Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-12-07
A Paris MVSfarV-

The mysteries of Paris are endless.
If any day o go to Pere Ia Chaise and
quit Boulevard Voltaire lex Boulevard
du Prince E~ugene) for Rue Rampon you
will see a mansion which was probably
built in the eighteenth century for the
retreat of some wealthy farmer-general
of the taxes while enjoying the honey
moon OF his last amour before custom
had stalled her novelty. There was
more than a court, twas a garden in
front of it, and a larger garden stood
behind it. There are still a great many
market gardens in this northeastern
| quarter of Paris, which is farther from
the heart and brain of this capital than
| Versailles or St. German, or even
Nantes, the farthest of our suburban
| homes.
Solitary as this mansion was it APP
| peared still more solitary from its want
of animation. The door never opened.
The shutters remained closed the gar
things would have attn acted little atten-
ton. There is many a deserted house
in Paris whose very sight at summers
noontide would freeze your marrow, so
dark are the walls, so moss grown are
the doors and shutters, so desolate, so
mournful, is the look of everything
about it. You might disbelieve in
ghosts and still be unable to shake off
belief that there ghosts (old masters
and the guests of auld lang syne) re-
vived departed hours, holding revel
kept unhallowed s~aturnalia. There are
SO many of these deserted, haunted
houses in Paris, the sombre cloud which
rested On the house in Rue Rampon had
remained unnoticed, except for the
change which came over it at night
and if this change had beer well ascer-
tanned, certain it would nave remained
unchallenged; but some people swore
lights had been seen flashing through
the interstices of the shutters, sparks
had been seen flying out of the Chin
neys, and the roar of subdued voices
(noisy despite every ~precaution, because
they were numerous) had been heard.
Then watch was set, and neither sight
nor sound met watchers eyes or ears.
Again people saw and heard all those
things. Women crossed themselves
| whenever the unhallowed house was
thought on; men talked of it with
bated breath and looked at it only ask
ance. Some said it was La Tour de
Nesies. Girls were decoyed into it, raw
ished, and murdered when lust cooled.
Others were sure a gang of counterfeit
ers prepared there fac SMILES of bank
notes. These surmises in time reached
the ears of the police. Investigation
was made in the cautious tentative
method always adopted in doubtful cir
c~umstances. The police has good rea-
| son to be cautious; for it is not enough
to detect crime, criminals should be ar
rested. To give notice of investigations
on foot would be to give a warning
which would put to fight all the birds
of prey. The enigma seemed i~nsolvable.
to examine the premises. Nothing could
be discovered. The n~eighboring houses
were examined from top to bottom.
Nothing. Walls were sounded, still
nothing. Nevertheless occasionally a
CLEAN of light flashed through some
crevice in a shutter, a spark flew up
wards from a chimney, revealing life
within the bleak house. The police
were reinforced. The house wa sur
rounded, skirmishers were thrown out
beyond this circle of policemen. At last
a skirmisher, thrown out ome two hun
dred and fifty yards from b house,
reported that he had seen people who
moved cautiously and rapidly about
midnight, disappear in a blind alley as
if the earth had swallowed them. This
alley was examined. IN it the police
discovered a subterranean passage. They
entered it. 1t was so low they could
advance only in single file and bent
double. They were obliged at some
places to go on a%ll-fours.
After going in this way two hundred
and fifty yards they found further pro-
gress checked by a stalwart wrought
iron door, which jeered all their efforts.
They returned. Entered a house whose
blank walls had a small window on the
fourth story which overlooked the gar
den of the bleak house. The police
procured a rope. entered this house and
after securing the rope inside the house
and tossing the other end into the gar
den, they crept down the rope one by
one. Their investigation of the house
showed every door and window plated
with wrought-ron. The Commissioner
of Police remembered one of his police
men was oncea blacksmith. He ordered
this brawny fellow to get the largest
sledge-hammer he could procure. When
he returned he swung the immense
hammer over his head and brought it
on the door with a force which splin-
tered the wood, started the bolts and
broke the locks. Bang! bang! came
two other blows, loud as thunderclaps
The door was open. The police swarmed
in. Twas a great gambling-house.
Many gamblers, terrified at the sounds
of the hammer, lay ~fainting on the