The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-07-03
CHEM. PURE COPPER.
so lbs.

| smiled at the clever deception. The
workman looked up and caught me. He
gfinned and SWore again. very pleasantly,
by way of showing me that he bore no
malice. Considering the fact that he had
mashed his toe. he behaved himself with
remarkable propriety.
At this moment u man who was evil
IDENTIFY his employer appeared in the door
way. | was expecting q disturbance and
began to move on. But ] heard only this
remark in a clear, well-brcd voice:
"Why, You seem to be having a hard
time of it,"
The speaker was a thin, rather tall
person, clean Sllaven, of intelligent coun-
%tenance. He disappeared for a moment,
returning With hammer and nails. The
draylnan soon had the box mended. and,
mounting kls seat. started down the al
ley. l had already decided what course
to pursue. L would FOLLOW that dray if
it Went into the East river. : called a
cab and told the cabman what L wanted,
promising double fare.
We logged along through the crowded
streets for about Il mile. AT length the
dray stopped iii front of one of the offices
of the Adams Express company. The
driver dismountcd and lugged in the pack
ages, one after the other. Then ] remem-
bored, with a sickening sense of failure.
that / had never looked at the tags to see
whom the boxes We're being sent to. They
We're already in the office. and there was
now no Wa. of seeing them.
The empty dray moved off and / got
back into my cab. "lDrive to the Twelfth
National as fast as YOU cam" said.
There was nothing else TO do.
Mr.. Castle heard my story with interest,
and, to my measureloss relief, did not
score me for failing to find out the con-
signee of the boxes. Williams was out
ION the case" and we had to telephone for
two men from the front Office
L They car n in, ,bSrt fftnan r,in,tac
Meanwhile | had to keep a close watch on
The suspected building. whence the sup
posed bullion had been shipped. The
"Nilson Chemical company" whose name
was stamped on the boxes, occupied half
of the second floor. .The detectives first
took a quict survey of the premises from
Il distance, while / told them what l knew
and described as best | could the appear
ance OF the men who seemed to have
chars" of shipping the packages.
Then the detectives went into the build
ing. They returned in about twenty min
utes. The door of the laboratory" they
said. was locked, and upon forcing an en-
trance they found only a long room with
shelves of glass jars and various kinds OF
chemical apparatus. They had searched
the cellar of the building and discovered
nothing unusual. They limited at the opin.
ion that ! had raised a false alarm.
Just then Williams arrived on the scene
| unfolded my tale and he immediatelS
said:
I'll sc mp there and see If can fine
anything"
May i go, too?' asked the cashier.
"ccrtainiy." lie replied. Since there
seems to be no one there, you and MI
Wells can both come"
We ascended the stairs and found thing:
very much as the other detectives hat
said. There was considerable apparatu,
strewn about in more or less confusion
Near the wall to the left was an electri,
/, motor and several induction coils. all con
nectcd up in The city circuit. The motto
had evidently been belted to some piece O
machinery which had been removed. TIL,
stand on which the machine had reStet
was still there. l did not notice thes
things particularly at the time, but some
thing which was found not long after w
. entered brought them forcibly to my at
q tention.
5 y paper funnel which had been used t
pour some kind of powder into a bottle
this was what the astute Williams brough
to light and offered as a solution of tn
y mystery. For the funnel was made of
t sheet of writing paper, one side of whic
\ was covered With closely written matter
/: The page was numbered So at the tor
and the writing began in the middle OF
j sentence. 1t read as follows: because
C partial vacuum offers less resistance. nj
next step was to devise a method Of cleo
trodlalyStS through a fluld medium, Tx
k water, and then through ordinary air.
e found that by strengthening the radiation
o | could obtain n discharge of various me-
II ais through solid screens of wood, an
II even of steel. without disturbing tn
l screens in the slightest. The atoms of til
metal seemed to pass between the mol
d cuies OF the screen without producing an
visible effect.
The fact that. in electro-plating, silve
d lows from the positive to the negatiN
terminal and is replaced by cyanide {
n potassium from the solution, suggested m
next series of experiments, the most in
portant of all from a commercial stant
point. eventually perfected a machir
which would produce radiations of suff
cient intensity to draw gold throug