Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1867-11-14

/ Ueeu moved, ana were drawn TO one
Eside, but rather as if jerked there by
the bell cord, which was hanging
somewhat loose, than as if stirred by
an internal power,
But what had moved the hands and
rung the bellP This was the start.
ling mystery. The room was not
large, contained no great amount of
furniture, and was easily searched. I
had just passed the light under the
bed and around and behind every
thing, when Carl appeared at the door,
pale, trembling, and covered with a
cold, clammy perspiration.
els he aliveS" he rather gasped than
said.
"No," Ireplid, "nor has there been
any life in him since his breath went
out" u"
"Merciful GodI" he calculated, nerv-
ously, grasplng a chair for support,
"what rang the bell, then2"
"That is the mystery am trying
to solve" said 1. "It is possible there
may be some person concealed here. {"
cautiously opened door of LONG;
deep closet as I spoke, in which hung
the clothes of the diseased, and went
in and examined it thoroughly. No
other human being was there, and
nothing had been disturbed. There
was no other outlet to the room except
the door communicating with the
apartment in which we had been
watching, and the two windows look.
ing out upon lawn, and the sashes
were closed and curtains drawn, show
ing no signs of recent disturbance. ]
then re-examined the room, and par
ticularly the bed, but without making
any new discovery.
"This is all very strangel' said l,
half musingly, and looking inquiring.
ly at Carl-"very strange indeedl"
"ltm have been something super
natural" he replied, in hollow whis-
per; and moving over to the chest in
the corner he sank down upon it. AS
he did so, the sharp click of the spring.
lock caused him to spring up as ii
shot. For a moment or two he stood
trembling, and then said, with more
nerve FFo " ia!f
II believe I am cowardly fool to
be scared at every thingl do not
fear any thing human, though; but
this unearthly business unmans me-"
l now re-examined the corpse, to be
sure there were no signs of life in it,
and found not only death there, but
the beginning of decomposition. Per
fectly sure of this, we went into the
other apartment and sat down, to wait
through the remainder of the night
and ponder the mystery. Scarcely
were we seated before we fancied we
heard dull, muffied sounds in the bed
room, followed by something like a
smothered human groan. Carl's teeth
now nearly chartered with terror, and
l confess | never felt less courageous
in my life. These strange noises only
continued for short time, and grad
ually died away into silence, after
which we were disturbed no more.
In the course Of time our friend
was buried, and some time after the
funeral we proceeded to open his
strong box, or chest, according to his
direction. Then it was that our super
natural mystery had q natural but
horrible explanation.
In that, chest was the black and de-.
caying corpse of one whom we all
knew in life. rsr
The following is our conjecture -
"Cognizant of Adolph Hofsrs
money and jewels, of their place of
deposit, and of our mode of watching
the dead, he had, on that. eventful
night, entered the dead room through
a window az an early hour, and CON
cealed himself in the closet till mid
night, and thenlset about his work of
robbery. Some accidental noise hav-
ing alarmed us, as he could tell from
our conversation, he had, either in his,
haste to secrete himself, OF intention,
ally to frighten us still more, rung the
bell in the manner stated, and then
got into the chest, which had pow
.erful sprinp lock. NV friend Carl nv