The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-11-13


his match. He turned TO 60, but in
doing 50 he caught his foot and stun
bled, and was precipitated into what
was evidently the beginning Of cellar
on which work had long ago been
abandoned. AS he fell into the bottom
several feet below the floor of the shed.
his hands come in contact with the
coils of some barbed wire fencing which
had evidently been thrown into the
half-completed cellar to. get it out OF
the way.
He sprang to his feet, his hands cut
and bleeding, and sought to Chamber
out of the trap into which he had fallen.
But as he did 80 the coils of the wire
seemed to rise up about his feet, and
twist themselves around him like
snakes. He fought them back with
bleeding hands, only to find them re-
lentless in their hold upon him. If he
loosened one, another took its place.
They seemed to dart fang-like tongues
at him. They fastened their clutch
upon his limbs, and he tore his clothes
loose from their teeth in wild frenzy
of desperation. Every moment the
fire was gaining Roadway. He must
escape before he was discovered. He
grappled with the wire in fierce deter
mination to conquer it. The flesh was
torn in shreds from his hands, but be
could not free himself fir, m the coils
of the demon. 1t seemed as if each
fresh struggle only made it more de-
termined to enwrap him in its deadly
grasp. He was like fly caught in
the net of a gigantic spider.
"My God, must die here!'' he cried.
IL can't won't!' And again be
strove to free himselffr from the network
of iron that had him in its clutch. In
vain, in vain! He could not do it.
He sank down in despair. There
was only one chance for escape, and
that was-to call for help. But he
would not do it. He would die rather
than be discovered He felt the hot
breath of the fire in his face, his flesh
seemed to parch under the heat that
leaped toward him from the floor above,
and wild desire for escape from the
terrible death that threatened him
almost forced him to cry out. But
no!-he would not yield to the impulse.
He would die, die like dog, but Hugh
Dorm should never know how fate had
punished him for the crime to which
she had seemed to incite him.
The flames leaped closer and closer.
They scared his face. His hair crisped
under their frey touch. He felt his
breath going. "It won't be long
now," he thought, and sank down
shivering in spite of the heat that filled
the place. Then there was sound of
rending boards, crash, and he was
buried out of sight under blazing bits
of wood. Through the terrible din
that the fire made in his ears he heard
cries and shouts, and knew that the
fire bad been discovered.
"But they'll never discover who set
it going," he thought, and then merci-
full unconsciousness came to the poor
man, and the end followed speedily.
The home of Hugh Dorm was burned
to the ground. How the fire originated
no one could surmise. At first, John
Cramer was not thought of in connec-
tion with it. But when it was found
that he had disappeared, people began
70 think strange things, and by and
by most of the neighbors came to be-
lieve that he had fed the country, after
making last effort to revenge himself
against the man he hated. But there
came time when they discovered
their mistake. In getting ready to
build new house upon the foundation
Of the old one, the workmen came upon
a mass of charred, half decomposed
flesh, and beneath they found an old
watch that the neighbors readily recog-
nized as one that John Cramer had
owned for years.
"Poor man!' they said, as they con-
jectured how death must have trapped
him; she paid dearly for the revenge
be thought to gain" And more than
one of them that night dreamed of the
terrible penalty that had been exacted
from John Cramer for the last sin of
his life.-Eben E. Re1fo,d, IN Country
Gentleman.
81 must congratulate you," said the
man with the cold gray eyes. "Your
paper is truly filling long felt want"
apparently you haven't heard"
the editor of the Weekly Wasp replied,