The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-04

himself in the same mood for the next
few days, in spite of the trying scenes
of farewel>with friends and relatives
The Lyle family. wealthy and power
full, was bent on preventing by any
means the disgrace of the scaffold. 1t
was great triumph for justice when
Influence, intrigue and the skill of the
lawyers came to naught in court and
elsewhere. Even public opinion, won
to sympathy by the brilliant struggle
which Lyle made for. his life, by his
talent, his spirit. his beauty of face
and manner, his steady and solemn
declarations of innocence, was resisted
and overcome by the officers of justice.
The care taken to prevent a pris-
oner under sentence of death from es-
cape or suicide is very thorough, but it
reminds one of the care taken by rail-
way companies to prevent accidents.
No matter how perfect the system, 1t
depends on men for success, and en-
CINE drivers will drink signalmen fall
asleep, telegraph clerks miss the right
word and guards fail to swing warn
ing lantern.
Everything worked successfully.
Wealth and rank of the convict achiev-
ed wonders, and an escape which read
more like romance Of Dumas than
chronicle of Newgate occupied the pub
lie attention for the usual nine DAYS.
Every one remembers the stir created
by Lyle's disappearance. The officials,
mad with rage and shame, really ex-
hausted the means at their command
to find the criminal. Finally the case
was put into the able HANDS of Detec-.
tive Lord, one of the smartest and
most vigilant men in the secret service.
His efforts came to naught within a
year. Lord held on for six months
longer, studying with infinite patience
promised something. Lyle had vanish
ed into thin air. Had he dissolved into
elementary gases at the prison gates.
he could not have left less trace of
his path into the world. Not one clew
ever led to any result, not even to a
decent theory of his escape. Lord con-
tlnued the pursuit out of pure fascina-
ton for a mystery which overtaxed his
powers and took the edge off his natu-,
raj shrewdness.
After resigning his post, and joining
an orchestra as first violin-for faith in
his abilities finally deserted him-this
fascination accompanied him, and
proved a great bore to his friends from
the endless speculations in which it led
him to indulge.
On his mantelpiece he kept a photo
graph of Winthrop Lyle, and the slim,
hard figure, the pale, thin, fligh-bred
face. the severe expression and dark
eyes had a prominent place in his
sleeping and waking dreams. In the
end, no one took any interest in his
cherished mystery, save the boy who
played the cello in the orchestra.
1t was always great relief to Lord
to turn from constant brooding on the
tints of Lyle's picture to the society of
the young musician; for Josef CAM
was a soft-boned, easy-going German,
to beer and laughter. fond of his wife
and cello and baby: fonder of the Lyle
problem than Lord himself.
Josef was fair skinned, fat and jolly,
and loved to sit with his baby or his
cello at his left hand, a mug of Ba-
yarian beer at his right. His wife and
child were plump and rosy, and even
the gray professor father, with his
habits of study and solemn expression,
had fat and contented air about him.
Not having been long in the coun-
try, they spoke English with gentle
accent German pictures hung on the
wall and German colors were every
where. Frau CAM could not abide
English cooking, and at her table were
ever dressed the seasoned dishes of
the fatherland. When they sang songs
or INDUCED in ole memories, the little
village near Munich was the theme.
The one promise to baby to induce him
to be good was visit to Munich when
he had come to be man. Among
these simple people Lord might talk
his hobby to death and be listened 10
with reverence.