The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-05-20

and perhaps the sight OF a man lying
with his throat cut, a thin stream OF
blood meandering owe the floor, and the
murderer dragged from his concealment
under the bed or amongst the curtains.
would have realized their expectations
tolerably we'll. Indeed, l fear that Curl
osity and a vague sense of Importance
at assisting, however o~bscurely, at such
a denouement, would have been Z the pre-
vailing feelings in their minds just then.
But from this hard heartedness they were
spared by the nature of the scene before
them-though assuredly nothing pleasant
as a sense of Importance was amongst
those who crowded the chamber.
Before them, on the hocr, lay the stun
ned and senseless figure of Mr.. Jones,
from whose face every vestige of color
had fed. A sheet and a mass of broken
bones almost concealed him, and a skull,
which had fallen from the skeleton on to
the table, seemed to sit there and mock
the havoc it had created. A skeleton,
did we say?--yes, and nomOre.. Yet this
object, the type of what We shall all be
ere a century has passed, inanimate, Won
derful, and to be regarded r~eyerentially
by all who view it Alright as a symbol or
Gods power and mans decay, had caused
almost the death of one person there,
and even scared some ten or a dozen
others from approaching it.
The intrepid looker-On, whose bravery
we have before had occasion to notice
favorably. was the first who reused him
self sufficiently to assist in raising the
fallen man from amidst the debris of
bones which covered him. The Others
then took heart of grace and helped HIM,
and before they left the room one of them
actually had the hardihood to take up
the skull and examine it. In the mean
time Mr.. Jones had been carried to his
bed. A doctor was sent for, who imme-
diately ordered the room. to be cleared,
and then told the landlord, who, in viz
tue of his position remained there, that
Mr.. Jones had evidently received a dread
full shock to the nervous system. Mi
Jones's friends (did the LANDLORD, know
themO had better be communicated with,
and he would sit up with his patient all
night. The host only knew Mr. Jones
as an excellent customer, Int he had the
good sense to apply to the judge, who
had inst turned into bed again, bnt who
willingly reused himself to give the de-
sired information about Mr.. Jones adj
dress, and a telegram being forthwith
dispatched thither, the first train from
London brought down several members
of his family. Weeks passed before he
could be moved from the hotel, months
before he was sufficiently recovered to
resume his profession. He never alluded
80 %Lo , of fhnf tinhts hnt mon
noticed that he grew pale and tried t"
turn the conversation when any stranger
in his company brought up the subject
of ghosts and apparitions. His nerves,
too, and professional acumen were not
what the had been, and he was often
obliged to refuse the briefs that poured
in upon him. This was OF the less COIL
sequence, inasmuch as he had already ac-
cumulated an ample fortune He died
in about two years time, of a heart cont
plant, brought OH by the fright he had
experienced that November evening in
the Trafalgar Hotel, ut l.
1t is necessary to add an explanation
of this mystery, if mystery it can be call
ed. If so, the explanation is quickly
given. On Mr.. Jones arrival at the Ira
the landlord, al his wits end, be-
thought him of "a young medical student
who lodged in the large he'd room at the
top of the house, and who had hired it
for a permanoncy during the winter
months He was easily persuaded IN
give up his room for II night, ANA left
the hotel to seek a lodging ut the house
of a friend, who, he knew, would take
him in. Before going he turned rs he
thought, securely, the key of the cup
board OF press which contained his great
treasure, a skeleton, skillfully put to-
uether with wires, the constrUCti0n-oi
which had been the employment m irS.
leisure hours for some time. The cup
board, when not locked, shut with IL haSr.
rather out of order, and being somewhat
too small for the skeleton, the dom.
pressing on the wires, caused the ariIf t"
force it open, and, eventually to pro
trude itself us we have described, till the
skeleton, losing its balance, fell forward
on the unfortunate Mr.. Jones, and the
skull detaching itself, remained on the
table. The dismay of the student OH
learning OF the destruction OF his cherish
ed masterpiece was only surpassed lay
his horror at the effects it had produced,
and of which he considered himself sec
ondarily the cause. He afterwards rose
to eminence in his profession, but never
again did he venture TO put a akeleto.
together.
The young man, indicted for forgery,
was eventually acquitted. The dread
ful accident which had happened t. his
COUNSEL. and which made a profound sen
sation in the place, induced the judges
to postpone the trial till the next as
sizes. In the interim fresh evidence was
discovered, and the barristers who on
Quoted the case for the defendant when
it came on a second time, had no difficult
ty in obtaining a verdict of"Not Guilty"
for their client.
go some good came out of a great evil,
But the young nan never thought ofthe
catastrophe which had saved his name
and prospects from being cyerlastingly
blighted, without feeling that his ac-
quittal had been purchased at the high
est of all prices-the death, for so it
:proyed, ola fellow creature