The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-01-26

could hear a faint scream from Liddy,
at the crash and then she came down
the stairs on run. WIN the revolver
! held straight out in front Of her,
Thank God" she said in shak-
/ ing voice II Thought 1t was YOU
/ / pointed to the door and she un-
| derstood.
Call out the windows at the other
! end Of the house" / whispered. Run.
| Tell them not to wait for anything"
| She went up the stairs at that, two
! at time. Evidently she colided
/ with the candle, for it went ont and
l was left in darkness.
| was really astonishingly cool. !
remember stepping over the chair and
/ gluing my ear TO the door, and | shall
never forget feeling ii give an inch
( or two there in the darkness. under
a steady pressure from without. But
! the chair held. although | could hear
! an ominous cracking of one Of the
! legs, And then, without the slightest
warning, the cardroom window broke
/ with a crash. | had my finger on the
! trigger of the revolver, and as
| jumped it went Off. right through the
/ door, Some one outside sWore
roundly, and for the first time I could
! hear what was said
at the other end of the house. =.
Have the whole rats nest on as.
| And lot OF profanity which l won't
write down. The voices were at the
! broken window now, and although
| / was trembling violently, l was de-
1 tgrminad that would hufd"t Them until
help came. l moved up the stairs
until l could see into the card room,
| or rather through II. 10 the window.
AS ! looked small man put his leg
| over the sill and stepped into the
room The curtain confused him for
moment; then he turned, not toward
me, but toward the billiard-room
door. l fired again. and something
that was glass or china crashed to
/ the ground Then I ran up the stairs
and along the corridor TO the main
staircase. Gertrude was standing
there, trying to locate the shots, and
l must have been u peculiar figure.
with my hair In crimps. my dressing
gown flying, no slippers. and a re-
volVer clutched in my hand. l had
no time to talk There was the sound
of footsteps in the lower hall. and
some one bounded up the stairs.
had gone Berserk, i think I
leaned over the stair-rail and fred
again. Halsey, below. yelled at me.
What are you doing up there -
he yelled. You missed me by an
inch
And then l collapsed and tainted.
When ! came around Iiddy was rub
bling my temples with eau de quinine,
and the search was in full blast.
Well, the man was gone. The stable
burned to the ground. while the
crowd cheered at every falling rafter,
and the volunteer ure department
sprayed 1t with a garden hose. And
in the house Alex and Halsey search
ed every corner OF the lower floor,
finding no one.
The truth OF my srory was shown
by the broken window and the over
turned chair That the unknown had
got upstairs was Almost Impossible
He had not used the main stair
floor In the east wing. and Liddy had
been at the window. in the west wing.
where the servants stair went up
But we did not go to bed at all Sam
Bohannon and Warner helped in the
search. and not closet escaped
scrutiny. Even the cellars were
given thorough orerhauling, with
out result, The door in the east en-
try had hole through II where my
bullet had gone. The hole sfanted
downward. and the bullet was en-
bedded In the porch. Some reddish
stains showed II ha.. done execution.
Somebody Will ~uIk lame" Hal
sey said. when he had marked the
course or the bullet It's too low to
nave hit ANYTHING but leg or foot"
tTo be continued.)