Pittston Gazette

              *~n TO NO? Vti } Oldest Newspaper in the Wvoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE €0., PA., FRIDAY. M aRl H 12, 1897. * Weekly Local and Family journal. ("'.'S lEv'IS' quence, they seem to fancy that literature is the chief ooncern and end of man's being. As a matter of fact literature is to life what a dog's tail is to his body—a very valuable appendage, but the dog must wag the tail, not the tail the dog, as some of these gentry would have us to believe. The dog could at a pinch make shift to do without the tail, but the tail could under no circumstances do without the dog. ticket oolibcioii k u-D liutiiv u * ■ should instantly be communicated with. "That this glorious consummation oan be attained all at onoe the federation is not so sanguine as to expeot. Its members know that though thoy have a lever strong enough to move the world they must be oontent to work slowly. Mankind is a chained giant Their aim is to set him free. But to do this they must be oontent to knook off his fetters one by one, and at the last meeting of the World Federation of Freedom it was unanimously agreed to inaugurate (he great struggle for personal liberty. Daily Reoord, whioh had from the first given exceptional prominenoe to everything connected with the outrages, issued a special supplement, in which, in a letter to the people of England, the editor said that in view of the infamous conspiracy whioh had been formed against the welfare of the British empire and against the lives of British citizens, the proprietors of The Daily Reoord had some months ago decided to bring all their resources, capital and energy to bear upon the disoovery of the promoters of the conspiracy. In the oarrying out of this investigation the services of the very ablest English and foreign deteotives had been engaged, their instructions being that, so long as absolute secrecy was observed and ultimate success attained, the question of expense was to remain entirely unconsidered. As aresult, he was now able to supply the names and, in three cases, personal descriptions and portraits of seven men who wore beyond all question the leaders of the movement, and one of whom, though which be regretted he was at present unable to say, the notorious Captain Shannon himself. The proprietors of The Reoord bad not intended, he said, to make known their discoveries until tbe investigation had reached a more forward and satisfactory stage, but in view of what had recently ooourred they bad decided that it would not be right to withhold any information which might assist in bringing the perpetrators of the diabolical outrage to justioe. In conclusion he announoed that the proprietors of The Daily Record were prepared to offer the following rewards:The Incident had, however, been severely commented on as "sensation mongerlng" by the morning papers (badly in want of a sensation themselves) and was now praotically closed, so that the alliterative artist of The Morning Advertiser's placards had nothing better upon whioh to exercise his ingenuity than a "Gouflict Among County Councilors," and The Daily Chronicle's most exciting contents were a poem by Mr. Richard le Gallienne and a letter from Mr. Bernard Shaw. Nor was anything doing in the aristocratio world. Not a single duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron was appearing as respondent or corespondent in a divorce case or as actor in any turf or sooiety scandal, and there was a widespread feeling that the aristocracy as a whole was not doing its duty to the country. through tbe crowd, 1 succeeded at last in getting within a yard or two of a newsboy, and by offering him a shilling and telling him not to mind the change, possessed myself of a Sun. This is what I road at tbe top of the center page: ever more siacx in ms service, ananuaily will shake off his allegianoe and cease to do your bidding at all. "Why, if you was to know, sir," said the collector, " 'ow many short,' dark, respectable' gents whirt 'appans to be lame have been took up lately on suspicion you'd larf, you would. It's bad enough to be lame at hany time, but when you're going to be harrested for a hanarchist as well it makes your life a perfect misery, it do." Hence, as I have said, I never allow injself to forget, though when I stumble upon a stubborn matter I go like a dog with a thorn in his foot till the thing be found. Such a matter was it to remember where and when I had seen tbe face that so reminded me of Captain Shannon. Day after day went by and yet, oudgel my brains as I would, I could get no nearer to tracing the connection, and but for sheer obstinacy had pitched the whole concern out of my mind and gone about my business. Sometimes I was nigh persuaded that the thing I sought was sentient and alive and was dodging me of pure deviltry and set purpose. Once it tweaked me, as it were, by the ear, as if to whisper therein the words I was wanting. But when I turned to attend it, lo, it was gone at a bound and was making months at me round a corner! It seemed as if—as sportsmen tell us of the fox— the creature rather enjoyed being hunted than otherwise, and entered into the sport with as much zest as the sportsman. Sometimes it cast in my way a color, a sound or an odor (Inotioed that when X Junelled tobaceo I seemed, as tfcfe children say, to be getting "warmer") which set me off again in wild pursuit and with some promise of success. And then when I had for the fiftieth time abandoned tbe profitless chase, and, so to speak, returned home and shut myself up within my own walls, it doubled back to give a runaway knock at my door, only to mock me when I rushed out by the flutter of a garment in the act of vanishing. "The editor of the Dublin News was stabbed in the street at an early hour this morning. The murderer was captured and has now turned informer. The police refuse to give any information in regard to what has been divulged, but there is no doubt that Captain Shannon's name and identity have at last been disclosed, and that the whole hideous conspiracy is now laid bare. Further particulars in our next edition." You may screw a pencil into one end of a pair of compasses and draw as many circles of different sizes as you please, but it is from the other end that you must take your centers, and what the pivot end is to the pencil life must be to literature. CHAPTER VII. "The council of the federation has two reasons for deciding to oommenoe the plan of campaign by freeing Ireland. MY FIRST MEETING WITH JAMES MULLEN. And now it is high time that I told the reader something more about the circumstanoes under which I bad seen James Mullen and why I was so positive that be and the man in whose company I had traveled down to Southend were one and the same person. COPYRIGHT 1896- BY DOOO MEAD AND COMfWKY. "The first is that the members know well that the greatest enemy with whioh they have to oontend—the last country to be convinoed of the righteousness of their cause—will be Engl and. that prince ridden, priest ridden, peer ridden nation of flunkies and enemies of freedom, which shed the blood of her own children in America rather than grant them their rightful independence and now seeks in a similar way to keep Ireland, India, Canada and Anstralia under her cruel heel. At England, then, it is right and fitting the first blow shonld be ■track. CHAPTER L who m "captain shannon?" tion when there occurred the most awrui explosion of the sort within the memory of man. The passengers, as well as the guard, driver and stoker, not only of the train in whioh the explosion took place, but also of a train whioh was proceeding in the opposite direction and happened to be passing at the time, were killed to a man, with the exception of one of Smith's bookstall boys, whose escape seemed almost miraculous. Every soul ir the station—ticket collectors, porters, station master and the unfortunate people who were waiting on the platform—shared the same fate. CHAPTER V. Hence it is my habit every now and then to put away from me all that is conneoted with books and the making of books, and to seek only to live my life and to possess my own soul and this wonderful world about us. THE IDENTITY OF CAPTAIN SHANNON DIS- The year 18— will be memorable for the perpetration in England and in Ireland at a aeries of iufamously diabolical Outrages. On the scene of each crime was found, sometimes scrawled in plain rough capitals upon a piece of paper which waa pinned to the body of a victim, sometimes rudely chalked in the same lettering upon a door or wall, this inscription: "By order. Captain Shannon." CLOSED AT LAST. Aa a matter at faot, on* among many results of the sudden cessation, three months since, of every sort of anarchistic) outrage had been that the daily papers coald not seem other than flat reading to a publio which had previously opened these same prints each morning with apprehension aud anxiety. Though the vigorous action taken by the editor of The Daily Jlecord in London and of the Dublin News in Dublin had not, as bad been expected, led to the arrest of Captain Shannon or his colleagues, it bad apparently so alarmed the conspirators as to oanse them to abandon their plan of oatnpaign. The general opinion was that Captain Shannon, finding so much was known and that, though his own identity had not been fixed, the personality of the leaden of the conspiracy was no longer a secret, had deemed it advisable to flee Che oountry lest the offer of so large a reward as £35,000 should tempt the cupidity of some of his oolleagues. And ts it always had been believed that he was the prime souroe aud author of the whole diabolical conspiracy, the oessation of the outrages was regarded as a uatural consequence of bis defalcation. The news that tbe captured conspirator had turned informer and divulged the name and identity of Captain Shannon created, as may be supposed, the wildest exoitement. Contrary to general expectation the authorities seemed willing to accord information instead of withholding it, though whether this was not as much due to gratification at finding themselves in the novel position of having any information to accord as to their desire to allay publio anxiety may be questioned. Firstly, it must be remembered that I sat opposite to my traveling companion for more than an hour, during which time I had watched him narrowly, and, secondly, that there are some faces which, once seen, one never forgets. Such a face was the face of the man I had seen on that eventful journey. His eyes were bright, prominent and had heavy lids. His complexion was clear and pale, and hie nose wan well shaped, though a little too pronotancetily aquiline. The nostrils were very unusual, beiDg thin and pinched, but arching upward so curiously that one might almost fancy a part of the dilatable cuticle on eaoh aide bad been cut away. The finely molded chin was like the upper lip and cheek, clean shaven, and the lips were full and voluptuous. Thick but fine and straight straw colored hair was carefully brushed over a well formed forehead, aud the face, taken altogether, was deoidedly distinguished if not aristocratic in the firmness of outline and the shaping of the features. At tfafi particular date of which I am writing the restlessness which is so often associated with the literary temperament was upon me. I craved change, excitement and adventures, and these the .following np of the claw which I held to the identity of Captain Shan ncnpromised fir abrmdanoe. "Vbo Captain Shannon wh the police "The other reason is that Ireland, whfn she is once set free and in the bauds of the federation, is to be made the basis at future operations. It is very necessary that the federation should have somesuoh headquarters, and in regard to size—too large a center is not desirable—shape, situation and oompaotness, Ireland possesses peculiar natural advantages for the purpose. An island, surrounded on all sides as by sentries by the sea, no hostile force can steal upon her under cover and unawares. She is practioally the key to Europe, and as a vantage ground from which to oommenoe operations upon England her position oannot be bettered. failed entirely to diaoover, although the ooootiea in whioh the crimes occurred ware won red from end to end, and every person who was known to have been In the neighborhood wm subjected to the ■avereat examination. That some who wen ao examined knew more than they won Id tell there waa reason to believe, bat ao dreaded waa the misoreant'a name and eoewlftand terrible had been tbe fate of tboae who in the past had inonrred bia vengeance that neither offers of reward nor threats of punishment ooold elicit anything bnt dogged dwnlala As everything depended upon the assumption that James MaJlen was, as was stated, Captain Shannon, the first question which I felt it necessary seriously to consider was whether the informer's evidence was to be oredited, and I did not lose sight of the fact that his confessions, so far from being entitled to be regarded as bona fide evidence, were to be received with very grave suspicion. At the best they might be nothing more than the invention of one who had no information to give, but who hoped by means of them either to prevent or at least to stave off for a time the otherwise inevitable death sentence which was hanging oer his head. Nor was this all, for at the moment ■when the outrage oooarred the train was passing under one of the busiest crossings in London—that where New Bridge street, Blackfriars bridge, Queen Victoria street and the Thames embankment converge—and so terrific was the explosion that the space between these oouverging thoroughfares was blown away as a man's hand is blown away by the bursting of a gun. The editor of the Dnblin News had, it seemed, been speaking at a public dinner and was returning between 12 and 1 o'clock from the gathering. As it was a close night and the room had been hot, he mentioned to a friend that he thought be sbonld walk home instead of driving. This he had apparently done, for a police constable who was standing in the shadow of a doorway near the editor's residence saw him turn the oorner of the street, closely followed by another man, who was presumably begging. The editor stopped and pat his hand in his pocket as if to search for a coin and as he did so the supposed beggar struck at him, apparently with a knife. The unfortunate gentleman fell without a cry, and the assassin then stooped over hi 19 to repeat the blow, after which he started to run at fall speed in the direction of the constable, who drew back within the doorway nntil the runner was almost upon him, when he promptly tripped his man ap and held him down until assistance arrived. When taken to the station, the prisoner at first denied, with mnch bluster, all knowledge of the crime, but when he learned, with evident dismay, that the mnrder had been witnessed and saw tbe damning evidence of guilt in the shape of blood spattering npon his right sleeve, his blaster gave place to the most groveling terror, and though he refused to give any aocount of himself he was removed to a oell in a state of complete collapse. First. —Tbey would pay to any person, by means of whose information the capture had been effected, a reward of £3,- 000 per head for the arrest of any of the seven men whose names appeared on the list But I was resolved that not all its freaks sboald avail it ultimately to escape me, for though I had to hunt it through every byway and convolution of my brain I was determined to give myself no rest till I had laid it by the heels, and lay it by the heels I eventually did, as you shall shortly bear. Tbe buildings in the immediate neighborhood, including parts of St. Paul's station on the London, Chatham and Dover railway, tbe offloes over Blackfriars station and De Keyser's hotel ou the opposite side of the way, were wrecked, and the long arm of Blaokfriars bridge lay idly across the river, like a limb which has been radely hacked from a body. Bnt when tbe ' inspirators carried the war into tbe em ny's country and suooessfully aooompiished tbe peculiarly daring crime which Wrecked the police headquarters at New Scotland Yard tbe indignation of the publio knew no bounds. If tbe emissaries of Captain Shannon could snooeed in conveying an Infernal machine into New Sootland Yard Itself, the whole community was, •o it *m argued, at the mercy of n band of murderers. After the train had started Mullen sank back into bis seat and appeared to be thinking intently. I noticed that bis eyes were never still a moment, bnt darted restlessly from object to object in a way wbicb seemed to indicate great brain excitability. That he was excitable was clear from his vehement outburst about the fusee, but almost the next minute be bad, so to speak, made amends for his apparent rudeness by explaining that he was peculiarly sensitive to smell and had an especial dislike to fusees. "Is there a single thinking man or woman who cannot see that monarchy and imperialism, peers, olergy and class distinctions, are doomed, and that their utter downfall is only a matter of time? Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy, France and England are undermined to tbe very oores by socialism and anarchy. Tbe mines which are to destroy society as sooiety now exists are laid, though they are out of sight, and at any moment the opportunity may come to fire tbe train. Buoh an opportunity onoe ooourred in France, but what happened then, though it served to show what hatred of its rulers was seething unsuspected in the lowest stratum of society, was a mere aocident. But, if an accidental outbreak like the Frenoh revolution could set rivers of blood running in France, what may we not expect from the great revolution which, when it oomea, as oome it must, will be the result not of ohanoe, but of long years of systematic propagation of sooialistio principles among the masses? Seoond.—To any person who would give suoh information as would lead to the arrest of Captain Shannon, and at the same time furnish proof of his identity, they would pay a reward of £20, - 000. At the worst it was possible that the pretended queen's evidenoe had been carefully prepared beforehand by Captain Sbaunon and communicated by him to bis agents, to be used in the event of any of them falling into the bands of the police. In that case the statements which might thus be put forward, so far from being of assistance to the authorities, would be deliberately constructed with a view to confuse and mislead. I was thinking of Captain Shannon ind of the suddenness with whioh he ■iad dropped out of publio notice while [ walked up Fleet street on this particular morning. As I passed Tbe Daily Ohronicle buildings and glanced at the placards displayed in the window I •ould not help contrasting in my mind che unimportant occurrences whioh were there in small type set forth with tbe news of the terrible outrage whioh jad leaped to meet the eye from the 4ame window three months sinoe. Just is I approached the office of The Daily Hecord 1 heard the sound of tbe sudden tud hurried flinging open of a door, ind the next moment a man, wild eyed, vhite faced aud hatless, rushed out into ;be road shouting: "MurderI Murder! Poiioe! Murder!" at the top of his voice. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes is of opinion that "memory, imagination, old sentiments and associations are more readily reaohed through the sense of smell than by almost any other channel. " The probable reason for this strange oonneotion between the sense of smell and the mind is, he tells us, "because the olfactory nerve is the only one directly connected with the hemispheres of the brain—the part in whioh we have every reason to believe the in- But it is not my intention to attempt any realistio description of tbe scene or of the awful sights which were witnessed when, after the first paralysing moment of panic wsb over, the search for the injured, the dying and the dead was commenced. The number of lives lost, including those who perished in Blackfriars station, in the two trains, in tbe street and in the surrounding buildings, was enormous. Several columns of the papers next morning were filled with lists of the missing and the dead. One name on tbe list had a terrible significance. It was tbe name of the man to achieve whose murder the lives of so many innocent men and women had been ruthlessly sacrificed, the.name of a man whose remains were never found, but whose funeral pyre was built of the broken bodies of hundreds of his fellow creatures, the name of the chief secretary for Ireland. And in offering these rewards they made no exception in regard to tbe persons who were eligible to claim them. So long as the person olaiming the re ward or rewards had supplied the information which led to tbe arrest or arrests of the individuals indicated, the money should be faithfully paid without question or reservation. Tbe soene in tbe house of commons en tbe night following the outrage was one of great excitement The chief secretary for Ireland declared in a memorable speech that tbe purpose of the crime was to terrorise and to intimidate. No loyal English or Irish citizen would, be was sure, be deterred from doing his duty by such infamous acts, but that they bad to deal with murdersn of tbe most determined type oould Dot be doubted. Tbe whole conspiracy was, in his opinion, tbe work of some half down assassins, who were probably tbe tools of tbe monster calling himself "Captain Shannon," in whose loo fertile brain tbe crimes bad, he believed, originated, and under whose devilishly planned dizeotlons they bad been carried out The one thing which I found it utterly impossible to reooncilewith the theories I bad previously formed about Gaptain Shannon was that the informer should have in his possession a portrait of his chief. Nevertheless the sudden ohange in the expression of his face at tbe moment of tbe outbreak was remarkable. The previously smooth and unpuckered brows gathered themselves together into two diagonal wrinkles that met above tbe noee, which had in tbe meantime become beaklike, and the effeot recalled ia some curious way a bird of prey. He was soon all smiles again, but once or twice throughout tbe journey, when his thoughts were presumably unpleasant, I caught the same expression, and it was the fact of my seeing in tbe photograph this same unmistakable expression on tbe faoe of a man who was apparently a different person which had set me fumbling with such unoertain hand among the dog eared pages of tbe past The eyes, the hawklike wrinkling of the brows and the nose and nostrils were of course the same, but the addition of the beard, the evident swarthiness of tbe skin, and the darkening of the hair led to my failing at first to connect the portrait with my fellow passenger to Southend. But the missing link was no sooner found and the connection established than I felt that the identity of Mullen with the man I had seen in the train admitted of no uncertainty, especially as, after examining under a powerful lens the photograph wbioh the informer had given to the police, I satisfied myself that the beard was false. Needless to say the publication of this letter, with the names, and in three cases with portraits, of the men who were asserted to be the leaders of tbe conspiracy and the offer of such large rewards created a profound sensation not only in England and Ireland, bat in America and on the oontinent Was it likely, I asked myBelf, that so cunning a criminal would, by allowing his portrait to get into tbe possession of bis agents, plaoe himself at the mercy of any scoundrel who, for the sake of an offered reward, would be ready to betray his leader, or of some coward who, on falling into tbe hands of the polioe, might offer to turn queen's evideaoe? Was it not far more likely, on the contrary, that the explanation of Captain Shannon's having so successfully eluded the police and kept the authorities In ignoranoe of his very identity was that he had carefnlly concealed that identity even from bis ow? colleagues? One or two of The Daily Record's contemporaries did not imitate to censure tbe action which ba? been taken as "an advertising dodge, aud a well known Conservative organ deolared that such a direct insult to the authorities was calculated seriously to injure the national prestige of England; that tbe government had made every possible effort to protect society and to bring tbe perpetrators of the recent outrages to book, and that the result of Tbe Record's rash and ill advised prpoedures would be to stultify tbe action of the poiioe and to defeat the ends of justioe. In an instant the restless, harrying iuman streams that ebb and flow oeaaeieasly in the narrow ohannel of Fleet street—like contending rivers running between lofty banks—had surged ap in t huge wave around him. In tbe next a oolioeman, pushing back the crowd «itb his right hand and bis left, bad .'oroed a way to tbe man's aide, inquiring gruffly: "Now, then, what'a up? And where?" The next morning his condition was even more abject. Tbe result of his self communings had apparently been to convince bim that the hangman's hand was already upon him and that his only chance of saving his neck lay in taming informer and throwing himself upon the mercy of the authorities. The wretched creature implored tbe police to believe that be was no assassin by his own ohoice and that the murder would never have been committed had he not gone in fear of his life from the spies and agents of Captain Shannon, whose instructions be dared not disobey. He expressed his readiness to reveal all he knew of the conspiracy and deolared that he was not only aware who Captain Shannon was, but actually had a portrait of the arcbconspirator which he was prepared to hand over to tbe police. He then went on to say that the murder of the editor of tbe Dublin News was to be companioned in London by tbe murder of tbe editor of Tbe Daily Reoord. "There are people who will say thai what happened on the other side of tbe ohannel can never happen on this. But those who know what is going on in London, Manchester, Birmingham and all the largest towns know that we are living on the edge of a voloano; that England is riper for revolution today than Franoe was in 1788, though the danger is as little suspected now as it was then, and that what happened then, and worse, may happen at any time in England unless her councilors have tbe foresight and the wisdom to give to the people what the people will assuredly otherwise take. CHAPTER II CAPTAIN SHANNON'S MAI The polioe had reason to suppose that tbe headquarters of the conspirators were in Ireland, in which country the majority of the crimes—at all events of Ibe earlier crimes—bad been committed.On the day of tbe outrage upon the Metropolitan railway n manifesto from Captain Shannon, of whioh tbe following is a copy, was received by tbe prime minister at his official residenoe in Downing street It was written,as usual, in roughly printed capitals, and as it bore the Dublin postmark of the preceding day must have been posted before the explosion had taken plaoe: "Murder! Tbe editor's Just been (tabbed in his room by Captain Shanion or one of his agents. Don't let any me out The assassin may uot have bad ime to get away," was tbe rejoinder. The more I thought about it the more assured I became that so crafty a man —a man who was not only an artist, but a genius in crime—would trust absolutely no one with a secret that concerned his own safety. On tbe few occasions when be would have to come into personal relation with bis confederates it seemed more than probable to me that he would assume some definite and consistent disguise whioh would mislead even them in regard to his appearance and individuality. He regretted to say, but it was his iuty to say, that but for the disloyal attitude of a section of the Irish people who, from dastardly and contemptible eowardioe or from sympathy with tbe assssslns, had not only withheld the evidence, but had on more than one oca—ion actually sought to hinder the polioe in the execution of their duty, tbe eonspfaratan would long since have been brought to hook. On the other hand, the pnblio generally—especially in view of tbe fact that The Reoord had succeeded in discovering who were the leaders of the conspiracy, whioh the poiioe had apparently failed to do—was inclined to give the editor and the proprietors credit for the patriotism they claimed, and it was confidently believed that the offer of so large a reward would tempt some one to tarn informer and to give op his oonfed "rates to justice. There are no poiioe officers move efficient and prompt to act than thoaa of he city of London, and on thisoooasion .hey acquitted themselves admirably. Other constables had now hurried up, ind at onoe proceeded to clear a space in front of The Record office, forming a iordon on each side of tbe road, and allowing no one to pass in or out "To the People of Great Britain and Ireland: "It must be remembered that in England we have had for more than half a oentury a queen who does not forget that dnring that time a complete revolution has taken place in many previously existing beliefs and systems, a queen who knows that England will never tolerate another George IV, who recognizes that what was patiently borne 60, 40 and 20 years ago will not be endured for a moment today, and has wisely avoided everything which can put royalty on its trial or the temper of the people to the test. Henoe, though Englishmen know that n day of reckoning between royalty and the people Is nigh, they have taoitly consented to pat off that day bo loDg as she lives and to oall upon some other and leas fortunate sovereign to settle the account. But the account, too long overdue, will soon have to be settled. As well might one man hope to stand against an Inooming sea, as well might the oonrtiers of old King Canute think by their chiding to stay the rude waves from wetting the feet of their royal master, as the rich few think that they can withstand the million of the poor when the poor ahall arise in their might and their right to olaim as their own the riches which their labors have accumulated. In whose hands are those rioheB now? "Fellow Oountbymen and Countrywomen—The anarchistic, nihilistic, Fenian and similar movements of the past have all been failures. That faot there is no denying. I do not mean to say that there have been no results to the glorious war which has been waged npon a society whioh is content to stand by heedless and unoonoerned while Russia's many millions of starving and suffering fellow creatures are the slaves of a system by which the honor, liberty and life of every man, woman and ohild are at the mercy of a tyrant's whim and the whims of his myrmidons; a society which looks on smiling while Ireland' is groaning under the heel of English oppression, and while capitalists, who ywn as they seek to devise some new v. on which to squander the wealth wb). ' has become a burden to them, grind wn and sweat the poor, setting one stb. Cng man to compete against another lor a wage whioh can aoaroe find him and his in dry bread. The secretary then went on to denounoe in the strongest language what be called the infamous conduct of the disloyal Irish. He declared, amid ringing cheers, that the man or woman who ■ought to shield snob a monster as Caplain Shannon or to protect him and his confederates from justioe was nothing lav than a murderer in the eyes of God and of man. He informed the house that, although the government bad actually framed several important measures whioh woo Id go far to remove tin grievanoes of whioh Irishmen were oomplaining, he for one would, in view of what had taken place, strenuously Oppose the consideration at that moment of any measures whioh had even the appearance of a oonoession to Irish demands. It was repression, not oonoession, whioh mnst be meted out to traitors and murderers I had three times ui On being asked bow the portrait got into bis possession and wbetber it was a good likeness the informer bad replied that be had only seen Captain Shannon on a single occasion, when ho met bim one night by appointment at Eoston station. The portrait bad been sent borne to him beforehand, so that he might have uo.difficulty in recognizing the person to whom he waa to deliver a certain paokage, and be added that, so far as he could see, it waa an exoellent likeness. A messenger was dispatched in haste (or the nearest doctor, and whan guards had been set at every entrance to, and possible exit from, The Record office two policemen passed within the building to pursue inquiries, and the doors were shut and locked. Among the crowd outside the wildest rumors and speculations were rife. to light mjj cigar. tellectual processes are carried on. To speak more truly," he continues, "the olfaotory nerve is not a nerve at all, but a part of the brain in intimate connection with its anterior lobes. Contrast the sense of taste as a source of suggestive impressions with that of smell. Now the nerve of taste has no immediate connection with the brain proper, but only with the prolongation of the spinal cord." My next step was to set on foot an inquiry into Mullen's family history and antecedents. I hoped, and, in fact, believed, that the clew which I held to his identity would in itself enable me to traoe him, bnt at the same time I fully recognized that circumstances might arise which wonld render that clew useless and throw me back upon such information as oonld be ascertained apart from it That I should not be unprepared for sach a contingency was very necessary, and I therefore commissioned a private detective named Green, whom I knew to be able and trustworthy, to ferret out for me all that could be discovered of Mullen's past. What The Daily Reoard did for England the Duhlin News, which had been consistently loyal throughout and the most fearlessly outspoken of all the Irish press in its denunciation of Gaptain Shannon, did for Ireland. It hailed the proprietors and editor of The Record as patriots, declaring that, in view of the inefficiency which the government had displayed in its efforts to protect the public, it was high time that the publio should bestir itself and take the matter into its own hand. It reprinted —by the permission of The Record—the descriptions and portraits of the "suspects" and distributed them broadcast over the country, and it announced that it would add to the amount which was offered by The Daily Record for information which would lead to the arrest of Captain Shannon the sum of £6,000. On hearing this last startling piece of news the Dublin police wired immediately to New Scotland Yard and to the London office of The Daily Record, but the warning arrived at the latter plaoe a few minutes too late, for when the telegram was taken to the editor's room he was found lying stabbed through the heart. "The editor of The Record had been murdered by Captain Shannon himself, who had come on purpose to wreak vengeanoe for the attitude the paper had taken up in regard to the conspiracy. " Ad alarm was raised, as already described, the doors locked and every ODe within the building subjected to the severest examination, but all that could be discovered was that a well groomed and young looking man, dressed and speaking like a gentleman, had called some ten minutes before, suying that he bad an appointment with the editor. He bad sent up the name of Mr. Hvram B. Todd of Boston, and the editor's reply had been, "Show the gentleman in." Why this unknown stranger was allowed access to an oditor who is generally supposed to be eutirely inaccessible to outsiders there was not a particle of evidence to show. All that was known was that a minute or two before the murder had been discovered the supposed Mr. Todd came out from the editor's room, turning back to nod "Good morning, and thank you very rnocb" at the door, after closing which ho left the building. Curiously enough it was in connection with a scent that I ultimately succeeded in recalling where and under what circumstanoea I had seen the faoe at Some such explanation as this was just what I had expected, for if the portrait were intended, as I supposed, to mislead the police I was sure that Captain Shannon wonld invent some plausible story to account for its being in the possession of one of his colleagues. Otherwise the fact of a man for whose arrest a large reward had been offered having, for no apparent reason, presented his photograph to a fellow conspirator might arouse suspicion of the portrait's genuineness. "The murderer had been caught red banded and was now in custody of the police." whioh I waa in search, and but for the fact of my having smelted a particular odor in a particular plaoe this narrative would never have been written. Having wished him good by and good hick, I started for Southend, whither I intended journeying in the oompany of the little talkative man with whom Mullen had had the brush about the fusees. I thought it more than likely that he was a commercial traveler, partly because of the deferential stress and frequency with which he interpolated the word "Bir" into any remarks be chanced to make, and partly because of the insinuating politeness with which he addressed Mullen and myself—politeness which seemed to suggest that he had aocustomed himself to look upon every one with whom he came into contact as a possible customer, under whose notioe he wonld one day have occasion Jfc brine the excellence of bis wares, u*id with whom, therefore, he was anxious to be on good terms. "The murderer was eonoealed somewhere on tlio premises and had in his possession an infernal machine with which it would be possible to wreck 'ialf Fleet street." Within a month after the delivery of this speech all England was horrified by the news of a crime more wantonly wicked than any outrage which had preceded it, a crime which resulted, as its perpetrators mnst have known it would result, in the wholesale murder of hundreds of inoffensive people, against whom, excepting for the fact that they happened to be law abiding citizens, the followers of Captain Shannon oould bare no grievance. All that was known was that a respectably dressed young man, oarrying what appeared to be about a dozen well worn volumes from Mudie's or some other circulating library, had entered an empty first class carriage at Aldgate station. These books were held together by a strap, as is usual when sending or taking volumes for exchange to the libraries, and it had occurred to no one to ask to examine them, although the officials at railway stations had, in view of the recent outrages, been instructed to challenge every passenger oarrying a suspicious looking parcel. "A society whioh, oalling itself Christian and having it in its power to mend matters, can unconcerned endure suoh iniquities is blood guilty, and, so long as these things last, upon sooiety shall its crimes be visited; with society most all just men and true wage deadly war. I have said that when I smelled tobacco I felt that I was, as the ohildren say, getting "warmer." But unfortunately tobacco in the shape of pipe, cigar or cigarette is in my mouth whenever I have an excuse for the indulgence and often when I have none; henoe, though the face I eonght seemed more than once to loom our at me through tobacco smoke, I had watched too many faces throngh that pleading mist to be able to recall the particular circumstances under whioh I had seen the one in question. Nevertheless it was tobacco which ultimately gave me my clew. This la9t report had the effect of causing a temporary diversion in favor of 'he side streets. CHAPTER IV. THE XUBDKR HI FLEET STREET. Ten a. m. is a comparatively quiet hour in Fleet street The sale of morning papers has practical ly dropped, and as the second edition of those afternoon journals of which no oue ever sees a first has not yet been served out to the clamoring and hustling mob at the distributing centers, no vociferating newsboys, aproned with placards of Sun, News, Echo or Star, have as yet taken possession of the street oorners and pavement curbs. "The murderers had got clean away, and the whole staff of The Record had been arrested on suspicion." These and many other rumors were passed from mouth to mouth and repeated with astonishing variations until the arrival of (he doctor, who was by various well informed persons promptly recognized as and authoritatively pronounced to be Captain Shaw, the chief commissioner of police, the lord mayor and Sir Augustus Harris. That the portrait represented not the real bnt the disguised Captain Shannon [ was equally confident. I thought it more than possible that the man I bad to Ind wonld be the exact opposite of the man who was there portrayed and at 'he informer's description. For instanoe, is the pictured Captain Shannon was evidently dark and was said to be dark ny the informer, the real Captain ShanxDn wonld probably be fair, as the more lissimilar was the real Captain Shannon 'rom the Captain Shannon for whom the police were searching the less likely would they be to find him. "For answer let them look to the words which are written in the very heart of their seething, starving London, over the portico of the Royal Exchange, 'The earth is the Lord'sand the fullness thereof.' Tes, the lords'—this duke's, that earl's—but not God's (if a God there be) or the people's. "What has been done hitherto has not been without results. "Rut for the justice which was executed upon the archtyrant Alexander of Russia, the blow whioh was struok at English tyranny by the destruction of Clerkenwell prison, the righteous punishment which befell those servants of tyrants and enemies of freedom, Burke and Cavendish—but for those and other glorious deeds the bitter cry of the oppressed all over the world had passed unheard and unheeded, Ireland had not wrung from reluctant England the few paltry concessions that have been made, and the dawning of tbe great day of freedom bad been indefinitely postponed. "But it is to restore the earth and tbe fullness thereof to the people that the World Federation of Freedom is fighting. Its cause is the cause of tbe poor, and it is saored. Long years of toiling for the bare Deoessities of life have so broken the spirit of the poor that they have become almost like beasts of burden that wince before a whip in the hands of a ohild and bow themselves to the yoke at the bidding of a master whose puny life they oould orush out at a blow. It is time that the poor should be made to see the terrible power which, if only by virtue of their swarming millions, lies at their oommand. No cry or noise of scuffling bad been beard, but from the fact that the editor was lying face downward over a table upon which papers were generally kept it was supposed that he hud risen from his chair and walked across the room to this table to look for a manuscript or memorandum. To do so be must have turned his back upon the visitor, who had apparently seized the opportunity to stab his victim to the heart and had then left the office just in time to escape detection. The morning was very windy, and I bad three times unsuccessfully essayed to light my cigar with an ordinary match. In despair—for in a general way I hate fusees like poison—I bought a box of vesuvians which an observant and enterprising match vender promptly thrust under my nose. As I struck the vile thing and the pestilent smell assailed my nostrils the scene I was seeking to recall came back to me. I was sitting in a third class smoking carriage on the London, Tilbury and Southend railway, and opposite to me was a little talkative man who had previously lit his pipe with a fusee. I saw him take out the box evidently with the intention of striking another, and then I heard a voice say: "For heaven's sake, sir, don't stink the carriage out again with that filthy thing! Pray, allow me to give yon a matoh." On the morning of whioh I am writing the newspaper world was sadly in want of a sensation. A royal personage had, it is true, put off the crown corruptible for one whioh would press less heavily on his bTow, but he bad, as a pressman phrased it, "given away the entire situation" by allowing himself for a fortnight to be announced as "dying. " This Fleet street resented as inartistic and partaking of the nature of an anticlimax. Better things, it considered, might have been expected from so eminent an individual, and as such a way of making an end was not to be enoouraged, the press had, as a warning to other royal personages, passed by the event as comparatively unimportant. Evory door, window and letter box beoame an object of fearsome ourioeity. People were half Inclined to wonder how they could so many times have passed The Record office without recognizing something of impending tragedy about the building, something of historic interest in the shape of the very window panes and keyholes. One man among tbo crowd attained enviable celebrity by announcing that he "see the editor go up that passage and through that door—the very door where he'd gone through that morning afore he was murdered—scores of times and didn't think notbink of it," whioh last admission seemed to impress the crowd with the fact that here at least was a follow whoee praiseworthy modesty deserved encouragement That he lived at Southend I knew from an observation he bad let fall, and after watohing the barrier at Fenchurch street station for a couple of hours I saw bim enter an empty third olass smoking compartment five minutes before the departure of an evening train. Half a crown slipped into the guard's hand, with a request that he would put me into the same carriage and reserve it, effected the desired result, and when the train moved out of the station the little man and myself had the compartment to ourselves. Then, again, it had been particularly stated by the informer that James Mullen was slightly lame, and to this the police attached the greatest importance. The fact that the man they wanted had in infirmity so easily recognized and so difficult to conoeal was considered to aarrow down the field of their investigations to the smallest compass and to render the fugitive's ultimate capture aothing less than a certainty. "fiat the fact remain*) and cannot be denied that nihilists, anarchists, Fenians and those who nnder different names and different leaders are fighting for freedom throughout the world have up to the present failed to accomplish the results at which they aim. The theory which was afterward pat forward was that what appeared to be • panel of volumes from a circulating library was in reality a case cunningly oorwd with the backs, bindings and edges of books, and that this case contained an infernal machine at the most deadly description. It was supposed that the wretch in charge of it had purposely entered an empty carriage that he night the better carry out bis infamous plan, and that after setting fire to the fuse be had left the train at the next station. The importance of the arrest, which tytH hoon rsiarlo was fn'. Iv iiWS aays alter its occurrence, me name, personal description and portrait of Captain Shannon were posted up on every police station in the kingdom, with the announcement that the government would pay a reward of £5,000 for information which should lead to his arrest "It is for the people of Great Britain to make oboioe whether they will throw in their lot with the winning side while yet there is time to make terms or whether they will sacrifioe their lives and the lives of their wives and children to support a system by the destruction of whioh they will be the first to profit And in makiDg such cijpice it must be remembered that the}, have no loDger against them for the purpose of freeing Ireland and of emancipating Russia a handful of patriots, struggling hopelessly against overwhelming odds, but the whole of the secret societies of the world. They have against them the most gigantic and farreaching organization which has been formed within the history of man, an organization the wealth and power of which aro practically unlimited, which counts among its members statesmen in every court in Europe, statesmen who, although they hold the highest offices of trust in their country's councils, are secretly working in connection with the federation, an organization which has spies and eyes in every place and will spare noither man, woman nor child in tho terrible vougeance which will be visited upon its encmica For myself I was not at all sure that this supposed lameness was not part *nd parcel of Captain Shannon's disguise. A sound man oould easily simulate lameness, bat a lame man oould not so simulate soundness of limb, and I could not help thinking that if Captain Shannon were, as had been assorted, lame, he would have taken oare to conoeal the tact from bis confederates. I knew from what I had heard of my companion's remarks on the occasion when I bad journeyed to Southend with him that, though talkative and inquisitive, he was also shrewd and observant, as men of his occupation generally are, and as it would be necessary to ask him two or three pertinent questions I thought it advisable to let the first advance come from him. That he was already eying me in order to ascertain whether an overture toward sociability was likely to meet with a welcome I oould see. The result was apparently satisfactory, for after an introductory oough he inquired whether I would like the window up or down. "And why? "Because they have been scattered and separate organizations,each working independently of the other and having no resources outside itself. So long as this sort of thing continues nothing can be hoped for but the throwing away of precious lives and sorely needed money to no purpose. It was true, too, that the heir apparent had on the previous evening entered a oarriage on the underground railway as it was on the point of starting, and that the placards of the "special" editions had in consequenoe announced an "Alarming Aocident to the Prince of Wales." which, when H. R. LL had Meanwhile no sign of anything having transpired was to be seen within the building and people were beginning to get impatient when, from somewhere in the neighborhood of the Thames embankment, enme that sound so familiar to cockney ears—a sound which no true Londoner oau hear with indiffcrenco— the hoarse vociferation of the news v.'uders proclaiming some sonBatioual news. At iirst it was nothing but a distant babel, like the husky barking of doga, but as it drew nearer the shouts benaxno more distinguishable, and I caught the words: are, sir I Sun, sir! Murder of a bed it or this morninl 'Ere yer are, sir'" He was, it seemed, the fourth man on The Daily Record's list, his name being James Mullen, an Irish-American, and was described as between 40 and 50 vears of age, short and slightly lama In oomplexion he was stated to be dark, with brown hair and bushy beard, but bis most distinguishable feature was said to be bis eyes, whioh were described as particularly full and fine, with heavy lids. The speaker was sitting directly in front of me, and as I recalled his face while I stood there in the street with the still unlighted cigar between my lips, the open box in one hand and the now burned out fusee arrested half way toward the cigar tip in the other, I knew that bis face was the face of Captain Shannon. If the police could be induoed to believe that the man they wanted was lame, tbey would not, in all probability, be inconveniently suspicions about the movements of a stranger, evidently of sound and equal limb, who might otherwise be called on to give an aooount of himself. That this theory afforded the most likely explanation of what subsequently took place was generally agreed, although one well known authority on explosives expressed himself as of opinion thai bo infernal machine capable of eaosing what bad happened could be ooneealed in so small a compass as that npsted. But it was pointed out in reply that from arrests and discoveries which bad been made in America and on the oontinent it was evident that the manufacture of infernal machines and investigations into the qualities of explosives ware being scientifically and gysteuatioally carried on. Though no connection had as yet been tvaoed between the persons who had been arrested and the perpetrators of the rsoent outrages, the probabilities were that such connection existed, and it was asked whether it might not he possible that some one who was thus engaged in expsrlmaating with explosives had disoovered • new explosive, or a new combination of explosives, whioh was different from and more deadly than anything known to the authorities. Into the probability or improbability of this and other theories whioh were put forward it would be idle here to enter. All that is known is that the train had only Just entered the tunnel imme|» tfca vw* irf pinhfrlirt m r- ' —— " "But let these scattered forces combine into one organized and all powerful federation, and mankind will be at its mercy. 1 it'll m n "This is what has been done. "The World Federation of Freedom is now an accomplished fact, far all the sscret societies of the world have combined into one common and supreme organization, with one common enemy and one common purpose. CHAPTER VL JL& 1 imv 1^23 t-i V —'  I MAKE UP MY MIND TO FIND CAPTAIN Being curious to know what course they were pursuing I made it my business within the next few days to scrape an acquaintance with one of the tioket collectors at Euston. After propitiating him in the usual way by a judicious application of "palm oil" I ventured to put the question whether he had at any time notioed a short, dark, lame man on the platform where the Irish mail started. Always beware on a railway journey, when you wish to be left to the company of your newspaper, of the man who is unduly anxious for your comfort. 'Twere wise to roar him at once into silenoe, for your gentle answer instead of turning away wrath is often too apt to beget it Speak him oivilly, and you deliver yourself bound into bis hands, for you have scaroe made your bow of acknowledgment, sunk back into your place and taken up your paper again, before his tongue is hammering banalities about the weather at the thick end of the wedge he has inserted. Then came the portrait, which, the instant I looked at it, startled me strangely. The faoe as I saw it there was unknown to me, bnt that somewhere and some time iD my life I had seen the faoe—not of some one resembling this man, bnt of the very man himself—I was positive, though nnder what oironmstances I conld not for the life of me remember. I have as a rule an excellent memory, and I attribute this very largely to the fact that I never allow myself to forget. Memory, like the lamp which oame into the possession of Aladdin, oan summon magicians to aid us at oall. Bnf memory is a lamp which must be kept bright by constant usage or it ceases to retain its power. SHANNON. The striking of that fusee was a critical moment in my life, for before the thing had hissed itself into a black and crackling oinder I had decided to follow up the olew which had been so strangely thrown in my way. My prinoipal reason for so deciding was that I wanted a rest—the rest of a change of occupation, not the rest of inaction. I am by profession what George Borrow would have called ".one of the writing fellows." Bnt much as I love my craft and generous and large hearted as I have always fonnd literary men—at all events larire brained literary men—to be I cannot profess much admiration for the fussy folk who seem to imagine that God made oar world and the infinite worlds around it, life and death, heart, with its joys and of immortality, for 110 other reason than that they should hr.ve something to write about "That purpose is to rid mankind of the monsterB of monarchy and imperialism, and with them of the whole vampire brood of peers, nobles and capitalists, who, in order that they may live in idleness and sensuality, grind the faoe of the poor and drain drop by drop the hearts' blood of toiling millions. "That's »mart, that isl" said a fellow who was standing next to me in the orowd. "T. P. O'Connor don't let no grow under his feet, 'e don't. Why, the murdered man ain't 'ardly cold, and 'ere it ia all in The Sunl" A broad grin came over the fellow's face in reply. "Shut yer Jaw," said a woman near him. " 'Tain't this murder at all—oan't yer 'ear?" Aud then as the moving babel like n slnwlv tra\«Hno atnrm. cloud, drew nearer and nearer and finally burst upon Fleat street, we could make out what the news venders were hoarsely vociferating. "Its object is to declare that all things are the property of the people; to wrench from the greedy maw of landowners and oaptalists their ill gotten gains and to restore them to the rightful possessors; to sweep from the face of the earth the fat priests, ministers and clergy who batten and fatten on the carrion of dead and decaying religions; to preach the gospel of the happiness of man in place of the worship of Qod, and to declare the day of the great republic, when the many millions who have hitherto been ruled shall be- "The people of England, and especially of London, will know bofore the morrow how farreaching is the arm of the federation and bow pitiless its vengeance. Let them be warned by what will occur this day on the underground railway, and lot them beware lest by hindering, either actively or passively, the work of the federation, they incur that vongeance. By order. "What! Are they on that lay still?" he said derisively. "I knew you was after something, but I shouldn't have took you for a detective." 1 In the present instance, as the little man sat facing the engine and with the wind blowing directly in his face, whereas I was on the opposite and sheltered side, the window rights were, according to the unwritten laws of the road, entirely at his disposal. But as it suited my purpose to show a friendly front to his advances I protested with Htanv thanks that I had no choice in the I assured him that I was not a detective, and asked him to explain, whereupon he told me that immediately after the publication of the portrait of Captain Shannon instructions had been sent to all railway stations that a keen lookout was to be kept for a short, dark, lame man, whether clean shaven or bearded, and that if a person in any way resembling James Mullen, whose portrait was placed in the hands of The slave sprites serve mortals none too willingly, and if, when you rub the lamp, the attendant sprite come not i readily to your call, aud you, through j indolenoe, allow him to slip back into , the blue, be sure that when next you seek his offloes he will again be mutinous. And if on that occasion you oompelhim notwijl beooipe mqp^and " 'Ere yer are, sirt Hun, sir! Murder of the beditor of the Dubliu News this niornin. Capture of the hunsassin, who tnius hinformer. Captain Shannon's nnme and hidentity disolosed. The 'ole 'ideous plot laid bare. 'Ere yer are, tir!" "Afurderl Murder! Poller! Murder!" at the top of hi* rolcc. "Captain Shannon. " contemptuously remarked that there never had been an approach to danger, was changed in the "extra specials" to "The Prinoe Describes His Narrow Ea- OUMD" CHAPTER III. THJt DAILY RECORD TO THE RESCUE. Three days after the axolosiou The Instead of rocopniziug that it is only lifo and the unintelligible mystery at life which make literature of any conse- £1 bowing my WW u be* I oould Continued on Page Four