Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-17
Prisoners and Capfives
BY II. s. MERPEMAN
--E@=--
CHAPTER XIX-(Continued
" II. c. MERpIMEN

distinctly formed a group apart was bare
~ visible to the keenest glance. Helen's
slow, gentle eyes were turned toward the
center Of the house, bent vaguely on the
brightly dressed occupants of the stalls.
Il suppose" said Helen, closing her
fan, that all this is rather trivial for you.
The interest you take in it must be super
fetal now that you are so busy"
"Oh. no" Tyars FASTENED to begin; he
was looking past her in chat strangely
persistent way into the theater, and some
thing he saw there made him turn his head
quickly toward the stage.
'HaIloo" he exclaimed. Then he
caught her wrist in his grasp. Keep
STILL he whispered.
The painted curtain was bellying right
forward like the mainsail of a bark, and
from the space at either side a sudden
volume Of smoke poured forth in huge
uneven clouds.
In a second the whole audience was on
its feet, and for moment a sickening 81
lence reigned-the breathless silence Of
supreme fear.
Then a single form appeared on the
stage. 1t was that of the man referred TO
by Claud Tyars a moment before he who
-
He was still in his dark wig and pallid
makeup. On his arm he carried the coat
he had just taken off, and the other arm,
clad in white shirt sleeve, was raised in
a gesture Of command
II must ask YOU" he cried, in a full
clear voice, Ito leave your seats AS
And his tones were drowned, completely
overwhelmed by strange, unearthly
roar the roar Of a THOUSAND human voices
raised in one surging wall of despair, like
the din Of surf upon a single shore.
The man shouted, and his gestures were
almost udicrous even at that supreme
moment, for no sound could be heard
from his lips.
Then the gas was turned out, and in the
darkness a terrible struggle began. Some
who came ont Of 1t could liltcn it to moth
ing on earth. Women shrieked and men
forgot themselves.
As the gas fickered and finally col
lapsed those in the stage box caught a
momantary vision of Wild distorted faces
coming toward them. The pit had over
flowed the stalls. Strong barriers crum-
bled like matchwood. Into a hundred
minds at once there had flashed the hope
of escape through the stage boxes.
Grace! Easton" 1t was Tyar's voice
raised and yet not shouting. The crisis
had come, the danger was at hand, and
Helen knew who it was that would take
the lead. She heard the two men an
swer.
Keep the people back. l will break
open the door on the stage 1t is our
best chance"
The girl felt herself lifted from the
ground and carried to the back of the
box
Helen" whispered Tyars.
ayes"
Are you all right?"
"YeS."
= thought you had tainted, you were
so quiet. Hold on to my coat, Never
leave 30 of that =
He turned away from her. and above
the din and II oar came the sound of
his blows upon .e woodwork of the door.
II seemed inn 4ble that such strokes
could have been jealt by an unarmed hui
man hand.
Between the 'ows came the sickening
sound of the $, lggle at the front of the
box. ImprecatioHi and supplcations, min
gled with groans and the dull thud of mer-
CHESS fists upon human faces. Shoulder
to shoulder the two men-the American
and the Englishman-fought for the lives
of the women placed by the hand of God
under their protection. 1t was a terrible
task, though few women reached the front
of the box. Each man struck down. each
assailant beaten back was doomed, and
the defenders knew it. Once down, once
under foot, and it was a matter of mo-
ments.
Fresh assaiants came crowdng on,
treading on the fallen and consequently
obtaining an everinCreasing advantage as
they rose on level with the defenders.
Neither seemed to question the wisdom
of Tyars' command. 1t was matter Of
life or death. Those already in the stage
box would only be crushed by the onrush
of the others We're they allowed to enter.
With dazed desperation the two men
faced the frightful odds, hammerfng wild
ly with both fists. Their arms ached
from sheer hard work and they painted
hoarsely. Their eyeballs throbbed with
the effort to pierce unfathomable dark
ness. 1t was quite certain that their de-
Tense could not last long.
Stick to t." yelled Tyars. He might
have been on the deck of the Martial
during white squat, so great was the
uproar all around him. At last there
was the sound of breaking wood.
Grace shouted the voice of Tyars
YES"
Look after Miss Winter when we
CO."
''Easton ~ he cried again
YES old mani"
Come last, and keep them back if Won
can" Then a minute later he shoufad
"Come !"
At the same instant the roaring crowd
of madmen poured in over the front of
the box, like soldiers Stovming a bas+ion.
The door which TyarS had succeeded in
opening was so narrow as to admit of
the passage of only one person at a time,
but at this instant the larger door leading
into a narrow passage. the real exit from
the stage box, broke down before a pres
sure from without and from this point
also a stream of half-demented beings
tried TO force an entrance.
The only advantage possessed by the
original occupants of the box was that
they knew the position of the small
door.
The subsequent recollection of such in
dvidualS as survived were so fragmentary
and vague that no connected story of the
terrible tragedy in the stage box of the
Epic Theater was ever given to the pub
lie.
Miss Winter remembered finding herself
caught up in a strong pair of arms, which
she presumed to be those of Oswin Grace.
Almost at the same moment she and her
protector were thrown TO the ground
After that the next thing she could re-
member was the touch of a hand over
her face and hair and Il whispered voice
in her ear
Agnes Winters this you?"
She recognized the peculiar American
twang which was never unpleasant. A
that moment, she almost laughed.
"IeS-yes,' she answered.
Then crawl TO your feet. Don't try
to get up; crawl over this man. l dom
know who he is. but l surmise he I,
dead"
She obeyed, and found her way out o.
the narrow door and up some steps
Close behind her followed some one, whom