Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-07-18

as an electrical engineer he might have
won both fame and fortune.
lie had fitted one OF the spare rooms
at the top Of the house as a workshop.
and spent most of his spare time in ii.
working IN desuitoTy fashion upon the
many incomplete inventions with which
IT WAS stored. During the interviews he
had been IN his room, and, If my suspi-
cionS were we'll founded it was there I
must seek the answer to the question
How?
Ano ther bogus interview was arranged
for i'll the afternoon. Shortly after
, | made my way to the workshop. The
door was fastened by an ingenious lock
OF his own contrivance. but as he had
shown me the secret OF its mechanism,
! experienced no difficulty in entering
There was a workbench at one end of
the room. Under the bench was cup
board, sufficiently large to admit of my
crouching and hiding myself in it. / en-
tered the cupboard and made myself as
comfortable as possible. Through a
creyice III the door | commanded view
of the whole room.
| Just before 3 o'clock the attaehe en-
| tered the workshop, and, after closing
| the door. threw a thick curtain across il.
| Then he seated himself in an easy chair
and switched on the light of single arc
lamp, without a globe, placed on an in
sulated table, and connected with an
| electric generator.
From my hiding place l gazed at the
brilliant light of the lamp, wondering
what connection there could be between
| it and the n'vsterv | was trying to solve
suddenly the barons voice broke in
| upon the silence. The sound was SO clear
and 50 distinct that / was almost
| startled into an exclamation of surprise
| For Il moment l was puzzled as to
! where II came from Then | located it,
| The lamp was talking!
On the ground floor OF the hous the
baron was engaged in conversation with
| the supposed representative of the for
| eign office, and by some strange phe
nomenon the burning lamp was trans
uniting the sound with such purity and
| distinctness that every word was as audi
bic as If we had been present at the in.
| terview.
| For half an hour the conversation fol-
| lowed the lines agreed upon between the
baron and my representative; then there
was pause, followed by light. gossipy
conversation.
The attache had listened intently to
the conversation SC long as it dealt with
| the matters under concern. As soon as
that part of it ended he began TO ar
range his summary. For some time he
wrote and re-wrote. Then he read aloud
what he had written, 1t satisfied HIM
\ moment atterward he switched Off
| the light and lett the room
| As soon as the sound OF his footsteps
died away | crawled out OF my hiding
place and stroled into the attaches
room He was busy arranging a bouquet
OF choice blooms Tor a smart society lady
of his acquaintance.
! The ladies make great demands upon
our time and attention" he said, with q
smile
Without speaking | stood and watched
| him. The message was not, as | had
suspected. concealed among the flowers:
It was woven into the bouquet. and was
easily readable by means of the Morse
code, oolors taking the place OF dot and
| dash
His arrangement Of the flowers was
strikingly beautiful, and as he attached
his card tn the completed bouquet and
| instructed one Of the servants where to
| take il, I did not wonder that the sim
| phcity If his method had enabled him
10 escape suspicion.
The bouquet never reached its destina-
ton. and no message appeared in the
Early Ba2lo that evening, Confronted
with the evidence of his guilt. the at
tache made = clean breast Of everything.
He had fallen a victim to the charms
OF smart society lady. and in order to
prove his love for her had consented to
supply her with information, and bou.
quet Of flowers had been the means Of
communication
For months past he had openly sent
her Il daily gift Of flowers 80 that the
continuance Of the habit occasioned
neither surprise nor suspicion. t'pon re-
ceipt of the flowers she telephoned the
coded message To the editor of the Early
Bugle, who had no knowledge a. to the
! source of her information.
Then he explained that part of the
mystery which still puzzled me. The
lamp in the workshop was connected
with a wire with microphone in the
! baron's room. But he could not account