Bisbee daily review., 1914-10-07

Copyright 1913. by Lit Nelson's castle in the Dark Corner took shape rapidly. It rose two and a half stories above a basement of rock. From the upper windows he was given a clear view of every point of the circle where sky and earth met Tlk outside was painted a neutral color. so that only a keen pair of eyes at a distance would have picked out the habitation amid the surrounding shade trees
 The high basement was planned for kitchen. servants and storage purposes. The first floor was arranged for his workshop, the floor above for his living quarters. and the top of half story was to remain closed against every human hand save that of Nelson.
 There was gossip among the machiu- fists and laborers who uncrated the masses of steel and iron that had been hauled over the mountain roads. for among the things that were not depos- tied on the laboratory floor were cer- tain weights with leather clasps about the thickness Of a mans ankle. There were also iron bars and affairs of rope and polished wood that looked like trapezes and gymnastc apparatus used in the circus. These things were placed at the foot of the stairs leading to the attic. There was a heavy lock to the door, and the master of the strange mountain castle never parted with the key
 A small electric plant was installed to provide power for his shop and lighting
 Built against one side of the castle was a cement garage, in which was kept a motor of powerful build and fn- est engines. It had been constructed especially to stand the strain of broken mountain roads and carried a huge gasoline tank and a place for provi- sions.
 The garage could be entered from the castle by means of door of masked design which showed neither casing nor knob. A hidden spring opened and closed it.
 As if seeking to get all the sunlight possible, the house that John Nelson built was of many windows, and each was in the deep French style. Every window was, in fact, a door 1t was a house of many exits
 In a separate clearing Nelson built a house for his servants and installed in it a negro. his wife and his strapping black son. He gave this family piece of land to till and provided them with light and fuel and wages.
 Furniture, bedding, equipment in abundance for his workshop and stores were taken within the castle, and the last of the workmen departed.
 Employing the mountain people as Iaborers, Nelson patched the roads until he felt that he could use the full power of his heavy motor in trayers- ing them if 1t became necessary to tax its speed. He had promised MT. 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 private telephone wire between his castle and the office and home of the mill presf 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 tho day. should 1t ever come, when 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. well ordered brain had mapped out n careful course. Should the bloodhounds of the law come upon him in this place he had built fol final refuge he would make his hght to pass them.
 During his visits to Greenyille h' cashed checks paid him for royalties on his inventions until he secured S1OOOO in certificates of denominations he could use anywhere
 Finch morning he pnssed through th' door to the attic stairs and locked | behind him. For an hour he worked with tho weights and bars, changing his measurements slowly but surely The fraction of an inch in the lengtl of arm or leg would dlscredit the Der tlllon record made of him and filed iI the bureau of Identification at polic headquarters in New York. He gay' many an hour of agony to achieve this and bis face was chalky white wheI he left the attic and locked is doc behind him esch day.
 With the anxiety and the hard WON in his laboratory touch of gray cam to his hair and beard. He looked man of forty five. save when h smiled. but the purity and goodness O his nature shone forth in his com tenauce.
 More money came to him as the foi eien rights of his inventions were di' posed of, and he cast about him for a