The inauguration ceremonies were in progress as I crossed University
Place and entered the square. I threaded my way through the silent throng
of spectators but was stopped at Fourth Street by a cordon of police. A
regiment of United States Lancers were drawn up in a hollow square around
the Lethal Chamber. On a raised tribune facing Washington Park stood the
Governor of New York, and behind him were grouped the Mayor of Greater
New York, the Inspector-General of Police, the commandant of State troops,
Colonel Livingston (military aid to the President of the United States), The Governor was finishing his reply to the short speech of the Surgeon-General.
I heard him say: "The laws prohibiting suicide and providing punishment
for any attempt at self-destruction have been repealed. The government
has seen fit to acknowledge the right of man to end an existence which
may have become intolerable to him, through physical suffering or mental
despair. It is believed that the community will be benefited by the removal
of such people from their midst. Since the passage of this law, the number
of suicides in the United States has not increased. Now that the government
has determined to establish a Lethal Chamber in every city, town, and village
in the country, it remains to be seen whether or not that class of humans The solemn hush was broken by a sharp cry of command, the squadron of
hussars filed after the Governor's carriage, the lancers wheeled and formed
along Fifth Avenue to wait for the commandant of the garrison, and the
mounted police followed them. I left the crowd to gape and stare at the
white marble death-chamber, and, crossing South Fifth Avenue, walked along
the western side of that thoroughfare to Bleecker Street. Then I turn to
the right and stopped before a dingy shop which bore the sign, HAWBERK, ARMORER. I glanced in at the door-way and saw Hawberk busy in his little shop
at the end of the hall. He looked up and, catching sight of me, cried,
in his deep, hearty voice, "Come in, Mr. Castaigne!" Constance,
his daughter, rose to meet me as I crossed the threshold, and held out
her pretty hand, but I saw the blush of disappointment on her cheeks, and
knew that it was another Castaigne she had expected, my cousin Louis. I
smiled at her confusion and complimented her on the banner which she was
embroidering from a colored plate. Old Hawberk sat riveting the worn greaves
of some ancient suit of armor, and the ting! ting! of his little hammer
sounded pleasantly in the quaint shop. Constance worked with the embroidery over her knees, now and then pausing
to examine more closely the pattern in the colored plate from the Metropolitan
Museum. "Who is this for?" I asked.
General Blount (commanding at Governor's Island), Major-General Hamilton
(commanding the garrison of Greater New York), Admiral Buffby (of the fleet
in the North River), Surgeon-General Lanceford, the staff of the National
Free Hospital, Senators Wyse and Franklin, of New York, and the Commissioner
of Public Works. The tribune was surrounded by a squadron of hussars of
the National Guard.
creatures from whose desponding ranks new victims of self-destruction fall
daily will accept the relief thus provided." He paused, and turned
to the white Lethal Chamber. The silence in the street was absolute. "There
a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this
life. If death is welcome, let him seek it here." Then, quickly turning
to the military aid of the President's household, he said, "I declare
the Lethal Chamber open"; and again facing the vast crowd, he cried
in a clear voice: "Citizens of New York and of the United States of
America, through me the government declares the Lethal Chamber to be open."
Presently he dropped his hammer
and fussed about for a moment with a tiny wrench. The soft clash of the
mail sent a thrill of pleasure through me. I loved to hear the music of
steel brushing against steel, the mellow shock of the mallet on thigh-pieces,
and the jingle of chain armor. That was the only reason I went to see Hawberk.
He had never interested me personally, nor did Constance, except for the
fact of her being in love with Louis. This did occupy my attention, and
sometimes even kept me awake at night. But I knew in my heart that all
would come right, and that I should arrange their future as I expected
to arrange that of my kind doctor, John Archer. However, I should never
have troubled myself about visiting them just then had it not been, as
I say, that the music of the tinkling hammer had for me this strong fascination.
I would sit for hours, listening and listening, and when a stray sunbeam
struck the inlaid steel, the sensation it gave me was almost too keen to
endure. My eyes would become fixed, dilating with a pleasure that stretched
every nerve almost to breaking, until some movement of the old armorer
cut off the ray of sunlight, then, still thrilling secretly, I leaned back
and listened again to the sound of the polishing rag -- swish! swish! --
rubbing rust from the rivets.
ARTWORK � Larry Loc 1997