The St. Louis Republic., 1900-12-21

ever when II seemed 70 me that 1t must he
near morning, the vehicle suddenly struck
plyed streets again. and by n sort Of sixth
sense ] felt that we were IN South Omaha.
Indeed. | caught two or three whins from
the packing house district. and this assured
me that my conjecture was correct. though.
of course. l had no sense Of direction. North,
south east and west were all one to me.
Finally the vehicle came to a standstill. one
of the men got out and tied the horse. while
the other held me. Then they lifted me out
and one of them tied my hands behind me.
The other examined the bandage over my
eyes 70 make sure it was secure.
"The next move was TO lead me UP a
fight OF ricIxety stairs and into room
that had a damp musty smell. / could toll
by the way the mems footsteps res"unde-1
throughout the house that It was vacant
and stripped of furniture. ] observed also
that they struck no light.
II would have been conscious or a sense
Of light had they made one. for the band
age could not have excluded all its rays
The men still moved about in absolute 81
lence exchanging no word. One Of them
found an old rickety chair some place and
pushed me down upon II. Then he removed
the cords from around my wrists and sub
s,ituted for them pair Of handouts. with
chains attached. and made the latter fast
to the runsS of the chair. pair Of leg
irons "ltIped upon my ankles, and the
chains Of these were also locked about the
legs OF the chair In this uncomfortable
position | spent most Of the twentyfour
hours of my incarceration. though at one
titr,e-for ~ period Of about five hours, |
should judge-thc chains from my wrists
were removed. and | was permitted % lie
down on the floor. one of my capiors kindly
provided an ovrrcoat. which served a
pillow | tried to sleep. but my nerves were
too badly shattered to permit of il. think
| fell into a light doze. however. for fifteen
or twenty minutes
During all this time / par1ook Of nour-
ishment but once though the man who was
with me often asked me If | wanted any
thing. once I said 7 did. and he went and
Got me a cup Of coffee and some crackers.
I forgot to tell YOU that as soon as l was
chained TO the chair one Of the men went
away. but he kept returning at intervals
of every few minutes. when he would tap
lightly upon the door and would engage my
guardian In a whispered conversation.
Heard q Telephone Bell.
II could not catch word of what they
said After either one of these interviews
the man on the outside would go away. and
after a moment So | could hear til"
tinkle of A telephone bell. which sounded
a long way off. / believe they were in tele-
phone communication with some person or
persons in omaha all the time. The man
who kept watch over was drinking
avily all the time. Al first he did not talk
at all but after We had heen alone to-
cether for six or seven hours he hegan 10
get Sarru!ous. II. talked about all sorts
of things and his talk rambled. though
whether from drink or design. could not
say Finally he became holder. Two or
three times he touched upon the subject Of
NV abduction. and / gathered from his
marks that there were six men In the
gang of which he was "A member
l.,tasv "a ntfh yTar slttt.. i,
10 the point and which startled me. DO
YOU know he asked, that We have been
watching that house of yours out there
for the last two months Well we have.
What We really wanted was to get one of
the little girls your sisters. but we did
not get a chance. Finally. We became
desperate and determined To take the bull
by the horns and nab you. and l guess it's
all right You've acted frst-class. my
boy; you'll be back with your folks in a
few hours
The only way l had of reckoning time
was by the sense of light and darkness.
Il knew when Wednesday night came.
because it got very dark in the room. The
night was about four hours OLD. | should
Judge when there came that light tap at
the door with which had become familiar
There was another whispered conversation
and then my captors told me I was to be
taken back home. ! never experienced such
a sense Of joy In my life. The two men
frightened the bardage over my eyes and
unlocked my irons
Then l was lea down the crazy stairs
again and placed upon the seat of the same
vehicle in which / had ridden 20 the place.
The buggy turned snarp corner and drove,
leisuIeiy away. Again | rode over rough
unpavcd streets. | could tell distinctly that
We were not driving in a direct course for
the buggy kept making turns. first in one
direction. then in another. l could see that
they were trying to confuse me 50 that
l could not retrace the route.
FINALLY We stopped. Tie chains We're
taken off. the bandage was removed from
my eyes and i was told to git At first
l was 80 dazed I did not know where |
vas. While l was standing still in the mid
die OF the street. looking about me and
trying TO get my beaIings-for il was pitch
dark-the driver hit the horse a sharp lies
with the whip and the vehicle da shed out
Of sight. ] ventured one glance at II as II
rounded corner, but was able to note only
that two muff1ed figures still occupied the
single seat.
Then / suddenly got my bearings. The
locality was very familiar and was but
a few blocks from home. They had set
me down at Thirty-siXth and Leavenworth
streets.
81 believe | would be able TO identify the
man who was with me in the room so lon.,
hy his voice. if by nothing else. He had :,
peculiar voice and l will never forget IL.
l could also identify the stairs to the old