Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1901-06-21

and drew forth the most murderous
looking knife ever saw. II had a
curved blade about nine inches long.
three inches across at the hilt and ta-
pering to fine point. Placing the
knife between his teeth and grasping
the twine In both hands the old boy.
showing marvellous agility for one Of
his apparent age, went up the cord as
the boy had. hand over hand, and in
less time than Il takes to tell II he, too.
had disappeared from view.
He had us all going by this time,
and we Just sat there gaping up into
the air like a lot OF precious idiots.
There was a seconds absolute silence,
and then an agonizing yell. so piercing
that it sunk into ones very bones. An
other second. which seemed like an
age, and then we saw a dark object
come hurtllng down from the sky.
Down and down it came until 1t landed
only few feet from us with a sick
ening sort Of thud.
Looking to see what 1t was. we saw
the head Of the boy who had climbed
the cord lying there, severed from the
body at about the middle OF the neck.
A closer examination showed that the
face wore a horrible expression. while
the scarlet blood poured from the di-
vlded arteries and the dark venous
blood from the veins. The twitching
of the newly cut muscles and the wind
pipe, and the cleanly severed joints Of
two Of the cervical vertebrae were
quite plain to the army surgeon and to
the rest Of us, all Of whom knew a
little of anatomy from the field hos
pitals.
we hadn't by any means got over
the shiyery feeling we experienced at
seeing the head Of the late urchin.
when down came an arm. cut off
through the shoulder joint and giving
all the anatomical relations in that
part quite plainly. A moment later
the other arm dropped at our feet and
an examination showed that il had
been cut off in exactly the same way.
The doctor said the old rascal carved
cleverly enough to have been a surgeon
at the Royal college
I'VE were about ready for anything
after that, and so were not particularly
surprised when leg. severed at the
hip joint and exposing the head of
femur. the muscles twitching just as
you may have seen them twitch in a
freshly killed animal. came along. The
other les followed in due time and
then came the trunk.
"A moment later the old man was
seen coming down the string. and
when he dropped to the ground from
the end Of it he was literally covered
with gore from head to foot. The knife,
still held between his teeth, was fair
ly dripping with blood. His eyes ap-
peared wilder than ever. his features
drawn, and he paced back and forth
for few seconds like chained tiger.
Then he collected the head, limbs
and trunk and tossed them into the
old bag. While watching this action
we lost sight of the string and the
knife and never saw them again. Sling
ing the bag over his shoulder, he
walked away. We knew this was only
a bluff. because he hadn't yet received
any backsheesh and we knew he never
would depart without that.
"IIe had only moved of few PAGES
when we saw that something was NOV
ing inside the bag. The old man
stopped. put on surprised expression,
but the bag down on the ground, and
in moment out crawled the boy as
sound in wind and limb as he had ever
been.
THE boy began to smile, and the old
man. smiling and salaaming. came
toward us for his money. This he got
in a very liberal amount, and of he
went, leaving us standing there. mys-
tilted. confused. fiabbergasted.
I'VE looked about for traces of the
committed tragedy. but
where the ground had been red with |
blood a moment before not trace of |
it was left There was not the slight |
est bit of doubt that the boy had been
carved up and there was not the slight |
est doubt that he had as miraculously |
come to life again.
About the carving. the rest OF us
might have been mistaken, but you
couldn't fool the doctor He had been
cold blooded enough to pick up the
different members Of the body as they |
had come tumbling down from the sky,
had examined them and was perfectly |
positive that the dismcmberment had |
taken place and had been the work of
a skilful surgeon. or student of anato-
my. That was one of the few perform
ances that ever saw of the real, gen.
uine Hindoo fakirs of the Indian
wilds."
But how do you account for 1t all?"
asked one of the British army officers
friends.
why, there is only one way to ac-
count for II" was the reply. I'VE were
simply mesmerized or hypnotized by
the old boy and placed in such men
tai state that we imagined the whole
performance really had been enacted"
But how about the army doctor,
who handled the dismembered parts?"
asked some one else.
"oh. he was befuddled just like the
rest of us. He thought he handled
stray arms and legs and heads and
trunks, whereas he didn't do anything
Of the kind"
Maybe Englishmen in India can be-
come thus mentally twisted, said the
drst inquirer. but I'm blamed il | be-
lieve anybody else can. Either you
saw a miracle performed or the whole
blessed lot of you were Jagged. New
York Sun. Il
Cost to the Government to Pay One Cent.
There is the first warrant Of the
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