Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-02-02
An Experiment
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By ALISON MUNDAY.
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IN the night of Prof. Warwick's
~ death, two high school boys, Billy
Williams and Eben Hyde, were taking
a short cut acros the campus, when
they noticed a peculiar light shining
through the cracks of the labora-
tory blinds. In telling of it aft
erwards, Williams said:
when first peeped in, the light al
most blinded me. The whole room was
as red as blood, and when l looked over
my shoulder to see if any M was COM
ing, l saw green moons everywhere.
After a while l got used to the glare,
and it seemed to grow paler and paler,
until it wa so white it dazzled me.
The air was full of silvery-looking
waves (this was first mentioned in
the third or fourth repetition of the
tale) "and when Prof. Warwick bent
over the crucible, his face glowed as if
there were a lamp inside of his head.
Just then the blind squeaked and, as
he looked toward us, his eyes shone
like a cats at night. Then Eben
started to run and | ran after him"
Hyde, who had a less vivid magma
ton, said he didn't notice how the
professor looked, but he saw he was
cooking something, and that he held
some kind of a jar in his hand and
smoke was coming out in white rings.
Just then" he said, BILLY started to
run and I thought the janitor was aft
Ell us, so l ran too, and just as we
turned the corne of the medical build
ing, there was a noise like thunder,
and we both fell down."
At the sound of the explosion, the
students who were exercising in the
gymnasium nearby had come running
to the scene. The door was locked,
but, finding the blinds ajar, they
crowded through the window,
scratched matches, and surveyed the
ruin. Hurled in every direction were
broken glass, fallen plaster, and shat
tered instruments, but there was no
trace Of Prof. Warwick-no blood, no
clothing, nothing to show what had
become of him. Soon the professors
came hurrying from every direction.
then the townspeople, and, in a few
moments, the campus was filed with
an excited crowd. There was a babel
of conjectures, and the two boys, swell
ing with Importance, told their story
over and over. Mayor West, return
ing from a drive with his family,
stopped to make inquiry. Learning
the shocking news, he gave the lines
to his daughter, and joined the crowd
in the campus. Harry Amber, a
senior, begged permission to take Mr..
Vests place in the carriage, and, while
driving homeward, gave a highly-col-
ored version of the boys story. The
warm moonlight, f1ltering through the
o~ver-arching branches, scattered silver
fakes upon Isabel's brown hair. She
dropped forward so that her delicate
face was in shadow, but her round
white neck cleaned like ivory, and,
as he talked, the young mans eyes
fingered wei the details of her beauty.
Possibly he was not wholly sorry that
his most dangerous rival had gone out
in a blaze Of glory.
Meanwhile the crowd surged in and
out of the laboratory, discussing the
situation from every possible point,
and finally began moving off in groups
of excited takers. The faculty, after
appointing a meeting for the following
morning, withdrew to their homes;
the ~townspeople scattered to theirs;
the students, with whom the young
professor had been extremely popular,
went quietly to the dormitories, and
gloom and silence settled upon the
town.
Yet, all this time, Warwick's body
was lying as it had fallen, in the mid
die of the floor, face upwards, the fea-
lures sharp and thin in their pallor,
the dark brows drawn into the anxious
frown they had worn in that last mo-
ment Of consciousness. Coating the
entire body and spreading like a film
on the floor, was something undefin-
able; was 1t liquid, or vapor, or flame?
gliding, family glowing, smearing
like oil, shimmering in the darkness
with iridescent tints.
Early the following morning, Scott,
the %janitor, came in. The young pro-
lessor had always been kind to him,
and the old man went sadly to work,
clearing UP the w~reckage. Reused by
the sound, Warwick spoke: "Help
me up, Scott" he whispered family,
but the old man continued his work
without, apparently, noticing him.
"Scott," he gasped again, The jan
itor stopped and looked about him
with a face as white as death.
"Oh, Scott" Warwick repeated in
an agonized whisper, don't you see
me?" With an awful cry, the old
man leaped through the window and
ran for his life.
One or two students on their way to