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About The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1881)
I-.' - . 1. 0 -I- . THE" NEW. NOBTHWEST, THITBSDAY JULY, 21, 1881. 1 ' TH E CRYSTAL MAN.- ' I , . . .. 1 Rapidly turning. Into the Fifth avnue from one of the croea street above the old reeervolr? t quarter past il o'clock on the night of November 6, 1879, 1 rn plump Into an Individual coming the other way. .v It was Very dark on this corner. I could aee nothing of the person with whom I had the honor to be In collision. Nevertheless, the quick habit of a mind accustomed to induction had furnished me with several well-defined facts regarding him before I fairly mSjvere from the shock of the en-counter.;;.- . -' . These were some of the facts j He was a heavier man than myself, and stirrer In the legs; but he lacked precisely three inches and a half jut my stature. He wore a silk hat,V cape or, cloak of heavy woolen materia, and rubber overshoe or Amerlcareducatetfat a German university, either Helde1brgor Freiburg, naturally of hasty temper, J but considerate and courteous in ins ueuieaiior 10 other. He was not entirely at peace with aoci present errand which he desired to conceal, How did I know all this when I had not seen the strangerr and when only a single .monosylla ble had escaped hiJi ? Well, 1 knew that he. was stouter than myself, and ' firmer on his fttk because It was J. not he. w ho recoiled. I knew that X was Just three Inches and a halMaller thanl4n -suiUt-of-jny philosophy, a fool to pine oa bis account. In Bliss' opinion all scientific men were more or less foohv.. '--. ......v- , .... - uu - . That year I ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Blisses. In the evening I sought to astonish the company by reciting the mysterious events on the night - of mjr collision with the stranger. The story failed, to produce the expected sensation. Two or three odious- people exchanged glances. Iandora, who was unusually pensive, listened with seeming Indifference. Her father,-In his stupid Inability .to grasp anything outside .the commonplace, laughed outright, and evenent so far. as to question my trustworthiness as an ob serveof phenoroena .. Somewhat net tied," Ind jperhap a little shaken in my own faith iu the marvel, I made an excuse, to withdraw early. 1'andora accompanied roe to Ihff-threshold. x Your story," said she, "inter ested me, strangely. I too could report occur rences In and about thj house which would sur prise you. '1 believe lam not wholly in the dark. The sorrowful pant casta a glimmer of light but let us not le,haty. ; For my sake probe the mat- vTlie young woman sighed as she. bade me good-' night.. I thought I heard a second sigh, in a dcct er gone J h a n hers, a hd top d i st I net to be a reJ verberatlon. , . . ... . -. I legan to go down stairs. Before I had de- fty there wa-omethtng- in hi- life-or In hl4l-half-adozenjtep, I felt a mail's hand laid rather , heavily' upon my shoulder from be hind. My nrst Idea was that Jills had loiioweti me into the hall to apologize for his rudeness. I turned around to meet hi friendly overture. No body was in sigtt. - "-- -"-' ' Again the hand touched my arm. I shuddered he. for the tin of mv nose was still tingling from It.innt.Kl wild th. atltr .h.rn tirlm nf hi hut My hand, involuntarily raised, had come under the edge of bis cape, lie wore rubber shoes, for I had not beard a footfall. ' To an observant ear the Indications of age are as plain in the tones of the . voice as to the eye in the lines of the countenance. In the first moment of exasperation at my mal adroitness,. he. had muttered "Ox P? a term that would occur to uobody except a German at such a time. The pronunciation of the guttural, how ever, ioiu me him l me inrstrr waa an Aiorncin German, not a German American, and that his German education had been derived south of the liver Main. Moreover, the tone of the gentleman and scholar was manifest eveu In the utterance of .w in . . I . I . l . f- I harry, out tor some reason anxious to remain un- W wjmi n w.a. a. Anna I n.lin i1r.ufn Mnnm .ika . f.l . thst. aftpr listnlnir In lilrnrH to mv tmllta stml. ogy, he stooped to recover and restore to me my umbrella, and then passed on, as noiselessly as tie ' ' bad approached. I make it a point to verify my conclusions when possible; sol turned hack into the cross street and louoweu i ne stranger toward a lamp part way down the block.- Certainly I was not more than Jive seconds behind him. There was no other road that he could have taken. No house door had opened and closed along the way. And yet, r when we came Into the light, the form that ought to have been dlrcetlv In front of m did not rw i -' pear. - Neither man nor man's shadow was visi ble. .Hurrying on as fast as I could walk to the next casliirht. I paused under the lamn and lis tened. , The street was apparently deserted. The : ys from the yellow flame readied onhra little way Into the darkness. The steps and Joorwsv. 1 and arholsrlv hibits. A wood Are was hiirnliur in 1 "1.A..i.a.." AJ . I . 1. - 1. . , i I n & i i ,. tm t a I uuwticr, ui mv uiii w ii'Biuilc llftuse ISCIIlg H'C street lamp were sufficiently Illuminated. The - gilt figures above the door were distinct. I recog ' nixed the house ; the number was a familiar one. While I stood under the gaslight, waiting, I heard a slight noise on these steps, and the click of a keV I II m. Inrk- TllM Vuxlihlllu Antim n lhaliaiiu was slowly oiened and then closed with a slam that echoed acrmsjtt) Jtreet. Almost Immedi- ately followed the sound of the opening and shut ting of the Inner door. Nobody had come' out. r Aa far as my eye could be trusted to report an event hardly ten feet away and In broad light, no body had gone In. . ... V 1th a notion that here was scanty material for an exact application of the Inductive proems, I stood a long time wildly guesMlug t the phi low phy of the sirs litre occurrence.- 1 felt that vairtie aense of the unexnlaliiahle which amount almoxt read. It WUg g n-lk-I to lu-ar steiwon thsidf- walk opposite, and, turning, to see a policeman winging hit long night club and watching me.- a : ' "IT1'":..- - . ' . This house of chocolate brown, whose front door opened and shut at midnight without Indications . of human agency, was, as I have said, well known to me. I had left it not more than ten minutes earlier, after se tiding the evening with my friend uiiss anq his aaugiuer i'anaorar The house was of it he sort In which each storr constitutes a domicile complete In Itself. The second floor. or flat, had been Inhabited by Bliss since his return from abroad, thst Is to say. for a twelvemonth. I held Bliss In esteem for his ex cellent qualities of heart, while his deplorably il logical and unscientific mind commanded my profound pity. I adored Pandora. Be good enough to understand that my admira tion for Pandora Bliss was hopeless, ami not only hopeless, but resigned to Its hopelessness. Ju our circle of acquaintance there was a tacit covenant -that t lyong-l ally's preti I inr-TwxItfon-Tis flirt Wedded to a . memory should lie at all times re spected. We adored 1'andora mildly, not passion-ately--Jit enough to feeil her coquetry without excoriating tho wnrtil surface of her widowed t heart. On her part, ruhdora onductei herwlf With signal proi.rlel3'. Mietlld not sigh too ob trusively when she flirted; and she always kept ner lunations a well in haiui Mist she could cut them short whenever the fond, sad recolU'otlon came welling up., , It was conilderel proper for us to tell Pandora that she owed it to her yooth nnd beauty to put aside the dead iiat like a cloned lnok. and to unn?ljJeJnic :tierlVKwfmiy-tn-Trme forth Into the living -present, " It was not considered Proif r to press the subject after slu had oitco replied Xhat this was forever Impossible. " , - , . r The particulars of thelraglc eplsoile In Mjss lv 1 1 . 1 ' liiiamiA.ia .aW lui.li.n.in ma k ma. afe k lately known to us. It was underrtood. In Vague way, that she had loved while abroad, and trifled with her lover; that he had disappeared, leaving her In ignorance of hi fate and In perpet ual remorse for her capricious behavior. From Bliss I had gathered at times a few sporadic facts, not coherent enough to form a hiftory of the case. There .was no reason to Itelleve that Pandora's lover hsd committed suicide, Hit, name-waa &Wail(."Hewas a st'fetUjfle man. In Bliss' opfn-J pmxlmste principles of th?Jlp.idctJl.-CO --tiwaKjDOirtrCTW ae wiie it Hfe ijlifmate1 "elemeutsT Tlds time the hand arently Pulled at my coal- sleeve, as if to jnvite me up stairs. . I asceuded a step or two and the pressure on my arm was re laxed. I paused; and the silent Invitation was re peated with an urgency that left no doubt as to what was wanted. . We mounted the stairs togetlier, the presence leading the way, I following. What an extraor dinary journey it was! The halls were bright with gaslight, liy the testimony or my, eyes mere was no one but myself upon the stair wsy. Clos ing my eyes, the illusion, if Illusion It could be called, was perfect. 1 could hear the creaKing oi the stairs ahead of me, the sort but distinctly audible footfalls synchronous with my own, even the regular breathing of mv companion and gulde-J5x tending my arm," icould touch and finger the skirt or his garment a heavy woolen cloak lined with silk. -y - (-Suddenly I opened my eye. They told me agsln that I was absolutely alone. Tills problem then presented itself to mind:,, How to determine whether vision was playing me false, while the sense of hearing and feeling cor rectly Informed me, or whether my ears and touch' lied, while my eyes. reported the truth. -Who shall be arbiter when the sense contradict each other? The reasoning faculty ? Reason was In clined to recognize the presence of an Intelligent being, whose existence waa flatly denied by the most trusted of the sense. - -. We reached the topmostfloor of the house.The door leading ont of the public hall opeued for me, apparently of Its own accord. A curtain within seemed to draw Itself aside; and hold Itself aside long enougn to give me Ingres to an apartment wherein every appointment spoke of good taste the chimney-place. - The wall were covered with book and picture. The lounging chairs were capacious and Inviting. There was nothing in the room uncanny, nothing weird, nothing differ ent from the furniture of every -day flesh and blood existence. '' By ''this time I had cleared my mind of the last lingering suspicion of.Jhe supernatural. These rihenomena were perhaps not Inexplicable. All hat I lacked was the key. . The behavior of my unseen host argued his amicable disposition. I was able to watch with perfect calmness a series of manifestations of Independent energy on the part of lnanimate objects. ' In the first place, a great Turkish easy. chair wheeled itseii out or a corner or the room and aw iroachcd the hearth. Then a 4uare-backel Jueeii Anne- chair .started -from another corner, the first. A little tripod table lifted Itself a few Inches above the floor and took a position lietween the-two chalrsi A hick"ictavof volume; backed out of ifsdace on the shelf and nailed tranquilly through the air at the height of three or four feet, landing' neatly on top of the table. jA finely I tain ted porclalr!pe, left the hook on the wall and Joined the volume. A tobacco-box Jumped from the mantelpiece. The door of a' cabinet swung open, and a decanter and wineglass made theJonrneTlnrcompanyrarrivIng simultaneously at the same destination. . Kverythlngln theroonr sH'med Instinct with the spirit or hospitality. I seated myself in the easy .chair,' filled the wineglass. Ugh tod the pipe and examined the vol ume. It was the MHandbuch der Gewebelehre" of Bussiusof Vienna. When I had replaceil the Utok upon the table, It deliberately opened Itself at the four hundred and forty-thirtf page. " ou are not nervous 7" demanded a voice, not tour reel rrom my tympanum. This voice had a familiar sound. I recognised It as the voice which I heard In the street on the fnlght tf N orembermhTwhcrr ir TOtledtnirafl Mr ".No," I said ; "I am not nervous. I am a man of science,' accustomed to regard all phenomena as explainable by natural laws, provided we can dis cover the laws. No, I am not frightened." '"So much the letter. You are a hfan of science, like myself here the voice groaned ua man of 'nerve, and a friend of Pandora's." - , v r.- "Pardon, me," I , interpoed. - "Since a ladv's PAine is IhtriMlucetl, it would' be well to know with whom or with what I am speaking." "That Is precisely what I-desire to communi cate," replied the voice, "before I ak you to ren- u-grea t-ser vice: si y-namei 4. or wa Stephen Flsck. Ijim or-have been citizen of the lu 1 ted Males. My exact status at present Is as great a myt-tcyjo myself as it can posslbly-be to you. But I am ori an honest than and a gentleman, and I offer you my hand." ever, and it met the pressure or warmpiivtng flngrrs., "Now," resumed the voice, after this silent pact of friendship, "be good enoughjo read the passage at which 1 have opened the book upon the table." Here Is a rough translation of what I rvad In German: -; v "As the color of the organic tissues constituting 1 lhe Jbody.Ale panda . upon lh presence do.xertaia. follow that the hue may vary according to well defined chemlco-phylologlcal change. An ex cea of ba?matln In the blood globule give a ruddier tinge to every tlwae. The mUnkn ' , i color the choroid of the eye, the Irl, the hair, may be increased or diminished according to law recently formulated by Scbarfil of Basel. In the rplderm Is the exces of melanlne makes the negro, the dellclent upply the albino. The ha?matlne and the melanlne, together with the greenish yellow blllverdlne and the reddish-yellow urosa cine, are the pigment which Impart color charac ter to tissue otherwise transparent, pr nearly so. I deplore my Inability to record the, result of some highly Interesting histological experiment con ducted by that indefatigable Investigator, roliker of Freiburg, who Is said to have achieved amaz ing success in the way of coloration and discolora tion of the human body by chemical njeaus.'L "For five years," continued my unseen compan ion, when I had finished readiug."I waa Irol Iker' student and laboratory assistant at Frei burg. Busslu only half guessed at .the import ance of our experiments. We reacbtfd resulW which were so astounding' that public policy re quired they should not be publUhed, eveu to the scientific world. Froliker died a year ago-last Augustr--r'-"'-- ---- -- 1 had faith In the genius of this great thinker aoddmirable inaOi- If ImmI rewarded iny-nn questioning loyalty with lull confidence, I should not now be a miserable wretch. But his natural reserve, and the Jealousy with which all savants guard their unverified results, kept me Ignorant of . the essential -formuhe governing. our experi ments. As his disciple, I was familiar with the' laboratory detail of the work; the master alone possessed the radical secret. - The consequence is that I have been led Into a misfortune more ap lalllng than has beenlhe lot of any human being since the primal curse fell upon Cain. "Our eff orts were at first directed to the enlarge ment amrVarlatldntof theqtiantlty of pigmentary matter in the system. By increasing the propor tion of melanlne, for instance, conveyed in food to the blood, we. were able to make a fair man dark, a dark man black as an African. There waa scarcely a hue. we could not impart to the skin by modifying and varying our combinations. The experiments were usually tried on me. At differ ent timet J had been copper-colored, violet-blue, crimson aud chrome-yellow. For one triumphant week I exhibited In my person all the colors of the rainbow. There still remains a witness to the interesting character of our work during this e voice paused, and In a few seconds a hand- bell upon the mantel was sounded. Presently an old'man with a close-fitting skull cap shuffled Into the room. - v ' JL'Kaspar," said the voice, in German, "show the gentleman your hair." - - " . ' ' Without manifesting any surprise, and as If perfectly accustomed to receive commands ad dressed to him out of .vacancy, the old domestic bowed and removed his cap. The scanty lock thus discovered were of a lustrous emerald-green. J expressed my astonishment. "The gentleman And your hair Very beautiful." said the voice, again in uerman. "mat is an, Kaspar.". j - ' Ileplaclng his cap, the domestic withdrew, with a look of gratified vanity on his face. - . "Old Kaspar was Froliker' servant and I now mine. He was the subject of one of the first ap plications of the process. ' The worthy man Was so pleased wlttv the result tnat nejvouid. never rrmlt"uslo restore to his hair Its original red. lie Is a faithful soul, and my only intermediary and representative in the visible world.. VNow' continued Flack, 4Uo the story of my undoing. The great histologist with whom it was my privilege to be associated next turned his at tention :ta another-and- still-more Interesting branch of the Investigation. Hitherto he had sought merely to Increase or to modify the pig ments In the tissues. ll now began a- series of experiments aa to thepossibi!ity of eliminating those pigments altogether from the system by ab sorption, exudation, and the use of the chlorides and other chemical agents acting on organic mat ter. He was only too successful! - "Again I was the subject of experiments which Froliker supervised, imparting to me-only so much oi the secret or ins processes as was un 11 i n avoidable. KoryaTkaataainie I remained Trtityfll urlvafe laboratory, seeing no one and seen by no one excepting the professor aud the trustworthy Kaiar. J lerr-r roMker proceeded witn caution, closely watching the effect of each- new test, and advancing by degrees. He never went so far in one experiment that he was unable to withdraw at discretion. He always kept open an easy road for retreat. For that reason I felt myself perfect Iy safe in his hands and submitted to whatever he required.- i -"..,, -,-'' - . "I'-nder the aetlorrpf the etiolating drugsrwhlclrf inei'roiessor administered in connection witn powerful detergents, I became at first pale, white, colorless' as an albino, but without suffering in. general health. My hair and beard looked like spun glass and my skin like marble The Pro fessor was satisfied with his results, and went, no further at this time. He restored me to my nor mal color. . .- - "In the next experiment and In those sueceed- LLlng, he allowed his chemical agent to take firmer hold upon. the tissues of my body. I became not not only white, like a bleached man, but slightly trapslucent7inte"an(rcelal rf.Tlgu&r'ienagaiu he paused for a while, giving me back my color and allowing me to go forth into the world. Two months Inter I was more than transluceut. You have seen floating those sea radhte,the medusie or Jelly tlh, -their outlines almost invisible to the eye; Welt, I became In the air like a Jelly fish in the water. Almost perfectly transparent, Vwa only by close inspection that old Kaspar could discover my whervalMiuts in the room when he came to bring me food." It was Kasr who niin Utered tuny wants at times wheu I was clois tered." - ttntryTTOrr'thtng4?"- I"tnntmTniiterruplIng Flack's narrative. "That must have stood out in stniug -tntrat with the dim aspect of your body." "Ah. no," said Flack. 'Tlie spectacle of an ap parently empty suit, or clothes moving about the laboratory was too grotesque even for the grave r'roressor. tar mm protection nr ma gravity he was obliged to devise a way to apply his process to dead organic matter, ucu aa the wool of my cloak, the cotton of my shirts, and the leather of my shoes. v Thus I came to be equipped with the outfit which still serve me. "It wa at this stage of our progress, when we had almost attained perfect transparency, and therefore complete Invisibility, that I met landorav t,"tt1'uur experimenting, and at a time when ;T pre-" sented my natural appearance, I went Into the Bc.b-W?f?rVd t""pte. I first saw and ad! mired 1'andora at the little village of St. Blaslen They had entne from the Fall jtt the Khlnerand were traveling north ; I turned around and trav. eled north. At the Stern Inn I loved Pandora at the .ummlt of the Feldberg I madly worshiped her.,:n,the -Hollenpaaa I was ready to sacrifice my life for a gracious word from her lips. On liornisgrinde I besought her permission to throw myself from the top of the mountain Into the gloomy water of , the. JJummelsee In order to prove my devotion, . You know Pandora, since you know her there 1 no need to apologize for the rapid growth of my Infatuation. She wa charm ing., , She flirted with nie, laughed, with me laughed at me, drove, with me, walked with me through byway In the green wood, climbed with me up acclivities sa steep that eiimblmr inirttkAV , was one delicious, prolongei embrace; talked scl- encerwitn ,me, and sentiment; listened to my hopes and enthusiasms, snubbed me, froze nie: raaddeneti me all at her sweet will, and all while her matter-of-fact pupa dozed In the coffee-rooms of the inns over the ilnanclal columns of the latent New York newspaper. But whether she loved 'me I know not to this day. .. ;...:..., r"rWhen Pandora's father learned what my pur suits were, and what niy propect, he brought -our little-idyl to-an abrupt teiTOtmrtlonrtlhink" he classed me somewhere Itelow the professional jugglers anu me qiiacK-nociors. lHjVant l ex plained to him that I should tie famous and prpW ably rich. 'When you -are famous and rlch,',he remarked, with a grin, I shan't? p1eaed to see '--you at my oflUt; in Broad street.' He carried Pandora off to Pari, and I returned to Freiburg. 'A few weeks later, one bright afternoon in Au- gust, I stood in Froliker laboratory unseen by j four 'person who were almost within the radius of my arm's length. Kaspar was, behind me, wash ing some test tubes. Froliker, with a proud smile upon his face, was gazing Intently at the place where he knew I ought to be. Two brother pw fessors, summoned on some pretext, were uncon sciously almoct Jostling me with their elbows as they discussed I know not what trivial question. They could have heard my heart beat. 'By the Way, Herr Professor,' one asked, as he was about ' to depart, 'has your assistant. Herr Flacky 'rev turned from his vacation?' The test was perfect, "A, soon as we were . alone, Professor- Froliker grasped my invisible hand a you have grasped it to-night. He was in high spirits. lily dear feljow,' he saidr-'to-morrow-crown i- . - ii . ' . our wurw lou snaii, appear or ratner noi ap pear before the assembled Faculty of the Univer sity I. have-telegraphed invitations to Heidel- berg, to Bonn, to Berlin, rkhrotter, Haeckelr Steinmetz, Lavalle will be there. - Our triumpli. will be in presence of the most eminent physicians of the age. I shall then disclose those secret of -our process which I have hitherto withheld even -from you. my co-laborer and trusted friend. ' But yon shall share the glory. .What J this I hear about the forest bird that has flown? My boy, fou shall be restocked -.with pigment ana feo to -arls to seek her with fame In your hands and the blessing of Science on your head.' ' "The next morning, the 19th of August, before I ' ' had risen from my cot bed, Kaspar hast liy entered" the laboratory.' - " '"Herr Flack ! Herr Flack V he gasped, 4the Herr Doctor Professor is dead of apoplexy.' " : never I Th narratl v liad ome to a end. J aat a long time thinking. 'What could I do? What could I saji? In what shape could I offer consolation to this unhappy man? Flack, the Invisible, was sobbing bitterly. He was the first to speak. ; . . "it Is hard, hard, hard I For no crime. In the eyes of man, for no sin In the sight of God, I have been condemned, to a fate ten thousand timet worse than hell. I must walk the earth, a man, living, seeing, loving, like . other men, while be tween nie and all that make life worth having -there is a barrier fixe I forever. Even, ghosts have shapes. My life Is living death : my existence ob livion. No friend can look me In the face. Were I to clasp to my breast the woman I love, it would oply be to Inspire terror inexpressible.' I see her almost every da y. I brush against her skirts arl pass her on the sta Irs.- Did si) eJ.Qi ejmLCX-JJocs-she love me? Would not that knowledge make the curse still more cruel? Yet It was to learn' thf truth flint I hifititrht vnn lirt - Then I made the greatest mistake nf my life. "Cheer up !" I said, "pandora has a I way loveoV you." ' By the sudden overturning of the table I knew witn. what vehemence Flack sprang to his feet. His two hands held my shoulders In a fierce grip. "Yes,'JI continued ; "Pandora has been faithful to jjMirjiiemory. Thcrw Is no-rcnsnn"'ln tlexpair- The secret of r router's process, died witn mm, but whv should It not lie nnllncovcWNl bv experi ment and Induction aft initio, with' the aid which J'ou can render? Have courage and hope. She oveeyour Iu five minutes you shall hear It from her own lips." ' . ' . No wall of pain that I ever heard was half so pathetic as his wild cry ofloy. I hurried down stairs and summoned Miss Blis Into the hall. In a few words I explained the sit uation. To my surprise, she neither fainted nor went into hysterics. ' . , 2'rtainlyr wJjraciropanytou, with a smile which I could not then I interpret. She followed nie into Flack's room, calmly scrutinizing every corner of the apartment, with the set smile still un her face.. Had she been entering a ball-room, she could not have shown a greater self-poHseHslon.She.roanlfeeted no aMon- Uhnient, no terror, when her hand was seized by InviMible hand and covered with kisses from In visible Hps. she listened with composure to the torrent of loving and caressing words which my. unfortunate friend poured into her ears. 'Perplexed and uneasy, I watched the strange ecene l!riscntJyMbssJiUsawJthdreW Jierha nd. 'Jleally, Mr. Flack," she said, with a HsV? laugh, "you are suillcichtly demonstrative. Did-r you acquire the habit on the Continent?" "Pandora !" I heard him say. "I do not under- ImimI " "Perhaps," she calmly went on, "you regard It as one of the privileges of our l"lblllty. nie c?ngratulate you on the success or your eXr -l . .I.... man lirf KOr what Is hi name? must be. ou can make a fortune by exhibiting yourself." ; . Wa this the woman who for month had paraded her Inconsolable eorrow.for the loss of this very maii ? I wa stupefied. Who shall undertake to n.lrt. Iha MnllvM nf Annll.lUT What BClcnCC prpiufouiul eunuglftu unravel fierTDmconscionable "Pandora J" he exclaimed again, In a bewildered ' "t ' (.
