Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-05-30

" Arrived at the spot, he placed his
men about the premises, and instituted
a strict search the landlord and the
man who was found in the house being
compelled to accompany him. The
room in which 1 had slept was carefully
examined; the floor was of plaster or
cement, so that no sound could have
passed through it; the walls were
sound and solid, and there was nothing
to be seen that could in any way &C
count for the strange disturbance | had
experienced. The room on the ground
| floor underneath my bedroom was next
| Inspected; it contained quantity of
straw, hay, frewood. and lumber. 1t
was paved with brick and, on turning
over the straw, it was observed that the
bricks were uneven, as if they had been
recently disturbed.
"'Dig here; said the officer; Eve
shall find something hidden here,
| imagine
"The landlord was evidently much
disturbed. 'Stopl he cried. Il will
tell you who lies there; come away out
of doors, and you shall know all about
it.
"Dig, I say. We will find out for
ourselves
Let the dead rest cried the land
lord, with trembling voice. For the
love OF heaven, come away, and hear
what l shall tell you
"' Go on with your work, said the
sergeant to his men, who were now ply
ing pickax and spade.
So can't stay here and see it. ex-
claimed the landlord once more.
Hear, thenl 1t is the body of my
son, my only son let him rest, if rest
he can. He was wounded in quarrel, and
brought home here to die. thought he
would recover, but there was neither
doctor or priest at hand, and in spite of
all we could do for him, he died. Let
him alone now, or let a priest first be
sent for; he died unconfessed, but it
was not my fault; it may not yet be too
late to make peace for him.
"'But why is he buried in this
placer
81 We did not wish to make stir
about it. Nobody knew of his death,
and we laid him down quietly; one
place, thought, was as good as another,
when once the life was out of him.
We are poor folk, and could not pay
for ceremonies
"The truth at length came out.
Father and son were both members of a
band of thieves; under the floor they
concealed their plumber; and there, too,
lay more than one moldering corpse,
victims who had occupied the room in
which | slept, and had there met their
death. The son was indeed buried in
that spot he had been mortally
wounded in a skirmish with travellers,
and had lived long enough to repent of
his deeds, and to beg for that priestly
absolution which, according to his
creed, was necessary to secure his par
don. In vain he had urged his father
to bring the confessor to his bedside:
in vain he had entreated him to break
off from the murderous band with
which he was allied, and to live hon
estly IN future; his prayers were disre-
garded, and his dying admonitions were
| of no avail. But for the strange mys-
ferrous warning which had reused me
from my sleep, and driven me out of
the house that night, another crime
would have been added to the old
mans tale of guilt. That gasping at
tempt to speak, and that awful groaning
whence did they proceed? 1t was
no living voice. Beyond that I will ex-
press no opinion on the subject. 1 will
only say, it was the means of saving
my life, and at the same time putting
an end to the series of bloody deeds
which had been committed in that
house.
81 received my passport that evening
by the diligence from Rome, and started
the next morning on my way to Naples.
AS we were crossing the frontier, tall
figure approached, wearing the long
rough cappotta of the mendicant friars,
with hood over the face, and holes
for the eyes to look through. He car
ried tin money-box in his hand, which
he held out to the passengers, jingling
few coins in it, and crying in monot.
onous voice, Anime IL, PsugatorioI Anime
in Psvgatorio!' l do not believe in
purgatory, nor in supplicat tons for the
dead; but I dropped piece of silver
into the box, nevertheless" -Every
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