Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-07-05

Having reached his knees he found
himself unable to rise further. His
legs, helpless from the knee down, af-
forded Kim no purchase whereby he
might raise himself to his feet and
reach the telephone.
And then he realized that, even
could he do SO, his bound hands would
prevent him from taking the receiver
from the hook, his gag would prevent
him from speaking. And then the
bell of the telephone stopped ringing.
A cruel silence filled the room. With
q groan of despair Dumas toppled
over backward and fell among the
debris which had crashed from the
table.
For long time he lay upon the
floor. 1t seemed useless to attempt to
struggle further. Looking up, he saw
Mile. Mercier was making violent but
Intellectual efforts to scream.
Her face was livid, her eyes wide
and staring, yet because of the gag in
her mouth she succeeded in making
only a series of pitiful sounds, like
those of some tortured animal. They
could not possibly have been audible
beyond the confines Of the room.
The odor of the gas had now be-
come so strong as to be suffocating.
Dumas was conscious of a tingling
sensation, as though an electric cur
rent were passing through his brain.
Tiny yellow sparks, like bits of fire,
shot through his eyes. His throat felt
dry and burning hot His head SEEM
ed to have swelled to an enormous
size, and yet to be contracted by
ring of steel, which bit cruelty into
his flesh.
1t was with the greatest difficulty
that he now managed to breathe. His
pulse became quicker-his respiration
more frequent as he strove to draw
into his lungs sufficient oxygen to
maintain life. He turned his head SO
as to get view of Mile. Mercier's
face, and to his horror saw that she
had become unconscious.
The sight of another dying before
his eyes affected him more terribly
than even the knowledge of his own
approaching end.
A feeling of desperation seized him;
he writhed about on the floor, con-
torting his body in almost super
human efforts to break his bonds. And
still they held.
In his struggles he presently real
lied that he had struck his hand
against the sharp edge of piece of
the broken glass bowl. A sudden
sense of pain and the sight of the
blood flowing from a small cut on the
back OF his hand reused his reeling
senses. If the glass would cut him so
readily, why not the cord which
bound him?
He forced his wrists against the
edge of broken glass and began to
saw them back and forth, pressing
| downward with all his strength.
| The result was immediate - com.
| plete. The raZorlike edge of the
broken glass cut through the chords
as though they had been putty. He
tore his arms apart and found them
| free.
The gas by now had almost over.
come him. Every muscular effort
| seemed to require all the remaining
| strength in his body. 1t seemed to
| take hours to move his hands his
| wrists.
With what appeared to him in
| credible slowness, he reached out and
grasped fragment os the broken
bowl, at the same time rising to q
| sitting position.
Slowly and painfully he pressed
the edge of the glass against the rope
| which encircled his ankles. He was
| fighting with all his remaining
strength for consciousness. Almost
for moment it seemed that he would
be unable to accomplish his task.
Then, as though through a fiery
blue haze, he saw the rope begin to
yield. The strands of it, severed by
the sharp bit of glass, curled up and
gave way. The piece of the bowl
dropped from his nerveless fingers.
He sank upon the floor free.
| And yet this freedom came almost
too late The effort he had made in
severing his bonds hal taken his last
| particle of strength. His head rested
upon the carpet, his eyes closed.
Some tiny current of fresh air, cir
culating along the surface of the floor,
revived him. The lighter gas rose to
the upper parts of the room; there re
manned narrow stratum of atmos-
phere close to the floor which still
contained breath of life-giving
oxygen.
His muscles responded almost auto
matically to the impulse which clung
in his inert brain. He staggered to his
feet, reeled across the room, and tore
open one of the front windows.
A cool night wind from the south
swept across the sill, giving him re.
newed strength. Gasping for life, he
stumbled to the center of the room,
shut off the escaping gas, then grasp
ed the dying girl in his arms and