Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1911-09-08

my implements used for scraping ar
ticles found in excavating.
"who b that tapping the Morse al
phabet5n asked In Italian.
< sWho are your The reply came in
English s
.one ptopping for the night in this
"wl:ey4 did you learn telegraphy3"
'Tn America"
There was pause, after which came
the question:: MI
Are you not connected with the
banditsF"
"Bandits2 Is this bandits placer
Eyes. am a prisoner here, held for
ransom"
Phew! What had struck? Amazed,
tapped another message.
"What nationality are your"
American"
"How do you happen to know teleg.
raphy?" i'
"a have been division superintend-
ent OF telegraph line"
"Your nameT
Edward owen"
II have heard of you. was once an
American telegraph operator Now
tell me how you came TO be In this
place."
~ am the American recently kid
naped."
He told me that after leaving the
-Brandini grounds he was walking
leisurely when he heard whistle and
was ut once surrounded by men, who
made him a prisoner, They knew he
was an American and supposed him to
be very rich. He was not rich at all
He had come abroad for rest and rec.
reatlon after years of hard work.
We began to lay plans for his liber
alton. He told me that his window
was barred and his door locked. ex-
amined the lock Of my room and found
It large, old fashioned one, placed, as
have mentioned, on the inside. My
nelghbor told me that the lock on his
door had been removed to the outside.
l presumed that 1t was the same kind
as mine and screwed on instead OF be-
ing set into the wood, as In the case
of modern locks. II so | could take
It Off by removing the screws, using
one of my archaeological implements
instead OF screwdrlver.
proposed to the prisoner to do this,
give him one of my revolvers and
we should walk out together He was
not n fighting man, and only his des.
90. annIlAlaf. Ne,A.ranH tim 40 nly..
the attempt opened my door suiii
cienuy TO look out into the hall and
reconnOiter man was sitting on n
stool asleep, candle burning low In
the socket. A rife lay across his lap.
He was at the other end of the hall,
and we would have to pass him 10
get out. II was so dark where our
rooms were that resolved to attempt
to remove the lock on Mr. Owens door
and let him out before tackllng the
guard. who was sleeping soundly. The
lock was 30 old and the screws 80
loose that had no trouble whatever
Opening the door. | entered Owens
room. He was In the dark. but put
hand on me at once. We whispered
together, and handed him n revolver
proposed that we should go out
together, | to seize the mans rife
while Mr.. Owen clapped his hnnds
over the mans mouth Then was
to put my revolver to his head, threat
en- to shoot If he made a noise and
compel him to let us out Of the house.
But Owen said he knew that there
were at least dozen men IN the
house and II would be impossible TO
pass them. SO we changed our plan
to far simpler one. We decided to
go out by the window Of my room.
Stealing back TO where ! started.
followed by Mr.. owen. made n rope
Of the bedclothlng. and we let our
selves down on TO terra Hrma. There
was no yard to the place, no wall TO
go over, the latter having disappeared
probably many years before But there
was something more dangerous We
had scarcely touched the ground when
we saw the dim figure of a man walk
Ing to and fro. We huddled near the
wall till he receded, then consulted.
Being armed. we were prepared for
a fight. but feared to be Overpowercd
by numbers. | thought OF the follow
ing as the only feasible plan: The
night was so dark that by crawl.
ing on the ground 80 that the sentinel
could not see my silhouette | might
move toward him, possibly reaching
him when his back was turned, and
pinion his arms, holding him while
Owen mnde dash for liberty, or.
having n knife / might dispatch him
silently But Owen was averse TO
blood splitting.
"HoldT he whispered. There's
another man"
Two men on guard met, chatted for
awhile, then turned their backs and
walked away from ench other.
"Now's our chance" said Owen.
"Let US steal between them"
We advanced on tlptoe, and before
the two men came together again we
had got beyond them and, making n
detour, struck the road hundred
yards from them. We walked I'll
daylight, when we hired team TO
take me TO Frascati. Mr.. Owen 10
Rome.
He had been held for $4,000 ran
som, and the day before his release
his family had received message
from the bandits stnting that n the
money was not forthcoming within
two days he would be killed. Their
surprise and delight at seeing him
a..