Year: 1872

with this notion, but suddenly the idea of my
possible escape seemed to come before him,
and he exclaimed:


"No; that would only waste time, and delay
the bloody sacrifice" and he glanced iendish-
ly upon me- and then at the open knife; "no.
When all is over I will carry your body
down. and then see if the attraction of the
head and the influence of the stars will attract
it in an upward direction. No, you shall
never leave this place in the body. But l
must 20 myself for your friend and the wire
they are necessary Help me-"


So saying, he pointed to long bench which
ran all along one side of the room. By his
direction and assistance tugged it toward the
door.


"That BENCH" he said, "is stronger than
any lock. Once, when lost the key, l used
it for fastening the door. Now, as soon as
have locked you in, you plant the bench
against the door, and then, if you do it prop
erly, no power on earth can open it again"


My heart leaped within me, for I saw at
glance that the door opened inward.


My joy at the discovery was so great that
he certainly must have perceived it, had lnot
turned away to hide my face. He then took
a large hammer and few long nails, and pro-
ceeded to nail up the window most securely.
This was not altog gether according to my views,
but my courage returned when, carefully
placing the long knife in his breast pocket, he
said:


"That clock is a good deal fast, but you
have still about five minutes to live. Wait
here, till I return


He then took out the knife once more, tried
its edge, looked at me with fearful express
sion Of ferocity, returned it to his pocket, and
then, with 6endish laugh, left the room,
double locking the door.


With all the cunning of madness, it is really
wonderful how he overlooked the obvious fact
of the door opening inwardly. No sooner
had be fastened it, however, than he cried
from the outside:


"You are safe-yes, safe Throw the two
bolts, and put the bench to the door,"


You can imagine that did so with the
speed of lightning. The door was secure. l
was, as he said, safe. On my knees I offered
up few words of heartfelt thanksgiving to
God, and was about to begin further action,
for I thought he had gone, when heard him
laughing loudly outside, and repeating:


No power on earth, no devil-no, only the
influence of the stars could open that door
now. The victim of destiny cannot escape"


That same instant heard him fitting the
key to the door. He had forgotten something ;
but though he turned the lock, the door, of
course, did not open. The whole truth seemed
now, for the first time, to flash like lightning
upon his mind. He was perfectly wild, and
raging with fury.


"Open, open, say! I commando" he cried,
at the highest pitch of bis voice, while, like
savage beast in its cage, he threw himself with
all his force against the frail door. The up
per bolt flew off with his violence, but as he
had himself said, the bench, which reached
the middle of the door, was stronger than any
lock. The door was impregnable. With the
quickness of thought drove few Of the
nails which he had left into the framework of
the door, and thus doubly secured my position.
The next thing was to raise an alarm. 1t was
impossible fer me to open the window, so with
the hammer I broke several panes and the
framework, and then shouted aloud. Strange
to say, when wanted, policeman auas at hand.
I called to him, and explained as we'll as l
could my position. A mob began to assem-
BILE, as matter of course, and in few mo-
ments strong body of police were in posses.
sion of the house. Meanwhile the wretched
lunatic was raging and disappearing in an
awful fashion When he saw the police, he
drew his knife and rushed upon them. For.
tunately they were prepared, and only one of
them received slight wound in the arm.
The madman was soon overpowered and Sc
cured, although not without desperate and
almostsuperhuman struggle. I then removed
the bench from the door, The police pushed
from without. The long nails gave way, and
1 was free! I shall never forget that adven.
ture. The madman was shortly after confined
in an asylum from which he had cunningly
contrived to escape, few weeks before.