Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1912-09-10

| llDESESSEu NY Dul q sinai tillA'PiAtS 80
these degenerate times, must GER
Etainly have succumbed. For, as l
learned later, I had inhaled enough
carbon monoxide gas to have killed
the average man Of my age, twice
over. The stove on which the caui-
dron Of peanuts steamed was char
coal furnace, and the tiny space within
! that back room was inpregnatcd with
the heavy poisoned fumes to a dis
lance of four feet and more above the
floor.
Sitting on low stool, bent for
ward over my sprained ankle, which
For relief l had raised and rested
across my other knee, I had come in
contact with the deadly gas, breathing
| It without suspicion, until drowsiness
interviewed and stupor, insensibility.
and eventually coma followed.
It is customary, I understand, to en-
ploy rigorous treatment in such cases
to effect resuscitation. If ] am to BE-
lieve what have been told of my con.
dition when discovered, l was very far
on the way to dissolution. was, in
fact, moribund, and in the eyes OF
those who carried me from the cellar
to an upper room ! was already dead.
It is perhaps needless to add that no
steps were taken to revive me. Even
| had l been regarded as still living |
doubt that should have received any
other treatment.
! Providence, however, favored me.
was thrown into bunk under one OF
the few open windows of Chinatown,
and door left ajar, by accident, prob
ably. drew across me q current of COM
paratively pure oxygen. Thus invited,
nature reasserted itself, and respira-
ton, which had been temporarily
suspended, gradually resumed its Of
| fee.
With dawning consciousness came
acute discomfort. My head and back
ached. nigh unbearably, and my ankle,
swollen to twice its normal size, shot
pains to my thigh. My tongue seemed
too large for my mouth and my throat
was raw. Later, memory started o
train of questions and eurmises. A
| half light admitted through the open
window gave unsatisfactory answer as
to time and place. 1t might be dawn,
| midday or evening. | might still be in
| the same building into the basement
| of which | had plunged after the So
| called Peter Johnson, or l might be
| miles away Yet Of one fact ! was
| assured. 1t was no longer night. Day
| had come again and eight hours at
least must have passed since | stood
killing time on the sidewalk in front
of the restaurant in which | was TO
| have met Yup Sing
And, as my mind cleared there
rushed in upon me recollection OF
| EVelyn's apprehension and of my
| promise to reassure her not later than
eleven o'clock Suffering as l was,
| physically, | know my mental distress
| at thought Of how she must have
waited with growing solicitude hour
after hour for that expected ringing of
the telephone bell; how, indeed, she
must, even now, be dstraught, not by
uncertainty, but by the conviction that
| some ill-sonTe serious ill-had befal-
len me, was more poignant.
In my eagerness to relieve at once
| this unrest which / knew to be hers
| | would have risen, but my strength
was not equal to the test. My muscles
| refused to obey my will and l lay SUI
pine, inert, powerless. / would have
learned the time, but to seek my
| watch, which | fondly fancied was
still in my pocket, seemed such an
| enormous eXertion that ! reluctantly
gave over the idea. To breathe to
draw air into my lungs and expel 1t,
was prodiglous labor, wearying ME, it
| appeared, to exhaustion; though with
every inhalation lucidity of thought
| and, | suppose, physical force as well,
were being imperceptibly augmented.
After time found myself listen
Ing intently for sounds that might
| prove informatory, while with head
slightly turned | made scrupulous in
ventory of the room in which | was
| cTbbed. 1t was a cramped, confined
| place, upholstered, and furnished with
four rough board hunks, one of which
| occupied. The other three were
empty; but in the scant passageway
between my resting pace and that op-
posite was stool, and upon the stool
the pipe and other paraphernalia pc
culiar to opium smoking.
Then, very slowly, there came to me
a realization of the vulpine cunning of
these orientals into whose hands had
| fallen. ! was to be found here, dead,
not from inhalation of foul air in an
in-yentilated cellar, which might en-
cite suspicion and provoke inquiry
BIT. from cvorindulSence in opium, to
which | had probably been addicted
for years, unknown even TO my closest
friends. For the hop flend" there is
small sympathy, no matter what his
position, and my family would hest
tate, therefore, to prosecute, prefer
ring to avoid unpleasant publicity.
Yes; it was very clear they had
thought me dead, and so had left me
here unmatched and unattended with
the evidence of my mode of passing
Electrically displayed beside me. It
only remained now for some employe
or visitor TO IfcpOver mo ond oi,o tho