The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-10-18
JENNIE BAXTER. JOURNALIST
BY ROBERT BARR.
Vl.-The Explosion N The Treasury.

tContinucd.)
As Jennie walked down the corridor
shc saw more and more evidence of the
convulsion. The thick iron bound door
lay where il had fallen, and IL had not
been stirred since IL was moved to get
the two men from under it. Its ponder
ous hinges were twisted M If they had
been made uf glue, and its massive
bolts were snapped across like bits of
glass All along the corridor on the
floor was thick coating of dust and
debris, finely powdered, growing deeper
and deeper until the entrance to tho
room was reached There were no win
dows either in corridor or chamber, and
che way was lit by candles held by sol
dicrs who accompanied them. Tho
scoria crunchod undorfoot M they walk
cd. and in the chamber Itself grent
heaps Of dust, sand and plaster, all fine
ly powdered, lay in the corners OF the
room and on one eide was piled up
higher than n mans head. There seem
ed to he tons of this debris. and ms Jen
ME looked up at tho arched ceiling, re-
sembling the roof OF n vaulted dungeon,
she saw that the stone itself had been
ground to fine dust with the tremendous
force of the blast
"Whcre are the remnants of the
treasure chest p she asked.
The director shook his head.
"There are no remnants not "A vestige
of 1t Is TO he found. "
"Of what was it nader"
II 4
chest here made OF oak, bound with
iron, but some years ago, n new recep-
tacle being needed, one was especially
made of hardened steel, constructed on
the modern principle Of those burglar
proof and tireproof safes F"
''And do you mean to say there is
nothing left of this2'
Nothing that we have been able to
discover.
"Well, l have seen places where dy-
Mantle explosions have occurred, but
know of nothing to compare with this
1 am sure that IL dynamite had been
used or any explosive now generally OBJ
tainable there would have been left Mt
least some remnant Of the safe. Hasn't t
liiV Va AubpiSh DScu bCu SlhCO
the explosionE"
eyes; 1t has been turned over. We
made Il search for the two men, but we
found no trace of them"
land you found no particles of iron
or steel3''
1.-The heap throughout is just as you
see 1t on the surface, fine. almost i'm
palpable, dnst. We had to exercise the
greatest care in searching through it,
for the moment it was disturbed with a
shovel 1t filed the air in suffocating
clouds. OF course we shall have it re-
moved by and by and cart it away, but
i considered it better to allow it to re-
main here until we had penetrated
somewhat further into the mystery
than we have already done.
Jennie stopped and picked upa hand
ful from the heap Her action caused a
mist to rise in the air that made them
both choke and cough, and yet she was
Instantly struck by the fact that her
handful seemed Unfortunately heavy for
Its bulk.
''May l take some Of this with me ?"
she asked.
''Of course" replied the director. 81
shall have packet of it put up fol
you.
81 would like to take it with mt
now, '" said Jennie. IL have curiosity
to know exactly Of what it is composed
Who is the government analyst o,
have you such an officialY"
ssuorr Falt, thn Observation-Disclosures
IL a famous analytical chemist You
cannot do better than go to him."
'Do you think he knows anything
about explosivess''
81 should suppose 30, but If not hi
will certainly be able to tell You who
the best man IL in that line
The director ordered one of the mer
who accompanied him to find small
paper bag and fill it with the debris OF
the treasure chamber When this wa.
done. he handed the package to Jennie
who said:
II shall go at once and see Herr
Feltz.'
my carriage is at your disposal
madame.
"Oh, no, thank you do not wisl
TO trouble you further, am very muci
obliged to You for devoting SO mucl
time to me already, | shall take
facre''
"My carriage is at the door," per
sisted the director, land | will instruc
the driver to take you directly to tn
shop of Herr Feltz. Then no time vii
be lost, and think if am with 20,
you will be more sure of attention from
the chemist, who is very busy man
Jennie saw that the director did no
wish to let her ont of his sight, and, al
though she smiled at his suspicion, sh
answered politely;
''lt is very kind of You to take q
much trouble and devote 30 much O
your time to me, | shall be glad O
your company if you are quite certain
am not keeping you from somethin
more important
''There is nothing more importan
than the investigation we have o.
hand, " replied the chief grimly.
A few minutes later the carriag
0toDped in front of the shon of Her