looking very blooming, I assure you, and we have had a delightful trip.
I found that a short holiday was quite necessary for my health, and,
oddly enough, I just hit off the _Orotava_ at Gibraltar. That overland
service is very useful. So I thought I would come in and let you know
how Nancy was."
There was a moment's tense silence, during which they looked at each
other steadily, Lumsden with a touch of cold mirth twinkling in his
handsome eyes.
"Well?" she said, with a half-mocking smile, while a great triumph
swelled within her.
Lumsden laughed.
"Well, shall I tell you how Nancy found her fate--and I mine? But that
is a stale story. I found mine long ago, but somehow I never quite
realised it till----"
"Yes?"
"That day at Paddington."
"Ah! Well, Ted--I suppose I may call you Ted?--of course you must speak
to Colonel Bladon. For myself, Nancy must always please herself, and
her choice is mine. Now I can see how delightful the voyage must have
been to you both. You are very clever, Ted."
He laughed happily.
"Is all the credit mine, Mrs. Bladon? I fancy not. Perhaps I may see
Colonel Bladon and ask you for a cup of tea."
To Colonel Bladon the whole thing seemed inexplicable.
"You sent the child away from the fellow," he said, sleepily, after
Lumsden had left, "and now that they have fallen into each other's arms
you are delighted. The inconsistencies of woman! Their name is legion."
"How dense you are, Roger! Don't you see that things might have hung
fire if it hadn't been for that trip abroad?"
Colonel Bladon sat up and looked at his wife.
"By Jove! You're a clever woman."
And she was.
[Illustration: THE START--HOW THE AMERICAN ENGINE LOOKED AT 7 A.M.]
AN ENGINE MATCH BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
A WORLD'S RECORD FOR ENGLAND.
BY FREDERICK A. TALBOT.
That anomalous principle, friendly rivalry, which exists between the
various railway companies of the world, is responsible for many
extraordinary performances.
One of the most interesting, and certainly one of the most curious, of
these has been the attempt by three different companies--two on this
side of the water, and one on the other--to erect a locomotive in less
than twenty-four hours, and so far the palm has to be awarded to an
English company.
By building is simply meant the assembling of the thousand and one
intricacies that constitute the iron steed of to-day, and not the
manufacture of these innumerable parts, as it is perfectly obvious,
even to the most uninitiated, that such a feat is absolutely
impossible, under the present circumstances, in such a brief space of
time. The accomplishment of such brilliant performances, however,
speaks volumes for the skill, efficiency, and pride of the men engaged
in such herculean tasks; the organisations of the railroads; the good
feeling prevalent between the masters and the men; and lastly, but by
no means least, the splendid standard of perfection attained by the
gigantic machinery for the execution of the work with precision and
thorough regard to gauge, thus enabling the parts to fit as accurately,
and move as smoothly, as the cog-wheels of a watch.
The first record-breaking in this direction was attempted so far back
as February 1878, by J. Deans, the well-known engineer of the London
and North-Western Railway, and the engineering works of this company at
Crewe. The class of engine selected for the operations was one of their
standard coupled six-wheeled goods engines.
[Illustration: THE ENGINE AT 12 O'CLOCK, AFTER 5 HOURS' WORK.]
The engine was taken out of the erecting shop, complete in every
detail, having been erected in the extremely short time of 25 hours 30
minutes. It may be as well to mention that only the actual working
time devoted to the engines is considered, and although about two and a
half days elapsed before the engine was completed, only 25-1/2 hours
were really occupied in its erection. That same day the engine ran a
trial trip, and was afterwards sent back to the shops for a final coat
of paint.
[Illustration: RESULT OF 10 HOURS' WORK ON THE ENGINE.]
Some ten years elapsed after the establishment of this record before
another effort was made to erect an engine within twenty-four hours. On
this occasion it was the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, one of the
largest railroad companies in the United States, possessing over 8,000
miles of railway track, which is about equal in extent to almost three
of our leading railway systems combined. The engine selected on this
occasion was also a tank of the light passenger type, with cylinders 17
inches in diameter and a 24-inch stroke, driving wheels 62 inches in
diameter, and with a total weight when in complete working order of
96,300 lbs., or about 43 tons. It was erected under the supervision of
Mr. F. L. Sheppard, General Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, at the company's works at Altoona, Pennsylvania.
[Illustration: FINISHED!--THIS ENGINE WAS BUILT IN 16 HOURS 50
MINUTES.]
Although in this instance the engine was a little more complicated than
that erected at Crewe, owing to the bogie-wheel provision in the fore
part of the engine, it cannot be said, on the whole, to have been such
a brilliant performance as that accomplished at Crewe; for whereas in
the London and North-Western sheds, when the commencement was made, the
frame plates were simply lying on the trestles without any attachments
of any description whatever, at the Altoona works, when operations were
commenced at 7 a.m. on Monday, June 18th, 1888, not only were the
frame plates in position, duly riveted or bolted, and complete with
cross bars, but the cylinders were also accurately placed.
[Illustration: GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY ENGINE AFTER 3 HOURS 52 MINUTES'
WORK.]
Now, considering that in the effort at Crewe these operations alone
occupied over six hours, it is absolutely impossible to place the
Altoona experiment on all fours with the London and North-Western
performance of 1878.
In the case of the American engine the foundations were practically
completed before it entered the erecting shed.
Under these circumstances the first thing that the workmen had to do
was to place the boiler in position upon the prepared frame, which had
the majority of the tubes and fittings in position before it was placed
in the hands of the engine-erectors. At twelve o'clock noon, however,
after five hours' work, it was safely fixed, and the hardest part of
the undertaking was thus successfully accomplished. Up to this stage,
as will be seen from the illustrations, the whole of the engine so far
erected was resting upon those little unpretentious, though
indispensable, mechanical contrivances--jacks. These had now to be
removed to make way for the wheels which were ready waiting to be
inserted. Part of the motion was also installed, as well as the
cow-catcher and cab.
[Illustration: GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY ENGINE BUILT IN 8 HOURS 22
MINUTES.]
While these operations were in progress, an army of painters had
entered upon the scene with their pots and brushes, and soon were
displaying the arts of their craft upon the barrel of the boiler. The
change of colour between the painted and unpainted portions is easily
distinguishable in our illustration on page 652.
[Illustration: A FOUR HOURS OLD TENDER.]
When the men arrived at their work at seven o'clock on the following
morning, they had only to put the finishing touches to the engine, such
as the funnel, dome, the remainder of the motion, and other minor
adjustments, while the painters gave the entire engine a complete coat
of paint. At ten minutes to three in the afternoon of the same day the
engine was completed, with steam up ready for trial, having been
erected in 16 hours 50 minutes, thus beating the London and
North-Western record by some eight and a half hours; and although it
cannot be contrasted with the accomplishment at Crewe, yet it is still
a wonderful performance.
The English locomotive builders, however, were determined to wrest the
laurels away from the American company, and thus retrieve their
paramount position. In December 1891, the Great Eastern Railway
Company, which has been the pioneer in many ramifications pertaining to
railway matters, entered the field of the competition, and succeeded in
establishing a record which completely eclipses the wonderful
performances at Crewe and Altoona. In this last instance an engine was
erected in the phenomenally short time of ten hours. The Great Eastern,
however, besides lowering one record, created another at the same time.
In the previous efforts, the engines erected had been only tanks, but
the latest competitors beat the record with an engine and tender!
[Illustration: THIS TENDER WAS BUILT IN NINE HOURS.]
The engine erected was one of the six-wheel coupled goods type, of
which there are between two and three hundred in existence already upon
the Great Eastern Railway system. The cylinders are 17-1/2 inches in
diameter, with a stroke of 24 inches, while the coupled wheels are 57
inches in diameter. When running in complete working order, the engine
itself weighs 37 tons 2 cwt., augmented to 67 tons 12 cwt. with the
tender. The latter has a capacity for 2,640 gallons of water, and three
tons of coal.
The engineering works of the company at Stratford was the scene of the
remarkable engineering feat conducted under the superintendence of Mr.
James Holden, the designer of the style of engine selected, and also
the chief engineer to the Great Eastern Railway.
The commencement was made at eight minutes past nine on the morning of
Thursday, December 10th. The start was similar to that at Crewe, with
the frame plates lying on the ground with nothing more attached to them
than the horn blocks and spring brackets. The number of men employed in
constructing the engine was 85, including 39 fitters, assisted by 3
boys, 2 smiths, and 44 boiler makers, riveters, etc.
At eleven minutes after the word was given to commence, the first rivet
was driven into the frames; nine minutes later, the foot-plate casting
was fixed, and at twenty-six minutes after the start the motion plate
was placed in position. The cylinders came next, and occupied another
fifty minutes for their insertion in the requisite place.
At twelve o'clock, when the men left off work for their dinner, they
had been four hours all but eight minutes upon the task.
It will be seen in our illustration that the fundamental parts of the
base of the engine are completed, while the wheels are standing on the
rails at the foremost end ready for adjustment. These were inserted
soon after the men resumed operations after dinner, the frame of the
engine being raised by means of the jacks to a height sufficient to
allow the wheels being rolled along to the necessary position. The axle
boxes, connecting-rod, and coupling-rod brasses were shortly afterwards
fixed.
Previous to the installation of the wheels, the boiler was brought into
the shed and mounted upon the frame. It was without the smoke-box, cab,
or copings, which had to be fixed subsequently. At 4.15 p.m. the men
were engaged in setting the valves, which task was still incomplete
when they ceased work for the day, after 8 hours 22 minutes had been
expended upon the engine. The engine at this stage is represented in
our illustration, being, as will be seen, almost complete.
The next morning, when work was recommenced at six o'clock, the valve
setting was continued, not being completed until seven o'clock. The
painters now appeared, the engineers placed the finishing touches, and
at ten minutes past nine, 9 hours 47 minutes from the start, the engine
was complete.
[Illustration: THE GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY BEAT THE WORLD'S RECORD BY
PUTTING THIS ENGINE AND TENDER TOGETHER IN 9 HOURS 47 MINUTES.]
While this hive of workmen were engaged upon the engine, another army
of workers were just as busily engaged upon the erection of the tender.
The men worked away with a will, and in four hours they had the tender
half completed, and succeeded in finishing their entire task
three-quarters of an hour before their fellow workmen engaged on the
engine. Fifty-two men were engaged upon the erection of the tender,
comprising sixteen fitters, the same number of boiler-makers, and
twenty labourers, riveters, etc.
As soon as the engine was finished it was connected with the tender and
taken out of the shops to be photographed. Meanwhile, steam had been
supplied, and later in the same day the trial trip was performed. This
being satisfactory in every particular, the engine was immediately
placed upon the regular goods service running between Peterborough and
London.
NATURE'S DANGER-SIGNALS.
A STUDY OF THE FACES OF MURDERERS.
BY J. HOLT SCHOOLING.
[Member of Lord Egerton of Tatton's Committee on the Mental
and Physical Condition of Children.]
[Illustration: 1. JAMES CANHAM READ, THE SOUTHEND MURDERER.]
[Illustration: 2. KATE WEBSTER, WHO KILLED HER MISTRESS.]
If you walk along the Strand from Charing Cross to Temple Bar, and back
to Charing Cross on the other side of the street, any day at an hour
when London hums with life, you probably meet at least one man who has
either done a murder or who will do murder before he dies. Perhaps his
shoulder rubs yours, or, in the jostle, you kick his heel; perhaps you
catch a passing glance from a pair of sinister eyes that somehow causes
you to feel a moment's vague uneasiness, or, as is more likely, you
walk unconscious of a possible contact with murder--but it's there.
[Illustration: 3. CHARLES PEACE AS "MR. THOMPSON" THE ENTERTAINER.]
I do not now refer to persons tricked into committing murder by the
perfidy of circumstances (such persons, for example, as the old man
Viney and the young woman Shoosmith, both lately respited), to many of
whom a fatal provocation has come at a moment of weakness or of
passion, and who, but for that unsought provocation, would have been
free from murder; but I do now refer to those men and women who are by
nature and inclination callous, scheming, unscrupulous, and insensitive
to any pain or injury inflicted by them upon their fellow-creatures,
and who are merely human beasts of prey.
[Illustration: 4. CHARLES PEACE, SIDE FACE--THE NOTORIOUS ASSASSIN AND
BURGLAR.]
The sense of self-preservation possessed by all animals, but not
possessed in such a high degree, perhaps, by human beings as it is
possessed by many of the lower animals, carries with it an instinctive
recognition of approaching danger from some other animal. Nature does
in many cases, perhaps in all, hold up to us certain danger-signals,
and if we were to let our natural instinct guide us--as dogs and young
children are instinctively guided--we might often avoid grave evils
that come to us from the human beasts of prey: cunning fraud, no less
than actual murder, is not allowed by Nature to walk through the world
without tell-tale evidences of its approach that ought to warn us. But,
as adults, we usually ignore the finer and more delicate suggestions of
our natural instinct, and we are guided much too often by what we think
is "reason," or by what we believe to be our "best interests"--and then
we are more or less mauled, in our pocket or in our person, by one of
the many human beasts of prey, when prompt obedience to our instinct
would have saved us.
Look at these faces. There is not one of them which cannot easily be
more or less closely matched as you walk about the streets of a big
city, or even, but naturally with less frequency, as you notice faces
in country districts. There is, of course, no typical murderer's face.
But all of these faces are bad faces; they warn you off. In some
instances (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8, for example) the danger-signal is so
plain that not even the most casual observer can fail to see it; each
of these faces speaks for itself. In other instances, the warning is
not so plainly shown, especially as in these photographs you cannot see
the colour of the eye and its exact expression; but in no instance does
any one of these faces inspire you with sympathy, they all cause a
feeling of aversion or of distrust; and we, if we are wise, should not
put aside as fanciful that instinct in us which gives to us similar
warnings in everyday life.
[Illustration: 5. J. B. RUSH, THE NORFOLK FARMER AND MURDERER OF MR.
JERMY AND HIS SON.]
Look at No. 5. The points which constitute a danger-signal in this
callous villain's face, occurring as they do in _one face_, are the
massive lower jaw, the thick "blubber" mouth destitute of a shade of
sensitiveness, backed up by the massive and long upper lip, the great
width between the cheek-bones, the broad insensitive nostrils, the
angry forceful shape and angle of the eyebrows, and last, but not of
least importance, a pair of hard, cold, blue eyes without a spark of
feeling in them. All these things, coming as they do in one face, fit
in well with this cold-blooded and insensitive murderer, who, while in
prison on his trial, wrote an order for his dinner: "Pig to-day, and
plenty of plum sauce."
[Illustration: 6. MRS. DYER, THE READING BABY FARMER AND WHOLESALE
MURDERER OF INFANTS.]
[Illustration: 7. JAMES LEE, OF ROMFORD, WHO SHOT CHIEF-INSPECTOR
SIMMONDS, OF THE ESSEX POLICE.]
In No. 7, there are, amongst other bad signs, a coarse and cruel mouth,
great prominence of cheek-bones, and again those terrible hard blue
eyes, as cold as flint.
[Illustration: 8. HENRY FOWLER,]
[Illustration: 9. AND ALBERT MILSOM, THE MUSWELL HILL MURDERERS.]
No. 8 speaks for itself, and you see in No. 9 an abnormal animal
development of the lower jaw, very great width between the cheek-bones,
and the eyes are a cold, treacherous, hard blue.
No. 10 was a French peasant, who, with his wife (see No. 18), lived by
decoying young women, under the pretence of getting them situations,
into a wood near Lyons. When the victims came, Dumollard and his wife
killed them by garrotting, and after taking all valuables, these
wretches put the bodies of the young women into a new-made grave,
previously prepared. This man's face is a dreadful face, and the brow
reminds one of a gorilla. Look at the two faces (Nos. 10 and 18), and
imagine the degree of denseness of perception of approaching danger
that must have been present in the poor victims who would negotiate
with such wretches as these Dumollards.
[Illustration: 10. DUMOLLARD, WHO, WITH HIS WIFE, MURDERED NEARLY
TWENTY YOUNG WOMEN.]
The danger-signal is shown plainly enough in No. 11. This wretch
poisoned a large number of persons for the sake of petty gains with the
unconcern of a farm girl who wrings the necks of poultry. She had
thick-looking, dark brown eyes, muddy and hard.
[Illustration: 11. MARY ANN COTTON, THE POISONER.]
No. 12 is a shocking bad face. The lower jaw runs back a long way and
is then very pronounced--always a sign of animality, although in men of
intellect and feeling this same quality may often be innocuous, and
even useful as supplying energy; the mouth, especially when seen
full-face, is very coarse, and the lips thick and heavy; the nostrils
are very wide at their base, the ears are noticeably bad, and the eyes
are light blue and as hard as a flint.
By the way, and in order to avoid a possible misconception on the part
of my readers who may think I am bringing an indictment against blue
eyes generally, I ought to expressly state that this is not the case.
Many of the kindest and best people living have blue eyes, but their
eyes are not the same sort of blue eyes that nearly all deliberate
murderers have (of the twenty-two persons here included, fourteen have
blue eyes, six brown, and two have hazel eyes): the blue eyes I refer
to must have been noticed by everyone, and must have inspired aversion,
or at any rate a lack of sympathy, for, of all eyes, the hard, cold,
blue eye is perhaps the least human or humane. Some of the finest
soldiers and men of practical affairs have blue eyes, which, without
being in any way unpleasant, are yet those of men who, rightly enough,
never let an undue sensitiveness interfere with their actions. These
men may be honourable and excellent men, but they are essentially
practical, and are guided by their head rather than by their heart, and
they are often of immense service to the nation. Lord Kitchener has
splendidly resolute blue eyes of this sort, but they are entirely
different from the sinister blue eyes that are in nearly all the faces
now shown. The one sort inspires you with confidence, the other with
aversion.
[Illustration: 12. PERCY LEFROY MAPLETON, WHO KILLED MR. GOLD ON THE
BRIGHTON LINE.]
No. 13 is the face of one of the most cold-blooded poisoners that ever
lived. Under the guise of love or friendship he killed his many victims
for the sake of gold, coolly smiling at the torture he inflicted, and
nicely calculating the effect of each dose of poison. How could anyone
have trusted such a face as this? The immense development of the face
below the brow, its enormous width between the cheek-bones, the
absolute and sickening plausibility of the whole expression, the great
lower jaw, the cruel callous mouth (look at this mouth closely), and
the peculiarly uncanny light blue eyes, are a collection of
danger-signals that are rarely seen in one face. But his victims were
probably deceived by this wretch's fat, easy, and bland manner--_they
stifled their instinct_, and were duly poisoned.
[Illustration: 13. WM. PALMER, THE RUGELY POISONER.]
The lower jaw of No. 14 is quite Napoleonic in its strength and
unscrupulousness, and this face carries its warning with it. So also
does No. 15, which has a specially cruel and brutal mouth,
widely-placed cheek-bones, coarse wide nostrils, great width of head
between the ears, and cruel blue eyes.
[Illustration: 14. MANNING, WHO, WITH HIS WIFE, KILLED AND ROBBED A
FRIEND, WHOSE BODY THEY BURIED UNDER THE HEARTHSTONE IN THEIR KITCHEN.]
[Illustration: 15. WAINWRIGHT, THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERER OF HARRIET
LANE.]
No. 16 carries a warning in his eyes, and No. 17 shows several of the
danger-signals already pointed to; he also has those terrible hard blue
eyes. The woman's face in No. 18 speaks for itself, and the face in No.
19 is one that instinctively creates aversion, although this man was
perhaps the least atrocious of any of the persons here chosen on
account of their deliberate wickedness. As is mentioned at the
commencement of this article, I have picked out only deliberately
wicked faces, not those of persons who have become murderers through a
moment's passion, or through provocation.
[Illustration: 16. REGINALD BIRCHALL, THE CANADIAN DECOYER AND MURDERER
OF YOUNG BENWELL.]
[Illustration: 17. FISH, THE BRUTAL MURDERER OF EMILY HOLLAND.]
There is a particularly ruthless expression in the mouth of No. 20,
again the great lower jaw-bone going right back nearly square to the
ear, and again the wide cheek-bones, with hard blue eyes, destitute of
any flicker of softness or kindliness.
[Illustration: 18. MADAME DUMOLLARD, WHO, WITH HER HUSBAND, DECOYED,
ROBBED, AND MURDERED NEARLY TWENTY YOUNG WOMEN.]
No. 21 is another of the impassive, mask-like faces, but it has a most
sinister surface; the great bulging cheek-bones are very significant,
and the eyes are treacherous and menacing. This man was so callous that
he suggested that the place where he had buried his numerous victims
should be called "Troppmann Cemetery."
[Illustration: 19. ORROCK, WHO KILLED COLE, THE POLICEMAN, AT DALSTON.]
One of the worst faces of the lot is No. 22, although the tell-tale
mouth is hidden by hair. The eyes are very bad; they would by
themselves give sufficient warning to most of us. Here, again, you see
the development of cheek-bones and of the lower jaw at the back, which
so often goes with a brutal nature, and the eyebrows are very
threatening.
The last of these danger-signals is the face of Henry Benson, the
remarkable swindler and forger who was mixed up with the "Great Turf
Frauds" of some years ago (see No. 23). This man, who, after
conviction, gave evidence against the detectives Druscovitch,
Meiklejohn, and Palmer, was subsequently released on ticket-of-leave,
and later, being arrested for fresh frauds, committed suicide.