New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1902-09-17

perfect nnconcern Tor ten days, being
most OF the time 80 my company, and
we had no advent Then he asked
me one morning to accompany him to
the police station, where he was going
TO feek certain informal lion. no.
Heed that he had a package under
bis arm, but gave Il no arttiicular at
tention As we walked along the
street ne was as chattty as usual, and.
he led the way into the police build
ing without the slightest hesitation.
&c was q two story building of stone
and brick There was a prison ID the
basement and offices were on the first.
and second floors w entered the main
room, presided over BY q captain of po-
lice on one side and an inf ion
bureau on the other. There were q.
number Of people making inquiries, and
3Grodno and I sat down on one of the.
benches to wait He stepped to a
window, asked q question u did not
catch, and then passed out and Isfol-
lowed. noticed that he was pale and
Hurried, and when ] joked him about
1T he said that he had seen a visitor
In the room whom he thought he rec
ognized. He had another GRAND, he
said, and asked me to wait at the
hotel for him. He left me on q street
corner With q wave OF his hand, and
that was the last i ever saw of him.
Two hours had passed, and / was
still waiting n the office OF the hotel,
when the town was suddenly shaken
fas with an earthquake and five min
utes later It was known everywhere
that the police station had been blown
up. rushed to the scene with thou
sands OF others, and the sight was one
newer to be forgotten. The fine, large
building was nothing but a smoking
pile. It had collapsed, the walls block
ing up the street, and the roof was ~
ing on the floor OF the first story. In
the cells Of the basement were twenty
eight prisoners, all Of whom escaped
harm On the two floors were thirty
police officials, including the chief, and
not one Of them escaped death. y It was
Ia day and q night before the debris was
removed and the bodies were recovered
and another day before an investIga-
ton was begun. During this interval
/ heard nothing whatever from Grod-
no. After a day had gone by II made
up my mind that he was among the
killed. It came to me that he was not
carrying the package when he left the
building, and figured that he had res
turned for It and had been made "a
victim with the others. got q look
at every body taken out but his was
not among them .$. ~ .ss N
It was only whena public investiga-
ton had begun apd the newspapers
were talking about nihilists and ex-
plostves that suddenly caught my
breath. In less than an hour u was
speeding out OF Cracow by train, and
It was not until I was beyond the LINZ
It's OF Austria that i dared try to think
It ont. Grodno had come to Cracow to
do exactly as he had done, He owed
the police grndge, and he left that
package to blow up the building.
Whether it was exploded by cloekwork
or by some one seeking to open it
could not be told, but 1t certainly
caused the disaster, and heshad made
good his escape before it happened. /
learned that the investigation threw no
light on the matter except that some
explosive had been used, and ut was
not even laid to nihilists. ] could have
told a story; but, innocent as I was Of
any completely, it would have resulted
in my death on the galloWs.