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^ ^ ISSUED SKMI-WKKKIi^ l. m. grist's sons, Publisher.. } % ^amitg gtwspger: Jfor the $romotion of th(| political, Social, ^jricultutat and Commercial Interests of the feople. {TE smole copVfivk eeravanck" established 1855. iYORKVILLE, B. C., FRIDAY, FEBHU AHY 14, 1908." N"Q. 13. PBI LTJC By ETTA 1 CHAPTER XXXVII. Face to Face. Trance or catalepsy?it was over! If the terrible shock produced by news of her marriage had indeed brought jibout that sudden and deathlike suspension of the action of the senses and of volition, her kisses had saved, and her voice recalled him to life! Peg Pat ton and Derby carried him to the latter's cottage, gave him food and wine, warmed him at a generous fire, ministered unto him with eager hands. "Miss Ravenel." said Peg, solemnly, "if you hadn't insisted on seeing him again, he must have perished in the tomb." Speechless, overwhelmed. Jetta sat by the side of the man she loved, and held his hand, and looked into the face which had come back to her from the shadows of the grave. "I have had a horrible dream!" he shuddered. "I thought some one told me that you had married Vincent?it was frightfully real!" "Nothing is real," she answered, wildly; "nothing?except that you have returned to me from death!" Up at Tempest Hall, Vincent Hawkstone, the new master, was holding a wild, disgraceful orgy?a wicked, riotous feast of "funeral baked meats" and wines unearthed from the cobwebs and dust of half a century's rest in the Hall cellar. y For hours the revel had been in progress?it was now nearly midnight, but the uproar and confusion in the great dining-room continued unabated ?to the consternation of Mrs. Otway and the servants, who were huddled in the kitchen, as the island sheep were wont to huddle on the moors in time of sudden tempest. "They're bound to make a night of it." said Anne, the maid. "and. what they'll do before morning the Lord alone can tell!" An open fire of hickory wood warmed the room, and cast strange lights and shadows on the wainscot?on the family portraits, and over the faces of the half dozen men who made up the precious company. Fragments of glasses strewed the tloor, wild songs rang up to the rafters. The feast had been swept off the table, and the feasters were now deep in play. Dice rattled, cards flew. All sorts of valuables strewed the board?watches, rings, money. Vincent Hawkstone, pale, turbulent, disheveled, was roaring out in wild chorus, and shaking the dice-box in the face of his law partner, Dudley, whose eyes had grown vacant, and his utterance thick, under the influence of old wine. "By Jove! Vincent," he stammered, "I fancied we had good cause to be merry with you tonight, because every mother's son of us held your I O U. But luck's turned, it seems. You've won the paper all back. Faith, we'll not have even our coats to wear to Whithaven if we stay here longer." Vincent's wild, handsome face grew wilder yet. "Yes, by Heaven! luck has turned!" he cried. "When I met with you last I was an impecunious devil, up to my eyes in debts of honor. Tonight. I am lord of Tempest Island, and, I may add, of the whole Hawkstone fortune." "But Prince Lucifer has left a daughter," said a voice at the end of the table. "A sickly, puny brat, who cannot outlast her childhood!" sneered Vincent. An envious sigh went round the board. "Then, all that's lacking here tonight is the wife you've married,*' stuttered Dudley; "the handsome southern girl, Gad! she was a beauty! And pledged to your cousin, too. You were always trespassing on his preserves?winging his game, you know! Now, where's the bride? Really, we insist upon seeing the bride! Where are you hiding her? Why do we find you widowed as soon as wed? My word! It's like "The I/>rd of Naln and his ladv fair," who "In early youth united were? In early youth divided were!" Vincent's flushed face grew thunderous. He knocked the top off a fresh bottle of wine and sent its red contents splashing, like blood, the entire length of the table. "Look out what you say!" he cried hoarsely. "There are private matters . which you cannot safely mention here you drunken idiot!" Dudley, always quarrelsome in his cups, answered, with a sneer: "Tut. man! don't attempt to bully me. I carried your letters, remember I to that pretty circus-rider. Mademoiselle Zephyr, over in Whithaven. 1 shan't hesitate to swear that something deuced queer was mixed up ir your marriage with the governess? something that you will find awkward to explain. She refuses to share youi new honors?eh? Tonight she makes herself conspicuous by her absence' By my soul, she's a girl of spirit! Well Fortune must stop somewhere?y or can't expect to receive all her favors man!" Vincent seized a chair and felled tht speaker to the floor. Instantly tin ? whole company started up on unsteadj legs. Some one swept the stakes of the board, and the lamps also. Then was a fresh crash of glasses and bottle.' as the table itself was overturned ir the midst of the turmoil. At that moment a clock in the hall struck the houi of twelve. The lamps were all out. "Give us torches," shouted a voice i "and let us illuminate, in honor of Vincent's succession to the sovereignty o Tempest Island!" With a shout the wine-crazed lo rushed to the hearth, each seizing { brand, which trailed a comet's-tail o red sparks across the room. Direct^ the servants in the kitchen becam< aware that some new catastrophe hat TV. PIERCE. occurred by a cloud of dense black smoke and the sound of crackling flame which burst through the passages into their quarters. "Merciful Heaven! Have they set 1 fire to the hall?" cried Mrs. Otway. "Run to the church, some of you, and 1 ring the bell for help." 1 In.mediately the deep, ominous tones 1 of the bell boomed through the cold misr across uie inours JtllU ucagncs, 1 startling the Islanders from their beds, ' and waking the echoes in Joe Derby's 1 cottage, where Basil Hawkstone and his little company of faithful ones had found shelter. Before the island folks fairly gathered the flames were bursting from the old, historic house, 1 Spreading a wild. uncanny glare through the sky. and lighting for miles the foggy headlands and lonely expanse of moor. It was an illumination, indeed?such as Vincent's drunken comrades had not thought of. Far out to sea streamed the ruddy glare. The sailor might behold it, shining about ' his watery way?the watchman in Whithaven would wonder at the portentous light in the midnight sky. On its wooded slope. Tempest Hall stood up. a huge beacon of destruction, its great timbers shriveling like willow wands, its paneled chambers red with forked flames. The islanders, flying half dressed to the scene of disaster, found themselves unable to save or to help, so swiftly had the torches of the revelers done their work. Some one darted into the chasm of fire, where the dining-room once was, and dragged out the singed body of Dudley. Most of his comrades also had staggered into the garden, but Vincent was not with them. 'Tn the Lord's name, where is Mr. Vincent?" cried one of the servants; "he will surely be burned alive!" In the front rank of the crowd which had gathered about the doomed Hall, stood Peg Patton. gazing sternly into the huge furnace. "Where's the young scoundrel?" she demanded: "in there?" pointing to the house. One of the rioters answered the brown woman: "He went upstairs to put a torch in the cedar chamber?he hasn't come down. In God's name," he continued. "Why don't these Island boors go in and save him? Look! look!" At a window of the cedar chamber, curtained now with smoke and fire, a human figure suddenly appeared and stood for a moment in plain view of the crowd below. It was Vincent Hawkstone. His face was deadly pale, and it wore a dazed, stupefied look. The islanders shouted to him. wildly: "The porch!?step out on the stone porch, sir, and we'll save you!" He did not seem to hear. The handsome. reckless face with the red-brown curls and the wild blue eyes stared blankly out through the gray, curling smoke, then fell back and vanished. With a cry. Peg Patton dashed into the burning house, followed by a man whom the crowd, in the general confusion. had not yet noticed. "Go back, sir!" implored Peg: "don't you venture here?don't, risk your life for the ingrate that has injured you in every way possible. No! no! this is too much! See, the stair is all ablaze ?you can't go up." "He has injured me, God knows, but I cannot leave him to burn, like a rat in a hole!" answered Basil Hawkstone. pushing her gently, but firmly, aside, and shot up the stair. Flames roared about him. Strong timbers cracked and swayed. Blinded, ' half suffocated, he reached the landing. Bursting, like a spectre from the black smoke-shroud of the staircase, he. at I its top, came suddenly face to face with his cousin, Vincent Hawkstone. I For one awful, never-to-be-forgotten 1 moment, the two. wrapped about In darting, quivering fire, stood and look1 ed at each other. An appalling fear?a * horror unspeakable?appeared in Vincent's guilty eyes. 1 "Prince Lucifer!" he cried, hoarsely. "God above! How came you here? You are dead!?I saw you buried?I know you are dead, for I killed you!" Out came the confession, with a wild, remorseful cry. "You killed me?" echoed Basil Hawki stone, sternly. "When?how?" i "At Whithaven?that night of Madei moiselle Zephyr's marriage. The wine she gave you?there was death in it? . poison enough to have ended a half i dozen lives! Keep off! keep off! You , have come from the grave to take vengeance on me!" ? "Hold. Vincent! Mademoiselle gave me no wine. There is some mistake. ' Did she let you think that you had , murdered me?" "Yes, yes!" he fairly shrieked. "She [ swore that you drank it. and I follow ed you to Whithaven. knowing that you i would die by the time you reached this - door." ! "Vincent, you are beside yourself! The crime of my murder has been spar? ed you. I am not dead, but alive. Feel ' my hand?I am here to save you"? Hut with a yell of fear, that rose i over all the roar of the flames, Vin. cent Hawkstone leaped past the man lie had tried to kill, and flung himself ? headlong down the burning stairs into ? the pit of tire below! Prince Lucifer rushed after him. f seized and dragged him out of the ? house. ' A cry of amazement burst from the ? islanders, as they saw emerging: from the burning Hull, signed with flame r and blackened with smoke, the master whom they had just buried in the Hawkstone vault, with Vincent sup, ported in his arms. Even hefore lie laid his kinsman on f the ground. Prince Lucifer knew that life was extinct. That mad plunge t down the staircase had broken his neck, i Peg Patton bent over him. and felt f for the pulse that had ceased to beat. "He's gone, sir." she said to the isi land lord, who knelt beside the inert ! body, in full view of all the people gathered around. "His accounts are closed up!" Hasil Hawkstone rose, anr* turned on the awed and breathless islanders the grand, authoritative face which they knew and loved so well. "It is I, friends!" he said. "Do not be afraid of me?it is I, and not a spirit! I have come back to you from the grave." And then, as they crowded tumultuously about him, servants and dependents, forgott'ng even the burning Hall in their unbounded joy and amazement, Peg Patton spread a cloth over Vincent Hawkstone's dead face?over the fear and remorse still stamped upon it, and aided by Joe Derby, bore him away from the trampling feet of the crowd. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Finis. A year had passed away. Far off in Continental Europe?in Vienna on the Danube, a young and beautiful woman?an equestrienne, whose fame was in all men's mouths?had just met a sudden and violent death in the circus ring. A font of unusual daring:?a falso step, occasioned, inaybe. by the intoxicating applause?a fall?an iron hoof set In the white forehead, a rain of blood-drops on the yellow hair, and the triumphs of Jasper Hatton's fair young: wife were over for ever. The news traveled across the sea, and reached the drawing-room of a brown-stone front on Fifth Avenue, one night, in the late October, when the rain Mas out, and Mild Mind abroad. "And so Mademoiselle Zephyr's career Is over!" said George Sutton, as he throughtfully smoothed the tigerskin that M-as spread across his knees. Miss Rokeuood, in a deep fauteuil on the other side of a delightful wood-fire, looked up M ith serious eyes. Her blonde face u-ore graver, sadder lines than Mhen M-e saM' it last. A favorite dog lay beside her on a Kurdistan rug?she patted his shaggy head, and answered: "I believe that such love as that woman had to give, Mas given, after all, to Rasil Hau-kstone. Even her marriage M'ith Hatton was a matter of spite. She M"as a paradox?she hated Prince Lucifer and she loved him." "God forbid that we should see her like again!" shuddered Sutton. "She made mischief enough in her short day ? for you and me, as M'ell as for others, Doris!" "Yes," assented Miss RokeM'ood, and then both looked gravely into the sparkling M-ood-fire. "Well, let bygones be bygones," growled Sutton, at last. "Hawkstone has wellnigh completed a second Tempest Hall on the site of the old one. If this new abode lacks historic interest, it will, at least, possess none of the tragic associations of the former house, and I am sure my secretary will find fewer ghosts and goblins in it." The words were hardly out, when the mahogany door swung back on its heavy hinges, and Jetta Ravenel, who had served George Sutton as secretary for the past year, glided into the apartment. The two by the fire made room for her. She was dressed in plain black, and her rich southern beauty had suffered nothing from the trials of the past. "My dear," said Sutton, gravely, "we have received news tonight. The woman who destroyed Gabriel is no more." And he read aloud the cablegram. There was a moment of silence. Miss Rokewood's hand closed tenderly upon Jetta's. "As one looks back upon it," sighed the blonde heiress, "how like a ghastly dream it all seems!" The tears glistened on Jetta's long lashes. "Ah, there are pleasant things mixed with the sad ones," she answered. "Can I forget how you hastened to the Inlet House to find me. after the burning of Tempest Hall? How you brought m$ to your own home?how Mr. Sutton received me with unspeakable kindness, and made me his private secretary, in my poor, wretched Gabriel's place?" "Pooh!" growled Sutton; "that only shows my superior judgment, for you have been the most faithful and indusr?nift Mow that vour vear of decorous retirement is over, and Basil Hawkstone, on his 'Lone little isle,' " grows impatient, and swears that his claims shall no longer be set aside, the question that appalls me is. Where shall I find another like you?" She looked at him "With a smile on her lip, and a tear in her eye," like the young female in "Lochinvar." "You are very good"?she began to say, when a footman opened the door and announced Basil Hawkstone. In came the island lord, strong, bronzed, imposing, not at all like a man who had been buried alive, and escaped death, as by a miracle, only one short year before. "I see," said Sutton, as he looked up into the face of his friend, "you, too, have heard from Vienna?" "Yes," replied Hawkstone, gravely. "It was a short life and a merry one. The fame for which she was ready to secrinee an tilings euruuy win uuuani her how long? A week?a month, maybe!" He gave his hand to Jetta and Miss Rokewood. The latter arose soon after and said: "It still lacks a half-hour to dinner. I have time to visit Juno, who is ill today, and I will take Mr. Sutton with me. For my sake, he can tolerate even a sick monkey." Ward and guardian went out of the drawing-room, and left the lovers standing together before the fire. He let his gray eyes dwell for a space on her black-robed figure and pale, drooping face, then he said, gravely: "I have come for you, Jetta!" The color rushed into her soft cheek. "The new Hall is completed," he went On. "11 IHCKS Il'HIHUK mm uui ci tress. I bring you urgent messages from Mrs. Otway, from our good friend, Peg Patton, and from little Bee?they all desire exceedingly your return to the Tempest. For a year you have been Vincent's widow?is not that long enough? Have we not suffered enough, Jetta ?" She was in his arms before the last words were out. "Yes, yes," she faltered, "I am yours! Take me hack to the dear, gray island. Basil?I love no other place as well." THOMAS W. LAWSON. They were married a week later, and went away to their little kingdom in the sea, and George Sutton was again left without a secretary. "I have lost Miss Ravenel," he said to his ward, "and soon I shall lose you, also. You have a score of lovers?at no distant day you will choose one from the many, and I shall be left sick, miserable and alone." She shook her head. "I shall never leave you. guardy?I am done with lovers." "Fiddlesticks!" he scoffed. "I hope you are not wasting your heart on the memory of Gabriel Ravenel!" "No, indeed!" she answered; "that episode seems immensely far away. It tires me now to recall it." "And is there no other for whom you care, Doris?" he urged. "None but you, guardy," she answered, with placid sweetness. "I mean to stay witn you, nnci tune cure 01 you ?u long as we both live." Into his thin, yellow face flashed a j swift brightness. He leaned toward her over the arm of his invalid chair. * "You cannot do that without invlt- J ing much comment. Being a selfish fellow, I would fain hold you by strong- ^ chains, Doris; but how can I?how c dare I ask a vigorous young creature like you to give up her life to a querulous, exacting invalid? Ah, no, I must ( not; I will not, even though you are the only thing that I love in all the world!" With ajlttle tremor in her voice, a little shifting color in her cheek, she answered: "I shall stay with you till you drive me away, guardy, whether you condescend to ask me or not." He lifted her face and looked into her calm, serious eyes. "Then stay, as my wife, child, not as my ward!" She put her strong young hand in his weak, nervous one. "Just as you please, guardy," she an- " swered, serenely; "your wishes are mine." So, to the infinite astonishment of society, Doris Rokewood married her sick guardian. When the test of time had been applied to the strange union, the world was forced to admit that the two were singularly happy?absurdly devoted to each other. Away in seagirt Tempest Hall, Jetta Hawkstone, with a fair lit- * tie son at her knees, said to her husband: "And why should they not be happy? Life cannot be a frenzy and a fever to all of us." "True," he answered, and bent and . covered her face with his swift kisses. . THE END. t ? Washington. February 6: That r Charles A. Stillings, public printer, r whom President ltoosevelt suspended 1 Wednesday, conducted the depart- c ment from an office that a king might } envy probably will be among the t charges to be investigated by the r joint congressional committee, of r which Representative Landis is chairman. Chairman Landis says that when he went to see W. S. Rosslter, acting public printer, this afternoon, he found himself ushered into a room fitted with costly, massive furniture, hung with expensive pictures and appointed with an elegance little in keeping with a printing and binding plant. Among other reports that probably will be looked into is one that the public printer surrounded himself with such pomp that persons wanting to see him had to make appointments days ahead. Then it is said, they had to run a gauntlet of uniformed flunkies. Other reports that may be inquired into are: That it has cost the government $50 to turn out a job which commercial houses would do for $15. That 45 cents a pound has been paid for quanities of inks worth less than 20 cents a pound. That the storerooms of the government printing office contain more paper stock than under other administrations was used up in half a dozen years. On recommendation of acting printer Rosslter, President Roosevelt today canceled the $120,000 contract with the Audit System, of New York, for a cost-ascertaining method. The Audit System is given six days to get out. Representative Landis says that the Audit System as it has been installed and operated in Washington "is a gold * brick thinly plated with the genuine f sum. Goveknmbnt ox Bio City.?We people of the "provinces" think we know something about taxation, but we don't. Wm. J5. Curtis writes the Chicago Record-Herald that the cost of running the city government of New York this year will be #143,572,266? nno.fnnrth the enst of I ho erovern merit of the United States?which , means a per capita exjien.se of $36 ' for every man. woman and child of f i the city or an average of about $150 r a family. The interest charge is more . than $24,000,000 annually, which is nearly as much as the cost of run- ' ning the city of Chicago and only a 1 few thousand dollars less than the in- t tevest accounts of the national government. New York is a large town, f enjoying all the modern inconvenien- 1 ces, and it will be seen from the fig- ? ures above that it costs a pretty penny to make the wheels go "round."? Charlotte Observer. t ALL GENUINE YEGGMEN. rhe Five Safe Blowers Recently Captured at Van Wyck. rilEV ARE WANTED FOR MANY CRIMES Complete Story of How the Men Were Caught?Postoffice Inspectors Have Their Records?They Robbed the Postoffice at Dunn, N. C., and Also Blew Safes In South Carolina?Trial at Raleigh, N. C. lohn T. Meehan in Charlotte Observer. I^inrastrr Fehmnrv 11.?In charsre )f United States deputy marshals, and iccompanied by Postofflce Inspectors 3. T. Gregory, M. O. Halverstadt and T. W. Bulla, the gang of professional lafe-blowers recently captured at Van SVyck, in this county, were taken from he county jail today and carried to Saleigh, X. C., to await trial at the l day term of the United States court it Raleigh, on a charge of burglarizing he postofflce at Dunn, Harnett county, 'forth Carolina, on the night of Decem>er 28th, 1907. This bunch of "yeggs" s as follows: J. T. Leonard, Charlie tVllllams, James Scanlon, C. F. Shaw ind Henry S. Hallan. The preliminary tearing in the Dunn case was held at Lancaster on January 30th and the renoval of the men to Raleigh was unler the direction of United States Marihal J. D. Adams, upon an order slgn:d by Judge William H. Brawley of Charleston, S. C. The capture of these professional :racksmen was effected In a most senlatlonal and fearless manner on the svening of January' 8th by nine citizens >f Van Wyck, viz: J. A. Hyatt, T. R. Thompson, J. C. Stames, D. F. Stames, , iValter Starnes, S. H. Ezzell, Ben Godrey, Junle McGuirt and Cecil Yoder. The "yeggs" were heavily armed and tad with them up-to-date safe-crack- i ng equipment sufficient to "puff" a half lozen safes, a grip which they carried 1 :ontalning nitro-glycerine, dynamite, lynamlte caps, fuses, laundry soap, ools, pocket maps, etc. O/ December 11th Inspectors Gregory and Halverstadt sent out a confilential circular letter to postmasters ; n South Carolina. Including the postnaster at Van Wyck, warning them to >e on the lookout for suspected postof- 1 Ice burglars and advising them as to vhat action to take in case any of these i mspects should appear in their vicinties, a description of two of the sus- i >eets accompanying the letter. The >OBtmaster at Van Wyck communicated < o the merchants of that town the in- i ormatlon contained in the letter and heir prompt and effective pction In the :ase of the above named parties re- t mlted therefrom. The five men appeared at Osceola, S. ?., on the morning of January 8th, gong in the direction of Van Wyck. They :reated suspicion and their presence vas reported to Mr. J. A. Hyatt, post- : naster at Van Wyck. The men reached 1-Vah Wyck between 4 and 5 o'clock >n the same afternoon, three of them i :ontinuing doivn the railroad past the itution, while Leonard and Williams itopped and purchased some food at i he store of Massey, Hyatt & Co. They ilso entered two other stores, that of i Thompson Bros, and Yoder Bros., the )ostofflce being located in the latter itore. Leonard was observed to be aklng a thorough survey of the sitmtion. After making their purchases he two men left Van Wyck, walking in he direction that their companions had j rone. One of the three men who passed hrough the town without stopping carled a valise. Immediately after the departure of i Leonard and Williams the postmaster i inrl r?thpr citizens of Van Wvck began retting1 a posse together to effect their :apture. From the engineer on the lorthbound train it was learned that he five men were about one mile south >f the station, sitting on the ground leur the railroad track. Shortly aftervard it was learned through a section oreman that the men had gone out roni the railroad into a ravine, where hey had built a campfire and were ating supper. The posse of nine | nen, well armed, proceeded to a point tear the place where the men were in tiding and here they separated, three >f the posse making a detour around a till so as to (lank the men should they ry to make their escape. The other nembers of the posse remained in the ailroad cut until their companions had aken up their position, then they came tut, crawled up the high embankment tveilooking the ravine and ordered the ive men to surrender. The men got up >'ery slowly and then started off in the tpposite direction, but finding themlelves confronted on that side and facng dangerous looking guns they turned ind came out to the railroad in single He. With their hands in the air, the ive men were marched to a point in the :ut, where they were disarmed, a 38:alibre revolver being taken from Leonard, Williams and Scanlon, and a 12-calibre revolver from Shaw, all lat st improved weapons and loaded all iround. Halian, who is a one-armed nan, had no revolver. Leonard carried he small valise, which was locked, in lis left hand. i The men were taken very much by lurprise when they ascertained that here were but nine men In the posse, rhey evidently thought that the woods vere full of men as Leonard remarked. vhile they were being searched: "Genlemen, we thought there were too nany against us or we would have giv n you buttle." After being disarmed, the men were narched to the store of Massey, Hyatt 5: Go., where a posse stood guard over hem until morning. On reaching the store Leonard remarked: "Gentlemen, 'or the good of us and yourselves and he building please handle that valise :arefully." At the request of a mem>er of the guard. Leonard produced a cey and the satchel was unlocked and he contents examined. By way of explanation of his previous remark, Leonard stated that he had some ma erials in the grip for blasting in wells ind granite quarries. A small tobacco <ack containing cartridges was taken >ff Leonard, Williams and Scanlon. The nen were not given a thorough searchtig and during the night Leonard and Williams suddenly threw something ino the stove, the latter remarking, "I ruess I'd better get rid of that now." >onard and Williams, separately and iccompanied by guards, went to an nitbuilding and later it was discovered hat one of them while in this place had enough explosives were contained In the satchel to blow to smithereens a half-dozen big safes. Shaw and Hallan were photographed without any strenuous objections and Leonard was Anally persuaded to sit i fcr a photograph, but Williams and Scanlon closed their eyes and distorted their features to such an extent that satisfactory photographs of them could not be had. Later fairly good photoi graphs of both were obtained without their knowledge. On January 10th Inspector Halverstadt swore out a warrant for the five men charging them with the burg torn up a pocket map of South Carolina, which has since been secured by Inspector Gregory. The postmaster telephoned to Waxhaw, N. C., to have Information concerning the capture of the men telegraphed to Inspector Halverstadt, while Messrs. Hyatt and J. C. Starnes, observing extraordinary diligence walked to Catawba, S. C., aroused the telegraph operator and wired Inspector Halverstadt the news of the capture from there. Inspectors Halverstadt and Gregory were in Columbia on the 9th and the news of the capture reached them at that city and they left immediately for Lancaster. On the morning of January 9th the prisoners, in charge of Messrs. Hyatt. Thompson and J. C. Starnes of the posse, were driven to Springdale, a station on the Southern railway, where the train was boarded for Lancaster, the men being lodged in the county jail at that place to await the arrival of the government inspectors, the arms, ammunition, safe-cracking apparatus, etc,, being delivered to the sheriff. Inspectors Gregory' and Halverstadt reached Lancaster about 9.30 that night and proceeded with the examination of the men. which lasted until about 7 o'clock the following morning. The prisoners were brought before the Inspectors, one at a time, in a lower room of the Jail, stripped and examined and nuestioned as to their places of residence, recent movements, etc., each man after examination being removed to a separate cell, where he could not communicate with his companions. Before they were returned to the heavy steel cell In which they were at first placed the cell was thoroughly searched, a razor being found secreted behind the cage, a pocket knife under ~ nnnthon l/nifa in fho nflH a |Miiwvv aim aiivmci r\uur. u* j/mv? ding of the bed quilt. The officers asked each man if he had been to certain towns in South and North Carolina, where recent robberies had been committed by the blowing: open of safes, and all entered positive denials. Leonard and Williams were stubborn and answered very few questions. Hallan did considerable talking:, but refused to say in what towns or cities he had recently been and said he could give no references which would do either himself or the inspectors any good. He said he had been tramping since November 1st and had had no occupation save that of selling lend pencils. When Shaw was brought in Inspector Gregory immediately recognized him and said, "Why, hello, Frank, I didn't expect to find you here." The recognition was mutual and Shaw replied, "And I didn't expect to see you here, either, Mr. Gregory'." Inspector Gregory had on a previous occasion been interested in securing the conviction of Shaw, under the alias of Frank Short, and the latter had been out of the South Carolina penitentiary less than one year after having served a seven-year term for blowing a safe at Peak, Lexington county, S. C. Shaw talked very freely, swearing that he had only got with this gang the day before his arrest and said that his intentions were to go on to Atlanta as soon as he could catch a train. He said that after finishing work on the government pier at the Jamestown exposition in August he worked for a street car company until the middle of November and that he remained at Norfolk until after Christmas, when he left to come south. It was learned that he had for months been hanging out and getting his meals at one of the most notorious joints in Norfolk, a regular "stall" for crooks, the proprietor himself being an ex-convict and had been indicted two years ago for conspiracy to burglarize a postoffice in Virginia. Shaw was tried at the February, 1900, term of the criminal court at Lexington county, S. C\, for blowing a safe in the depot at Peak. He was given seven years at hard labor in the South Carolina state penitentiary. During his imprisonment he made an effort to escape by cutting: through the bars in the knitting mill at this prison, for which act he forfeited all claim for commutation of sentence under the good-behavior rule. He was discharged from the penitentiary on February 23d, 1907, but was immediately arrested upon a warrant sworn out by Postofflce Inspector Gregory charging him with burglary of the postofflce at Plymouth, N. C., on June 13th, 1898, He was turned over to Sheriff W. J. Jackson of Plymouth, and taken to that place for trial. Shaw, or Short, managed to play upon the sympathies of the people of Plymouth to such an extent, by telling them that he desired to straighten up and lead an honest life in the future, that they raised a purse for his defense and local sentiment was so strong in his favor that the warrants against him were withdrawn and he was allowed to go. Before his discharge Shaw promised Inspector Gregory that he would henceforth lead an honest life and that he would never again have occasion to bring him before the courts. He later wrote air. uregoiy sevemi liters. confirming his promises, and it is said that Shaw has since been presented with an overcoat by Mr. Gregory. Scanlon. the last of the men to be examined, refused to come down stairs and had to be brought down by main force. He answered but very few questions, principally denying that he had visited any of the towns called off to him by the inspectors in which recent burglaries had occurred. All of the men wore fairly good clothes, although their shoes showed signs of rough living. All had watches and money. Private marks on the various articles of wearing apparel showed that they had visited Charlotte, Atlanta. Greenville, S. C.. a number of Georgia towns. New York city, and Virginia cities. The valise contained the following articles, making one of the most complete safecracking equipment ever taken off a gang of "yeggs" in this section of the country; two bottles of nitroglycerine, a half-pint hottle about half filled with nitro-glycerine, a package of fuses with dynamite caps auacneu, a cull of fuse, two pieces of fuse with dynamite caps affixed, eleven dynamite caps, a spool of black thread, two coils of picture wire, a cake of laundry soap, a gauze used in extracting nitro-glycerine from dynamite, a candle, metal tweezers, long-blade knife, a steel wedge, a bottle of turpentine, a bottle of Jamaica ginger, a pocket map of North Carolina, railroad folders, etc. This includes absolutely every thing necessary in blowing a safe, and lary or the postomces at seneca ana Pelzer, S. C. The warrants were sworn out before United States Comr mlssiouer Moore at Lancaster .and he held them under bond of $10,000 each, the preliminary trial being1 set for Januury 30th. The men, of course, could not furnish bond and were placed in Jail to await preliminary examination. On January 13th Inspector Gregory swore out a warrant before Magistrate Caskey of Ijineaster. charging the men with having a safeblowing equipment In their possession. The statute under which this warrant was issued was enacted by the South Carolina legislature in 1907, through the Instrumentality of Inspector Gregory, and provides punishment in the discretion of the court and the maximum sentence-could be thirty years at hard labor in the state penitentiary. The punishment in this state for safe-blowing is life imprisonment, except where the jury makes a recommendation to the mercy , of the court, in which case the judge mav fix Dunishment from ten years up. The robbery of the postofflce at Dunn, N. C., on the night of December 28th, . 1807, was investigated by Postofflce Inspectors J. W. Bulla and H. B. Mosby of the Washington division, and they developed a strong case against the five men arrested at Van Wyck and about two weeks after the above mentioned warrants were Issued they went to Lancaster and swore out a warrant before United States Commissioner Moore charging Leonard, Williams, Scanlon, Shaw and Hallaq with the Dunn robbery. In order that the nine citizens of Van Wyck who effected the capture of these men might secure the reward of $200 each for the five men offered by the government, Solicitor Henry waived the right of this state to prior jurisdiction. In the event of failure to convict any of these men at Raleigh, which is very Improbable in view of the evidence In the hands of the postofflce Inspectors, they will be brought back to Lancaster to stand trial on the charge of having In their possession safecracking equipment, on which charge Magistrate Caskey committed them on January 30, In default of 110,000 bail each. In the burglary of the postofflce safe ; at Dunn, the robbers secured about $2,000 in money and stamps, about $1,40C of the money taken being the personal property of the postmaster, Mr. Wilson. Although the door of the safe was blown clear of its fastenings not a sound of the explosion was heard by any of the residents of the town. Inspectors Bulla and Mosby succeeded in tracing tne movements or Leonara ana his four pals to Dunn prior to the robbery, as well as their movements to a certain extent for about a week thereafter, and they will be able to account for the disposition of the money which was secured through this robbery. Past Records. While the inspectors have not yet succeeded in collecting the complete criminal history of these five men, it is morally certain that all have been connected with safe-cracking gangs which have operated in the south and east and before the trial takes place in Raleigh a pretty complete record of each man will doubtless be in the possession of the government's agents. C. F. Shaw, alias "Frank Short," alias "Missouri Shorty," is a former member of the famous Nolan gang, which operated extensively in the south several years ago. Convicted February 23d, 1900, in state courts of South Carolina for blowing a safe in the station at Peak, S. C., on June 13th, 1898. Wanted for burglarizing safes in following postofflees: Drake's Branch, Va.; Waverly, Va.. Rustburg, Va.; Murfreesboro, X. C.; Plymouth, N. C. He was a pal of Joe Jones, alias "Montreal Frenchy," who was sent to the South Carolina penitentiary. Charlie Williams, although not personally known to Inspector Gregory, was recognized by him through a photograph taken about six years ago. His right name is Thomas Edwin Wilson and he is a native of South Carolina, his parents residing about six miles from Pelzer, S. C. His "yegg" name is "Pelzer Eddie" and he began his criminal career about six years ago when he and William Groff, alias "John D. Rockefeller," were arrested and tried for burglary of the postofflce at Welford. He was acquitted on that trial but his associate was convicted. Later he co-operated with professional safeblowers and picked out some jobs for them, Including the postofflce at King's Mountain, X. C., which was robbed in 1902 by Gus DeFord and Charles Howard. As Ed Wilson, alias "Perzer Eddie," he stands indicted in the United States circuit court, district of South Carolina, for the robbery of the postoffice at Clemson college, this state, on September 11th, 1902, together with Charles Howard, alias "Dutch," and James Johnson, alias "Portland Xed." He escaped from the chaingang in Miller county, Georgia, last fall, while serving a sentence of one year. The prior criminal records of Leon ard, Hallan and Scanlon have not as yet been fully ascertained. Leonard has "J. M. D." tattooed on one of his arms and these are probably his correct initials. Scanlon. who made such a persistent fight against being photographed and against exposing his face to view, is thought to be wanted for some serious crime. It Is not at all improbable that he is in reality none other than John P. Dunn, a member of a gang which operated in the west several years ago, who is wanted at Clarksville, Ark., for the murder of a sheriff in 1902. He not only answers the description of Dunn in general respects but has a gun shot wound in his thigh at about the same place as the one called for in the description of Dunn. Dunn and two pals burglarized a bank in Clarksville, Ark., in 1902, and killed the sheriff who was , trying to prevent the rcbbery. Before receiving the fatal wound the sheriff shot Dunn in the thigh but he escaped and went to Wichita, Kan., where he entered a hospital for treatment, subsequently escaping from there. He was last heard from two years ago in California. There is a reward of $2,000 for his capture. His two pals were captured and hung. Descriptions. J. T. Leonard.?American, white. Crime charged, safe blowing and possession of burglar's tools. Age about 35; height, 6 feet 1 1-2 inches; weight, 172 pounds. Build, medium slender and round shouldered. Complexion medium dark, cheeks rosy. of North Carolina, nis nome uemg ui Greensboro, while Mr. Halverstadt is an Ohioan. Inspector Bulla, who worked up the case against the five men for the Dunn burglary, is connected with the Washington division, and while not so well known in this section, is said to be a man of good detective qualities and a persistent worker. Realizing the benefits that South Carolina has derived from the two specific statutes for dealing with safe blowers. Inspector Gregory has made some effort toward having other southern states enact similar laws. This matter has been brought to the attention of Hon. Charles T. Lasalter, Senator from Dinwiddle county, Va.. with the view of having the present session of the Virginia legislature enact legislation on this line and the same will be taken up this year by Inspector Gregory with the legislatures of North Carolina and Georgia. The Fede?al laws are not adequate and if states would be rid of this class of criminals, which is considered among the most dangerous of all, it is absolutely necessary that they enact laws of such stringency as will keep them out of their borders. Teeth, good; two missing on upper left side and one on upper right side. Hair, dark brown and thick. Eyes, dark brown. Nose, regular. Chin, broad. Face, medium full, cheek bones prominent, mustache brown. Tattoo marks in blue ink; right forearm, back; cross, hand and word "Faith;" left forearm, side: heart, anchor and cross; right forearm, inside; ballet girl over initials "J. M. D." left forearm, back: clasped hands and heart: left forearm, inside: few traces of the beginning of design; breast; prison window with woman looking out through bars. Scars; left forearm three large circular scars between wrist and the tattoo designs; two large circular scars on right shin. Charlie Williams. ? American, white. Crime charged, safe blowing and possession of burglar's tools. Age between 23 and 28; height, 5 feet 8 3-4 inches; weight 142 pounds. Build, slender and round shouldered. Complexion, fair. Teeth, good; one small gold filling in an upper front tooth. Hair, dark yellow. Eyes, hazel. Nose, medium and pointed. Chin, broad. Face, medium full. Beard, clean shaven. Scars; large scar on right chin; two small light colored moles on right cheek. Tattoo marks, in blue ink; left forearm, inside; large cross entwined by a vine and bearing Inscription. "In memory of my mother," with rays of rising sun at top of cross and flowers on vine In fed Ink. Jaines Scanlon.?American, white. Crime charged, safe blowing and possession of burglar's tools. Age between 38 and 43 years; height, G feet 9 3-4 inches; weight 1G1 pounds. jBulld, medium stout and round shouldered. Complexion, medium dark. Teeth, fair; one gold tooth, upper front to left of centre. Hair, brown and thin, bald at front. Eyes, blue gray. Nose, large. Chin, broad. Pace, medium full. Beard, clean shaven. Scars: Front of right thigh, near groin, round circular indentation, possibly a gun-shot wound; left cheek, colored wart. C. F. Shaw, alias "Frank Short," alias "Frank Taylor," alias "Missouri Shorty." ? American, white. Crime, charged, safe blowing and possession of burglar's tools. Age, 40 years; height, 5 feet 6 3-4 inches; weight, 120 pounds. Build, short and medium Slender. Complexion, sandy. Teeth fair, tobacco stained, some missing on both sides. Hair, light brown, thin and bald In front. Eyes light brown. Nose, regular and broad. Chin, medium thin. Mustache, light brown. Scars: Two on right forearm; one on each knee; back of right leg, long irregular raised formation; right side of nose flesh colored mole. Henry S. Hallan.?American, white. Crime charged, safe blowing and possession of burglar's tools. Age 37 to 40 years; height; 5 feet 9 1-2 inches; weight 140 pounds. Build, medium slender and rather straight, slightly round shouldered. Complexion florid. Teeth fair, some missing on both sides. Hair, light and slightly gray, thin on top and slightly bald at front. Eyes, gray. Nose, thick and rather short. Chin, medium broad. Face, full. Beard, . clean shaven. Scars: Right arm off at shoulder; few scatering scars on claves of legs. Recent Operations. t/UllllB lUC pool iuux muiivno eaiigo of "yeggs" have been operating extensively in almost every section of the United States, although their "hauls" have not been so large as those recorded in this section about six years ago, when Nolan-McKlnleyJohnson-Fisher, et al, were operating through the Carolinas. The South Carolina statute providing life imprisonment for the use of explosives in .blowing open a safe, except upon recommendation to mercy in which instance the lowest sentence that may be imposed Is ten years, has proved of great value, giving this state- ymsUcal immunity from the professional safe blowers for a period of more than two and a half years. The first and only case tried since this statute was enacted was tried at Lancaster, John Fisher, alias "Connecticut Shorty," and Charles O'Day alias "Missouri Charley," being convicted and given sentences of fifteen years each in the state penitentiaiy. One juror, who was a brother of the proprietor of the house at Wadesboro, N. C., where fisher and O'Day were kept for a while after they were so severely shot in their capture near "J'esvllle, N. C., held the jury for six hours, forcing the other 11 men to make a recommendation for mercy. In passing sentence the judge said that he considered the severe wounds inflicted upon both men at the time of their capture as being equivalent of five years' imprisonment, therefore, he gave each fifteen years instead of twenty, which he said he would otherwise have imposed. The crime with which Fisher and O'Day were charged was the blowing of the safe of the Springs Banking and Mercantile company, at Heath Springs, S, C., on the night of March 31 at, 1905. From the date of this crime until November 11th, 1907, there was not a single case of safe blowing In this state. Since that date the following safes have been "puffed" In this and neighboring states, and this is only a partial list: Store of R. A. Ellison, near NinetySix, S. C., November 11th; postofflce, Seneca. S. C., November 14th; postoffice. Mauldin, S. C., November 29th; postofflce, Peizer, S. C., December 2nd; store, Grover, N. C., latter part of November: postofflce, Dallas, Ga., December 10th; bank, Sharon, Ga., December 11th: store. Ruby, S. C., December 20th; postofflce, Uptonvllle. Ga., December 20th; postofflce, Dunn. N. C., December 28th. Since the arrest of the five men at Van Wyck and two men, George Barton and J. P. Eaker. at Augusta, Ga., there has been a kind of dearth of crimes of this kind in this section and it is probable that there will not be many "blowings" until another gang can get down here and size things up. However. Barton, one of the men arrested at Augusta, who is charged with attempted burglary of the bank of Sharon, made his escape from the Fulton county jail, Atlanta, on the night of February 2nd, together with John Warner, who was confined there for murder under sentence to be hung. The night jailer. James Brown, and two trusties. Joe Williams and John Graves, have been indicted by the Fulton grand jury for complicity In the escape of these two criminals. While a number of safes in the Carolinas were blown, as noted above, the operations of the two gangs In this section the past year covered a period of less than two months and the fact that their plans were "nipped in the bud" so soon is due to the vigilance, foresight and "heady" work of Postofflce Inspectors Gregory and Halverstadt. While the latter is not so well known in this section of the country as is Mr. Gregory, he is one of the very best men in the United States secret service, and these two hitched up together will be able to make it warm for professional criminals on any and all occasions. Mr. Gregory is a native