The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-01-22
CHAPTER VII.
THE PHANTOM OF THE FUTURE

great crowd was assembled before
the bulletin board in Times square. 1t
was a remarkably serious looking
crowd, too There was much dubious
shaking of heads and Struggling Ut
shoulders 1t was not a baseball
crowd, not an aggregation of sports
awaiting the results at the far of
race tracks.
What do you know about that?'
Give me a boat that floats on top
of the water!'
Take it from me, some one got
fresh with the torpedo tube. We're not
at war with anyone"
But what's this ray business!
never heard of anything like that be-
FORE
Standardized in between a bulletin
announcing a German check in Poland
and another telling of the French be-
ing repulsed at Dixmude were a few
lines which stirred all America for
fortnight The news was three days
old, because the government had not
seen fit to disclose the catastrophe to
the public until they had located the
cause. A submarine had been blown
up in the bay There had been no sign
of either mine or torpedo, as one OF
the surviving officers took OATH They
had been skimming along with only
half speed when suddenly one of the
engineers complained of suffocation,
complained that he had touched the
port side with his hand and burned it
badly The commanding officer sig
nailed to the engine room to stop The
order had hardly been given when the
explosion occurred All but five oil
the crew were killed. 1t was a mighty
serious business to the United States
government 1t might have been pure
ly accidental; it might have been done
with sinister motives. The naval de-
partment was, in the parlance of the
day, up in the air.
Subsequent investigation showed
chat dhe port side near the torpedo
Overwhelmingly loaded for target
practice--had been melted, absolutely
9lelted, after the manner of metal
exposed to some terrific heat. And al
-<his with the plates protected by the
water! An agency that had been cap.
able gN Ssading a heat ray through
water This bit of news not only
aroused the United States, but set war
ring Europe by the ears. Secret ser
vice agents from Germany and Russit
came to New York, with millions t
their credit. But neither they nor the
home secret service could find on
anything. You cannot track the COINS
COR coming of the wind; you canno
follow an ocean ripple
In an interview the secretary OF wa
declared that the government had no
been approached by an inventor Of
heat ray All they could do was t
wait and see il the magician ha'
struck accidentally and experimental
or with deadly intent
For three days the newspapers raj
scare heads, but nothing further de
veloped The foreign agents waste
their gold and the home agents thei
time.
Then came the blowing up of one c
the I. p. Starr GOLFERS, or rather tn
sinking. The plates showed the sam
terrible agency which had destroye
the submarine. But this time thel
seemed a slight clew. The Starr pei
nile were on a strike, and it was d.
,luced that some personal enemy hs
destroyed the collier. A collier hf
been anchored in the vicinity Of Il
s,,N-narsne. and it seemed quite pc
sible that the inventor had thrown h
rine bad had the misfortune to pa
in between.
Immediately the government q
nounced that 1t had received col
1nunication from the inventor, stati
that he deplored the fatal accident
the submarine. 1t was postmark
Jersey City. The secret agents we
over that city as with fine con
Nothing was found. The leaders Of
starr strike were persistently shade
ed. but nothing came of this endeav
II was even ascertained that the str
ers were as deeply mystified as
one.
John Storm was the attorney Tor
Starr company. On the day aiter !
esrrin0 If the collier he received
rnte--fvnewritten and postmarh
poston-that the collier had been su
accidentally. Immediately ne We