Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-21

AT hrSt the Scheme seemed vision
ary, but careful study of 1t convinced
him that 1t was not only a plausible
plan. but the safest be could devise.
He would buy a number of acres and
His determination to devote all his
energies to invention for number of
years was logical and would furnish
the necessary explanation.
In the spring. while the snow still
lay upon the ground In shady places.
Nelson attacked the wilderness with
a gang of workmen. He had bought
500 acres in the Dark Corner. Here
he lived in a shanty with his workers.
as they made clearing and he direct
ed the blasting and cutting of rock
from the unscarred sides of the noun
tains for his foundations.
When his castle in the Dark Corner
neared completion he journeyed back
to Greenville, arriving there in the
night He timed himself so that he
caught an express train north. In
distant city the next day be wrote
and inclosed with a dollar certificate
this personal, addressed to the business
Office of the Herald in New York:
"Bill-Greenville-19
The number 10 meant the nineteenth
letter of the alphabet. "S," and the
number meant the third letter. &c"
OF all the men in the world there
was but one that he felt he could
surely trust, one that fully believed
him, one that would come and help
him, and this man with the succor he
called for now was a convict
Nelson's castle in the Dark Corner
took shape rapidly. 1t 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
The 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 machin-
lists 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-
ited on the laboratory floor were Ger.
tain weights with leather clasps about
the thickness Of mans ankle. There
were also iron bars and affairs of rope
and polished wood that looked like
trapezes and gymnastic apparatus used
in the circus. These things were placed
at the foot of the stairs leading to the
attic. There was heavy lock to the
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 cement garage. In which was
kept a motor of powerful build and fin
est engines. 1t had been constructed
especially to stand the strain of broken
mountain roads and carried a huge
gasoline tank and a place for provi-
Bions.
The garage could be entered from the
castle by means of a 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, door. 1t was a
house of many exits.
In separate clearing Nelson built
house for his servants and installed in
1t 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.
To be Continued