Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-22

| laborers, Nelson patched the roads
until he felt that he could use the full
power Of his heavy motor in travers-
! ing them II it became necessary to
tax Its speed. He had promised Mr..
Bryan to remain in an advisory ca
pacity as the vice president of his
mills. and to keep this promise he
stretched from pine to pine a private
telephone wire between his castle and
[ the office and home of the mill presi-
dent
He started his hermit life with two
things before him besides his work
as a mechanical inventor. One was to
wait the coming of Bill Hawkins. to
whom he would intrust the task of
seeking in the underworld the mur-
derer of the watchman of the West
End bank In New York. The other
was to prepare himself to face the
/ day. shor!d it ever come. when a man
| from Mulberry street would confront
him and charge him with being James
Montgomery.
He told himself that he would never
be taken back to 1t alive. His good.
capable, we'll ordered brain had
mapped out careful course. Should
the bloOdhounds of the law come
upon him in this place he had built for
final refuge he would make his fight
to pass them.
During his visits to Greenville he
cashed checks paid him for royalties
on his inventions until he secured
| $4,000 in certificates of denominations
he could use anywhere.
Each morning he passed through the
door to the attic stairs and locked it
behind him. For an hour he worked
with the weights and bars. changing
! his measurements slowly, but surely.
The fraction of an inch in the length
of arm or leg would discredit the Ber-
tilon record made of him and filed in
the bureau of Identification at police
headquarters in New York. He gave
many an hour of agony to achieve this.
and his face was chaIky white when
he left the attic and locked its door
behind him each day.
With the anxiety and the hard work
in his laboratory touch of gray came
to his hair and beard. He looked a
man of forty-fve. save when he
smiled. but the purity and goodness of
his nature shone forth in his coun-
tenance.
More money came to him as the for
egn rights of his inventions were dis
posed OF. and he cast about him for an
opportunity to put it in use for others.
He employed as many of the sturdy
mountaineers as he could in road work.
paying them good wages. He patched
their cabins, provided medicines for
their sick. and blankets and stout
clothes for the women and the chill
dren
The scattered families of these poor
people looked up to him with mingled
wonder and gratitude. When time rid
them of their childlike timidity they
came to know him and to love him.
There is no statute of limitations
for an escaped convict. He is always
legitimate quarry.
Nearly ten years had passed since
James Montgomery was brought be-
fore the desk of Inspector Ranscombe
at police headquarters in Mulberry
street. There had been changes at
headquarters in that time. The ad-
ministration of the city was in other
hands The police department bad
gone through the throes of more than
one shakeup. and there had been sew
era! police commissioners
Ranscombe had been relieved of his
important post as the chief of the
city's little army of plain clothes men.
but he had played the game of depart
ment politics well and had won his
way back to the central office.
On his return he found Detective
Lieutenant Mike Kearney. stolid. emo
tionleSs. waiting for an assignment 20
case, as usual. The Inspector knew
his value and had him promoted TO
the grade of captain He assigned
Kearney to take charge of the homi-
eide squad The men under Kearney
were the pick of the 700 and more de.
tectives of the department
Kearney started ont in his new post
with slate clean. save for one in
scription-the number CO. 10S He felt
that he was being cheated every day
that the escaped convict enjoyed life
outside Of Sing Sings walls.
Had Montgomery been a thief. a
forger or bigamist he could have
turned the matter over to his inspector
as case still pending. But he had
been convicted of murder. and his
case properly belonged in the homicide
bureau
Gradually Kearney got the affairs of
the bureau working to suit him. and he
could pause and give some study to
the Montgomery matter His mind
turned from the evil corners of the
metropolis to the walled city up the
Hudson. Time had changed the prison
STATS throughout the state. There was
a new superintendent OF prisons and
new warden at Sing Sing.
Kearney called up the new warden
and asked for nm appointment the nex.
time be came to the city. The warden
was even then about to start for town.
and he would drop in ut headquarters.
Within two hours the guardian OF