LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1633, 15 May 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

MISS ARMSTRONG'S HOMICIDE. [" San Francisco Argonaut."] A few weeks ago some workmen engaged in removing an old mansion on the corner of California and Mason streets were considerably puzzled at finding a number of copper wires connecting the bath-room with a room above. The owners of the property were equally puzzled, having never before known of their existence. The wires were removed, and nothing more thought of the matter. This recalls to my mind an incident which many will now remember. On the 14th of July, 1862, a Professor Croftly was found dead in the bath room I have just mentioned. Croftly was well known among scientific men as a professor of chemistry, and, besides, had a large circle of acquaintances in this city. He was supposed at the time to have committed suicide, and his death furnished a three days' sensation for the Press. The accounts in four leading newspapers materially conflicted, which made the matter all the more interesting to the public. All agreed, however, with a singular unanimity of opinion, that he was dead. Even the '' Call," while not positively admitting his demise in the article, virtually conceded it in the head linrs.

Croftly, when found, was lying in the bath, covered with wounds of so curious a nature that no one could explain how they came to be inflicted. They were deep, ragged, and gaping, and there was no instrument found in the room with which they might have been made. Even the detectives who visited the scene of Croftly's death shook their heads and were at ( sea. Those who discovered the body found the door securely fastened from the inside, and were obliged to burst it open. The room had no other means of egress or ingress • Suicide,' remarked one of the reporters. 1 How came those wounds on the back ?' asked a detective.

' Who else was here ?' responded the journalist, and neither man had anything more to say. A postmortem revealed nothing new, except that the physicians found a stain of the blood which they could not satisfactorily account for.

' He was frozen,' said a young physician, whose opinion seemed to have its foundation only in surmise. ' You seem to have forgotten that this is July,' remarked an elderly gentleman connected with a University. Ti?e newspapers vied with each other building up ingenious theories Recounting for the affair, the coroner's jury found a verdict of suicide, for want of anything better, and the remains wore buried.

Croftly came to the coast in 1860, and was reputed to be a man of sufficient means to live handsomely on the interest of his money. He stopped a while at the Oriental Hotel, and there met Edward Dean, a young man who, like himself, was a gentleman of leisure The two became intimate and finally, tired of hotel life, they determined to seek quarters more congenial and homelike. They found these quarters at the residence of Richard Armstrong, a mutual acquaintance, who lived in very desirable quarters on the c >rner of Mason and California stro:ts. Before the costly habitations of Stanford, Crocker and other millionaires sprang into existence, Armstrong's house came very near being called a mansion. Armstrong rented to Croftly and Dean three elegant rooms, partly because he liked the men personally, and partly beaause he waß running on a pretty close margin financially. The two found their new quarters as attractive as men of taste could wish. Armstrong was a widower, and the three men had some rare old times together evenings. His cellar was stocked with excellent wines, and his library with books of the very rarest vintage of literature. One evening a hack drove up to the door, and a woman, clad in wraps, bounded up the steps with astonishing vigor and agility, like most Western girls who aro blessed with good health and animal spirits. She dashed into the hall in a style that sent a perceptible tremor throughout the houso, and fell into old Armstrong's arms. A fusillade of kisses followed.

It wag his daughter, Alice. Next morning the usual formalities of introduction were gono through, and Miss Armstrong became one of the fixtures of the place. A few days before her arrival Professor Croftly had suggested the idea of living somewhere nearer the centre of the city. After Miss Armstrong entered the houßo, however, no further allusion was made to the proposed removal. The professor began to pay Miss Armstrong the most devout attentions', and, as a raatterof course, she fell madly in love with young Hean, who paid her none. It is generally conceded that of the most effective ways of wooing a woman is to let 3orne other man do it. The woman tires of the indefatigable lover, and the man who treats hf r with indifference is soon preferred. Some men learn this by experience, Dean discovered ic by accident

Ho presently began to turn his knowledge to ■. xcellent account, ami a bitter rivalry sprang up between the two men. (Jroftly soon reaii'ied that he wask not the favorite and never for the life of him could ascertain how a WuOian could form an attachment for a man who hadn't the remotest idea of chemistry. He forgot that he was somewhat old, and that some wormm dislike to cast their bridal wreaths upon the snow. Ho finally determined to put his rival out of tho way, aud set about laying his plans A f tor a couple of weeks' de'iberation he cnnuhidod to murder Deau, ad do it so neatly and tcientiflcally tint discovery would ba next to Impossible. Ore day 1 was in his room—being an occasional visitor—aud observed him busily

engaged in chemical experiments. Said he. ' Did you ever realise that the conditions which result in congelation might be,produced chemically ?' J confessed that I had never given the subject much thought. 'Of course you understand that sudden evaporation causes cold.'

I knew nothing of the kind at the time, but nodded assent rather than acknowledge my ignorance.

'I can produce ioe instantaneously,' he c ntinued. ' This is my assistant,' pointing to an electric battery. ' Witli a current of say one hundred omes of electricity, I can accelerate enough evaporation to freeze instantly one hundred gallons of water. Hero the professoi took a basin of water and poured in a small quantity of colorless liquid. ' This is ammonia,' said he. ' But this ' —hero he added about as much of some other liquid—'is something else.' ' What is it V

' No one knows but myself.'

I deemed it impertinent to question him further. Ho then attached the wires of his battery to the water. ' When I mako the connecting ourrent the water will become ice.'

I watched, much interested, and he laid his hand on a piece of metal which was part of the apparatus, and the turning of which caused the currents to connect. Ho turned the brass piece, and instantly a cloud of vapour roie from the surface of the water. Crystals shot from the sides of basin with astonishing rapidity, and there was a sharp crackling sound as the water expanding in it caused a Btrain upon the basin, which pressed out the sides. * With five hundred omes,' continued the professor, ' I can freeze five hundred oubio feet of water.'

I left the house much impressed with the discovery made by the professor, and a few days afterward learned of his death. The public considered it a case of suicide. I made a careful examination of tho premises, and camo to a different conclusion. It was the hand of Alice Armstrong that killed Professor Croftly.

Let us go back a little. After the professor realised what could be done with his now appliance of eleotricity, bo determined to utilise it in the murder of Dean. He bit upon the grand idea of freezing him in the bath.

' She will not love him cold,' he said, and began to arrange his plans. Dean was fond of the bath. He retired at midnight, and always took a bath just before. The bathroom of Armstrong's house was an exceptionally good one. It was situated but a short distance from the suit occupied by the professir and Dean. The tank was of marble, 8 ft. wide, 10ft. long, and 6ft. deep, capable of holding four hundred and eighty cubic feet of water. Ooftly connected the bath with his own room by means of wires. One entered the bath by the waste pipe. He reached this by digging in the garden, under the pretext of planting flowers. The wire r<n down the side of the house and into the ground. It was concealed from observation by a lilac bush. The other was connected with the pipe which furnished the water. He bored a hole in the wall and found the pipe, as he expected, running in the rear of the room close to the floor. He then increased the jara of his battery, and raised its strength to five hundred omes. No suspicion was excited by this, as he had been for months before making electrical experiments. His apparatus was fixed on a stand near tho wall, and the wires from it connected with thoec leading to the bath. When the apparatus was removed its wires would be pulled awf.y from the others, and no trace would be left of previous connection.

On the night of the third of July all was in readiness. Croftly laid his plans with nicety and deliberation. Dean always took a bath before retiring, which was about midnight. In the morning Croftly had purchased two seats at the Metropolitan Theatre and given them to Armstrong, who took his daughter to the play. By eight o'clock everything wbs quiet in the house. Croftly knew that he was safe from interruption until eleven o'clock, and perhaps later. He now began to work in earnest. He filled the tank with water, and then tested his wires over and over again. Everything was in f-plendid working order. He calculated that he could embed his rival in ice about midnight, and then tarn on hot water. In the morning there could be no trace left of the freezing. He then rubbed his hands with delight, and then poured in the chemical proportions wherein lay the secret of his discovery. Having done this, he went back to his room and laid the two connecting wires of his apparatus side by side upon the instrument. It was now nine o'olock. He turned the gas up to a full blaze to disperse the shadows, took an easy chair, and determined to read until Dean's return, The silence of the house became unbearable, and the sultriness of the apartment more and more oppressive. His excitement began to tell upon him, and he was no longer cool. The man who is about to kill Buffers more pangs than he who knows he is about to die. Croftly paced up and down tho apartment, aud then a strange fascination drew him toward the bath. He entered the room again and stood gazing into the motionless water in the tank, and murmured to himself, 'Four hundred and eighty cubic feet, five hundred omes,

There was a gas jet above the tank, and its faint glow was reelected in the water. To Croftly the atmosphere seemed to have been generated in a blast-furnace. The water looked cool and refreshing. There was yot more than an hour. Croftly turned the catch of the door from force of habit, and, throwing off bis clothes, plunged in. He could discover no disagreeable trace of the chemicals, and once more he felt the delightful sensation of being cool. It was so agreeable that he begun to reflect in his mind whether he would not continue to enjoy the bath and postpone the murder. Suddenly the hall door was slammed, and he heard the voice of Miss Armstrong talking with her father. The pair had indeed returned, having left the theatre because they did not care to be bored with Mrs Bowers's hackneyed rendering of Queen Elizabeth. Passing along the hall, they saw the professor's door open, and the gas in full blast. Armstrong hated to see anything go to waste, and told his daughter to go in and lower the gas, as the room was unoccupied. Miss Armstrong went in, as directed, and her father passed upstairs. While alone the girl could not resist the temptation to pull a little note from her bosom and read it again. She had received it that morning, and had already perused it about twenty times. It read —■

' Dear Alice, —Will you be my wife ?' ' yours, 'Edavaed Dean.' Dean was a young man who, when he had anything to say, said it at once, and stopped on reaching the point. She pored over the letter about five minutes, and then returning it to its place, looked about her. Her eye presently fell on the instrument connected with Oroftly's battory. She took up one of the wires, and was about to lay it on the other and see if there would be a shock, when her courage failed her, and she dropped it across its mate. A spark flashed out, which startled her. She drew back, lowered the glass, and went to bed. At the inhtant the wires were connected, Croftly was in the centre of the bath. A shock and terrible chill passed through his frame, and he felt a cloud of vapor rising from the surface of the water, and sweeping into his face. Myriads of spear-like crystals shot out from the edge < f the tank and converged toward him like so many shafts of de*.th. ife'realised his situation, and dashed to reach the steps j as he did so he threw himself aghast t*--e jagged edjies of a sheet of joe ha'f an inch thick. There was a frightful gafch in his side, from which blood was Ktreaming. Mo struggled madly amid the ice, and every throe brought fresh wounds ITii limbs moved no longer in the water, they were onvnoped in tliuh The ice closed about him like a vice. Etc was dead. After the evaporation of the ohemieala the electricity no longer had any effect, and the heat of tho room began, to tell upon the 100.

The mass melted, and by four o'clock in tho morning the corpse of Croftly was floating upon the surface of the bath. He was not missed until nine o'clock next morning, when Dean burst open the door and found him as described.

The rest i* unknown. The jury gave a verdict of suicide, and Miss Armstrong and Edward Dean were married on the 22nd of tho same month.