The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-09-14

| Behind It was a lumber room, and in
this was a askylight opening out on the
roof. The door of this room was usual
ly kept unlocked, and was now open.
After waiting an hour or so in my bed
room, in order to make sure that all
in the house were sleeping, cautiously
crept into the next room. With the aid
of a chair placed upon table / man
aged to unfasten the slylight, and SO
| got out on the roof. When there
found that the decline was so acute
that l could not with any degree of
safety trust myself out of reach of the
framework of the window. However,
l managed to overcome this difficulty
by returning to my bedroom and get
ting stout walking stick; with this
I once more got upon the roof, and,
| lying with my feet supported by the
framework, / managed to catch the
crook of the stick over the roof tile.
and so drew myself up until sat upon
the ridge of the roof.
| Progress was now easy, but chin
ney now barred my way. clambered
across it, and, begrimed with SCOT,
slowly crept along until came above
the skylight through which the light
shone. / cautiously let myself down
with the aid of the walking stick which
I had taken the precaution to bring
with me, and my exertions were soon
rewarded by look into the room be-
low.
| As my eyes became accustomed to
the light felt somewhat disappointed
| at what met my gaze. Seated at a table
was the man who had made the pur-
4 chase from me; he was busily employed
with some cutting implement working
| at a piece of metal which lay before
him. A printing press occupied one
side of the room, and behind the door
was camera, together with some 9TH
er Photographic apparatus. A couple
| of chairs placed near the table were all
! else the room contained. With feel
ing of disgust that my exertions should
have ended in the discovery of an en-
graver at work, I was about to eau
| tiously Chamber back again, when /
observed the door opening, aid Sec
| ond individual entered the room. With
out looking up from his work, the en-
| graysr asked:
''Well, Schular?"
"Oh," said Schular, '.it works splen-
didly. Looki" He placed upon the
table book and some papers which
he had brought in, and then, lifting up
| a couple of sheets of the latter, he care
lessly drew them from one another.
| A flash and sharp report followed,
| similar to that made by child's Christ
mas cracker.
| The other looked on, his face beam
ing with admiration. Sehular then
| lifted the book and turned over the
pages until he came to where two of
| them seemed to be slightly stuck to-
| gether; in attempting to draw these
apart another flash and report fol-
lowed, The engraver then motioned his
| companion to sit down, and they began
to converse earnestly in low tone
My position on the roof was by this
time becoming uncomfortable, and, as
| they continued talking, resolved to
see what was visible through the other
| skylight, which evidently gave light to
| another room. Carefully clambering
to the bridge of the roof, as before,
with fear and trembling lest my prog
ress should be heard by those in the
room below, managed to get to the
| other window,
The light in this room was not so
intense as in that into which L had
first looked. One corner was carefully
partitioned off with green baize cloth.
| and this suspected to be used as a
\ Photographic dark room. A lantern,
well guarded with wire and protected
from draughts, such as is used for car
rying about farmyards, stood by itself
on stool in another corner. A row
of blue "Winchesters" of sulphuric and
nitric acids stood along the wall OPP
posite to the lamp, while on low table
| which occupied all of one side of the
room some kind of waterproof mate
rial was spread, and on it was heap
of light fluffy stuff, the sight of which
| gave me such start that almost lost
my foothold on the roof as recog-
nized it to be gun cotton in the process
of drying,
Quickly retracing my steps, arrived
In my own room quite limp with the
unusual exertion, and somewhat ex-
cited by the discovery had made.
My suspicious had proved correct,
and there could be no doubt that, what
ever their objects were, my neighbors
were certainly engaged in the manufac-
ture of dangerous explosive.
| My thoughts were fully occupied next
morning with the discovery Of the
previous night, and during the day
came to the conclusion that the best
course to adopt would be to commune
cate with the authorities.
Snatching few minutes at dinner
time, l wrote short account of what
I had discovered and dispatched it to
Scotland Yard. When / arrived home
in the evening found that the author
tiles had attached some Importance. to
my communication, as an inspector and
sergeant were awaiting my coming
The former subjected me to searching
examination, and quickly satisfied him
self that there was something more
than imagination in my story. The
landlady was summoned and informed
that the police were about to take pos
session of her house for the remainder
of the evening. She dispelled any fears
of objection ON her part by promptly
fainting away.
The sergeant then left, and shortly