The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-29
THE HOUSE ON THE RIVER
BY A.. SAWYER.

people had come in. They took small pad and wrote on 1t what they wished to
 drink then put 1t Into small slot in what had the appearance of A bookcase. Of course Me had done likewise. In short time q small bell rang Our host went over to the case. or cabinet and
 pressed small invisible button. when
 behold both doors of the case came open i disclosing on shelves the different drinks
 ordered. After We had removed them the doors closed without any assistance from our host Noticing our look of en- quirY, he suggested that we try to see
 if we could find the spring to get our drinks if perchance he happened to be
 away. After searching for some time we all gave it up. and he then told us it was
 not in the cabinet at all but in a certain part of the floor and that he pressed it as he went along. the movement Of
 pressing a part of the cabinet was sim
 ply a blind,
 This man deied the officers of the law
 year after year, even going so far as to
 take them into the house and get them lost in the many winding passages threat
 ening to throw them into the river if
 they did not swear that they had found
 nothing wrong
 We next were taken into another room
 anu AhNit AdS d EDOulA Uuubti bi Ilfh
 gathered around a roulette table with
 the ball merrily rolling. On again to
 still another room and there a game of
 poker was in progress There was still another larger and more luxuriously fur nished room where there were at least fifty people playing all kinds of games
 of chance, and in many instances for
 large stakes All this was way down in that Pine Tree state of Maine.
 Without doubt the reader has noticed that so far we have not descended and stairs. and will be very much surprised when told that the last room described
 was down below the street about forty
 feet
 l The house was build on river bank
 which was fifty feet in height This was l chosen for many reasons. All the gam ] bling was done in the lower part of was l the traffic in liquors that the noise which would naturally accompany such revels 1 could not reach the street. There was a ;, canal built from the river into the cellar 1 that would admit of a boats entrance. and if was through this that all the i liquors were smuggled in as well as fur
 nishing the means of escape when the i place was raided. This was most unique
 arrangement, as it had gates which were
 so constructed that a view from the river
 would not disclose where they were. | These were operated by weights in such | a manner that only the man on the in-
 side could open them. This made an i excellent means of escape when the of- l fcers had by some means gotten inside l this temple of chance It was easy to i lose the officers in the many subterran-
 can passages, and after having made l them take the oath of silvence, which was administered under the most thrilling
 auspices in one of the chambers fitted 1 up for this purpose, the owner of the l house would take his boat and go over
 to the hospitable shores of Canada as | the house was on the river dividing Maine ] from Canada He would remain there l until he was sure that they were going | to keep their oath.
 As I returned to my hotel after the
 visit to the mysterous house on the river,
 l wondered if the man was proud of his l accomplishment, as he had all the ap-
 pearances of being really happy. and If ] he would not some day get caught and l have to answer for all his defiance of the i law. It was a few years after I read in
 the papers that he had been caught in | his own trap as it were and on account
 of his having defied them so long the i courts had piled up indictments against
 him so that his sentence was for a term
 of over forty years As he was over 1 60 at the time you can see that it was ! virtually a life sentence. It was also l shown that he had spent the greater part l of his nefarious gains to effect his escape 1 from the clutches of the law. As a con-
 sequence he only lived few years, and died a miserable death-the fate of most | of the notorious embezzlers forgers, and l outlaws.