The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1872-11-01
A Cruel Hoax.


The following grotesquely horrible
story Is translated from the Paris FL
garo:
This day eight days a wedding was
celebrated at A. A merchants
clerk, named Marius Crampin, mar
ried 2 young girl Of eighteen, called
Anna R.. Anna R. was an
orphan from childhood, and had been
educated by an old priest dead six
months ago. Though she was very at
tractive and had dowery of $4,000
trancS--l respectable sum for a simple
clerk-Crampin was far from jubilant
when he left the church. Some of his
friends, in fact, on hearing of his mar
riage, had sneered at the matter in
rather a singular Manner without
offering any explanations, and had
declined being present at the wedding.
Besides when the sacrifice was con-
summated, Cnmpin felt tormented by
suspicious which before marriage he
had epellcd with contempt. lnorder
to dispel them he drank deep, and
toward midnight lie was pretty mel
low. 1t was now time to retire to
rest.
The bride went first andextinguish-
ed the taper. Five minutes afterwards
Crampin in turn arrived. ''IIello I"
he exclaimed, stumbling, ''my wife
pretends to be asleep. We must light
the candle again. But Just as he was
about to strike a light with a match he
heard rustling Of curtains, and a man
appeared-a man Of great height,
wrapped iii u white shroud that was
spotted over with blood, and without
q bead. He carried a red lantern.
CElmpin uttered a stifled exclamation,
the bride rose hastily, and the two re-
nained spellbound by terror at the
triglttul spectacle before their eyes /;
for from the corners Of the room
emerged three other headless persons,
all clothed in white but blood-bespat-
tered winding sheets, each witha red
lantern in the one hand, and bis head
in the other. They stationed them
selves III front of tile fireplace and
saluted the young couple ina ceremo-
llions manner. Then, strange to tell,
they spoke. Campin, in his terror,
knew not whether the voice issued
from the body or from tile head.
Good day to you, citizen Crampin, y
sad one Of the headless beings; liam
joseph Grigois, a client Of the wife's
great great grandfather
Give me thy hand, Cnmpin, said
the other sneeringly, Madame knows
me too. | lost my head III 1888 at the
hands Of her grandfather" BY this
time Crampin was down Oh his knees,
and bis bride was moaning in a state
OF distraction from fear. But they
We're alone in the house, which was
situated at the gates OF the town, and
nobody came near them. The third
pllantomthen advanced.
Little one" he said III an aniable
tone, "thou canst boast Of having had
Il grandfather who did his work admir-
ably. | too.passed through his hands"
Good God !" groaned Campin, in
despair, "the man without d head
talks through his nose" Step out
children" called out the fourth spec
tire, 'nuptual ball is about to begin.
Forward bothr And the four guillo-,
tined persons taking their place, broke
intoa tance--a supernatural cancan
that lroze the blood in the veins of the,
yoang couple. They leapel up and
down. backward and forward, spread
ing wide their winding sheets like
iirglcrs with their heads. 1t was
frightiu. and all the more when sud-
denly they burst out III chorus and
sang some stays Of a horrible grotesque
So1g.
Then all at once opening the door
they disappeared in the dark lobby,
after having deposited the four heads
Oh the knees Of the bride. "Merciful
heavens!H gasped the latter with her.
ror, "the clients OF my iamily?n
What family, madame ~ yelled
Clqnpin, Mortified. in the midst Of
his terror, by the exclamation. For
give me. 'supplicated the bride, throw
ing herself Oh her knees before him.
'FilTndpapa was an executioner.r
The wretched Crlmpin sprang to his
feet aud then fell senseless. As soon
as he returned to himself without
taking time to pack his trunk, he pre- /.
cipltatcly left the town and has not
been again seen. The investigation Of
the police into this mysterious affair
resulted IN the discovery that tile four
guillotined persons were none Others
than the friends of Crampin, who had.
learned, one knows not how, If tie
unfortunate connections of tha.bride.
Their four heads were four MELONS.
-o--Ss---.- 'N