I will open it
just far enough to see, and, if it be intended for her, I will
close it and forward it to New York, where she was at the time. I
accordingly tore off the covering and raised the lid just far enough
to enable me to look inside. I was at once struck with the black
appearance of the inside. "What is this, Lake?" I said, addressing
myself to my friend. Judge Lake looked over my shoulder into the box,
as I held it in my hand, and at once exclaimed, "It is a torpedo.
Don't open it." I was startled by the suggestion, for the idea of a
torpedo was the last thing in the world to occur to me. I immediately
laid the package on the sill of the window, where it was subjected to
a careful inspection by us both, so far as it could be made with the
lid only an eighth of an inch open.
Soon afterwards Judge Lake took the package to the Capitol, which was
directly opposite to my rooms, and to the office of the Clerk of the
Supreme Court, and showed it to Mr. Broom, one of the deputies. They
dipped the package into water and left it to soak for some minutes.
They then took it into the carriage way under the steps leading to
the Senate Chamber, and shielding themselves behind one of the columns
threw the box against the wall. The blow broke the hinge of the lid
and exposed the contents. A murderous contrivance it was;--a veritable
infernal machine! Twelve cartridges such as are used in a common
pistol, about an inch in length, lay imbedded in a paste of some kind,
covered with fulminating powder, and so connected with a bunch of
friction matches, a strip of sand-paper, and a piece of linen attached
to the lid, that on opening the box the matches would be ignited and
the whole exploded.
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