Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-05-17
FINE ART in MURDER
THE MINING ENGINEERS STORY or
AN ASSASSINATION.
II WINS Not CIunsy Hatchery, bot
Was Eacrutcd WIN "a Witness
Present ana Vet Excited Not Even
Suggestion of suspicion.

suggestion OF suspicion.
$50 they located him in 81. Louis, and
They hanged him in Chicago inside Of
year. Hll hccau-c Of half broken cuff
button i'm tho dead mans rpom II was A
little thing but some such little thing il
always there 10 tell the tale. Murder
will out" Aud the police inspector stretch.
ed his feet on TIA" opposite seat Of the.
smoking compartment and leaned back
with the air Of man who has thoroughly
demonstrated his proposition
"lcs. murder will out maybe" replied
the mining engineer a. he adjusted tho
stern fragment of cigar into an amber
holder for new lease Of smoke. "There
Is nothing that strikes me as more pa pa
bly, inconclusive than that same quotas
ton. OF course some murders come out,
and it is only those that DO come out that
stand any chance Of being identified as
murders. Take Il practical view Of it. If
a really bafty man wants to commit
murder. do you suppose be j. going 10
knock his game on the head with a club
or shoot him up whole lot on the public
highway Talk about DE Quinccy's Muir
der as Fine Art" | never could sec
any art about it. All Of his murders
We're clumsy butcherios without any char
acter to them except buckets Of blood.
Why, ! knew an engineer OF an electric
plant down in South America who could
have given De Quincy points and who
put his man out Of the way SO that the
coroner didn't think it worth while to
hold an inquest.
you see, they had put in an electric
light plant in Caracas along with an ic,
machine and some artesian wells, 30 the
town was fechng pretty metropolitan.
The company had TO take an its hoip
down there from the States, but whan
the plant was up and running they sent
Tie most Of them back or drafted them
oft on other jobs, so that about all they
kept were "A few linemen and the engi-
nrcr and his assistant These two engi-
ncerS were thrown together all the time,
slept in the same quarters, ate at tho
same table and quite naturally in three
months were ready to Kill each other on
sight.
The assistant taught the chief poker,
and the chief developed rapidly. and pref
~ soon put his instructor into the hole
for about two months wages. II was
summer. The weather was muggy d the
inside of a Turkish bath. They hated
each other and had nobody else 10 talk
to. They played cards in self defense #
or work was over. and they snarsed over
every jaci pot The weather was in their
nerves until they felt as though yellow
fever with furlough attached would be
an uudisguised blessing.
The assistant couldn't see any way ~
. winning himself out OF the hole. and he
made up his mind to get even and quit or
Kill the chief. So one night when the OTIS
o. or had thrown out some slur about people
that played for paper because 1t was easy
paid the assistant made the chief prop
Z osition 10 play him one cold hand double
o. or quits The chief held something like
n full house to a four flush, and then the
other made up his mind to Kill him and
put an end TO it all.
1T was before the days of direct con
{ nected dynanlos and the plant was fixed
with an old Westing house horizontal on
cne and belt connected double brush
: dynamo set at the other end of the room
T far enough off to give the belt a good
sway on the puleys. lie told me he often
= sat smoking and figuring just how he
} could get rid of the chief. He was preju
: diced against poison, because he didn't
q think it could be worked without leaving
o n clew. He thought sometimes of tripping
| the old man into the fly wheel when the
( plant was running, but there might be
2 some hitch about that, as the hremen
s were always just inside the boiler room,
l and besides the chief didn't drink. and
1 engineers don't stumble into their ma
4 chimes when they are sober. Finally he
5 hit what he thought was a good plan.
!. "Thc old man, who wasn't any older
A than his assistant. always oiled round
l just at midnight When the chief looked
= at the clock and started after his oil can,
. the assistant went to the closet and took
p ont good sized wad of waste and dipped
( it in the water bucket Then he walked
= ,lo., n he ,4riVipy uhea az the
' gine. Naturally the driving wheel was
e bigger than the pulley wheel of the dyua
l mo. 50 the belt ran on a down grade 20
u the small pulley, passing right alongside
the brass oil cup on the main journal.
{ When the chief lifted the cap Of the oil
! cup, the assistant called TO the daso in
l. the fireroom TO lend HIM a match. That
Z was merely 70 get witness on hand
u Then he dropped ms wad of vet waste
i on the running belt and walked toward
= the frerOom door. The wad OF waste
. stuck where it was dropped and was car
= ried down like a fash by the beH IL
r fetched up slap between the oil cup and
the brushes and grounded 900 volts Of
alternating current right through the
chiefs hand
The lights binkcd just as the dsgo
=. showed UP in the doorway, and. thus call
= ing the assistants attention to what had
=, happened. he reached over and yanked
= the belt off the driver at the imminent
i risk of losing his own arm. The engine
- raced bit but he shut her down before
= any harm was done, and thsu they struck
. light and went 10 the assistance OF the
. chief. But il was too iste He died
without ever recovering consciousness.
The fireman. who didn't know the dif-
- ference between oil and water in piece
= al a ahn bA