS uFOuDu. OF II some V9SraQt dog
was not looking for food.
For time the lightning was faint and
the thunder afar off. but by and by the
storm came sweeping up and there was
a dash which lighted up the whole place.
l was peering into the darkness below,
and the flash revealed a man almost I'M
der my window, and that man was Henry
Wilbur. He was standing still. and he
\
lowing the fash was thunderclap, and
then came the rain. and not only heard
the man moving away, but a second flash
revealed him making for a tree a few
rods away.
That the man was there at that late
hour and prowling around the house bod
ed no good. and | had started to leave
the room and alarm Mr.. Davis when
there came a binding flash. roar and a
shock. and | felt the whole house heave.
l was thrown against the wall, and I
heard things falling and people shouting
all over the house. For minute or SO
was dazed. and then | rushed out into
the hall under the full belief that the
house had been struck and half torn to
pieces. | hurried here and there with
light, but found no sign. The bolt had
struck one of the nearby trees instead.
All of us were badly shocked by the cleo
trio fluid. but thankful enough that it
was no worse. We gathered in the fam
lily room and waited for the storm 10
pass. and after about an hour the raiu
ceased. late moon appeared to light the
scene. and Ethel and | went out to inves-
tigate. The tree which Wilbur had been
making for and had reached had been
struck and shivered TO a mass of Jagged
splinters. 1t was not only torn to pieces.
but heaved out of the ground to the last
root. and before us was u hole into which
yoke of oxen could have been tumbled
or the man who had stood there we
found only a few fragments. He had
been blotted out as you rub a picture off
slate. | alone knew how it was. He
had dynamite in that satchel and was in
tending to blow up the house. That
thunderbolt had been rendered thrice |
deadly as it ran down the tree, and of
the man with worse than murder in his |
heart there was little to identify him |
from the upheaved soil and the shriveled
twiGs and leaves.-Pittsburg Press.