The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-05-20


of the lamp, saw rude apartment,
| about fifteen feet high, and having no
other outlet than that by the garret where
we were. At first 1 could perceive moth
| ing, and told Wolfgang so.
Look Closely" said he, in low voice !;
"do you see what looks like bundle of
clothes in one corner? 1t is old Catha.
rine Wogel, the apple-woman
| He had not time to finish, for sharp
angry cry, like the howl of cat in agony,
was heard, and an enraged being sprang
up, and seemed trying to climb up the wall
with its nails.
More dead than alive, with the cold
| sweat starting from my forehead, drew
back, crying, "Oh, it is horriblel"
"Did you hear it ?" said Wolfgang, his
| face lighted up with an Internal jov.
Wasn't it the cry of cat Hal ha |
Yes! The old woman has been both
Cat and a panther. Yes! yes! Hunger
and thirst work wonders, can tell you"
He did not look at me- he was enjoy
ing his Internal triumph. The bowling of
| the poor old woman had ceased and the
maniac, laying his lamp down upon the
table. added, in explanation
"This is the fourth day of her fast. l
enticed her here under pretext of selling
her some kirsch-water. | made her go
down into that room, and then l shut her
in. The first two days the human soul
was strong in her. She prayed, she i'm
| plOred me, she protested her innocence,
saying that she had never injured me in
| any way then she loaded me with re-
proaches denounced me as monster and
a wretch, and called down upon my head
the curse of heaven. The third day, which
was yesterday-Wednesday-the human
soul disappeared altogether. Hunger was
strong, and she began to NEW and howl
like cat. Luckily we are in an out Of
the way place, for last night you would
have thought that there was regular bat
tie of the cats-the cries would have made
you shudder. But, now, Kssper, when
the animal soul shall be extinguished, do
you know what will come then? The
vegetable soul will have its time, and it is
the last 1t has been noticed that the
nails and hair of the head grow while the
body lies in the grave. In the same way,
there is formed in the opening of the skull
kind Of human lichcn, which is thought
to be a species of moss, engender by the
juices of the brain. At last, the vegetable
soul itself will die. So, you see, Kasper,
that the proof of three souls is COM
plete."
These words struck upon my ear as the
rawlings of maniac. The cry of Catha-
rine WOgel pierced to my very marrow.
seemed to lose all knowledge of where l
was, or what had happened. But, all of a
sudden, waking from this moral stupOr,
L sprang up, seized the maniac by the
throat, and dragged him toward the lad.
der.
"Villain |" cried /, how have you dared
to raise your hand against your fellow
creature to satisfy your infamous curiosity?
| will give you up to justice I"
He was so much surprised at my attack
for to him his act seemed perfectly inno-
cent-that at first he offered no resistance;
and | dragged him easily to the ladder.
But there, turning on me with astonishing
Quickness, he in turn seized me by the
throat, lifted me from the floor, and with
one hand held me tight against the wall,
while wththe other he opened the door CT
that terrible hole. Seeing his intention. |
made a frantic effort to break away, but in
vain, for he seemed endowed with super
human strength, After desperate strug
gle felt myself again lifted off my feet
and hurled into space, while in my ears
rang these strange words:
$50 perish the rebelliOus f1eshi SO tri-
uuDu buC oOuls
There | lay, bruised and exhausted on
the floor of this chamber of horrors, while
the heavy door was closed on me, shutting
ont the grayish light of the garrett
Caught thus, like a rat in trap, my
CONSERVATION was such that | uttered not
single cry Slowly raising myself up,
and leaning my back against the wall for
support, "Kasper." said |, with strange
calmness, "now you must either devOur
the old woman or else be devOured by her.
Make your choice! 1t will be only lost
time trying to get out of this hole. Wolf
gang has you i'm his clutches he will not
let you go The walls are stone and the
floor is of oak; no one saw you cross the
quarter of the Tanners; no one would
think of looking for you here. 1t is finish
ed, Kasper lit is finished Poor Catharine
WOgel is your last resource; or rather
you are the last resource the one to the
other"
All this passed through my mind like
flash; and, when at the same moment the
pale face of Wolfgang, with his little lamp,
appeared at the opening above, l tried to
supplicate him, but only stammered hOrri-
bly,, and not word came from my trem
bling lips.
Seeing this he began to laugh; and, in
the silence, l could hear him saying,
"The coward! he implorcs met
This was my finishing stroke. fell
face downward on the floor, and it was
only the fear of being attacked by the old
woman that kept me from swooning. She
however, had not as yet moved, or in the
least manifested her presence. The face
of Wolfgang was Withdrawn; but could
hear the maniac walking to and fro in his
garrett. My ear was so quick that the
81 ghtest nose did not escape me. l heard
the old woman utter a kind of yawn, and,
turning round, / perceived for the first
time her eyes glttering in the darkness
At the same time Wolfgang descended
the ladder; and counted his steps one by
one until they died away in the distance.
Where was the wretch going? | knew not;
but through all the day and following
ght he did not return.
| 1t was not until the morrow, at about
eight o'clock in the evening, at a moment
when the old woman and myself were
shrieking TO make the very walls tremble,
that he came back. / had not once closed
my eyes during the night. l no longer
felt either fear or anger, but only de-
vouring hunger, which l knew would in
crease all the time. <-
When heard the faint noise in the gar
ret became silent, and looking up saw
by the brightness coming through the
opening, that Wolfgang was lighting his
lamp. 1 doubted not that he would come
to see me and with this hope prepared
touching supplication. But the light
was extinguiahed and no one came This