Daily Kennebec journal., 1877-02-23
Gales aud Sketfhes.
TIE SHADOW OF THE DOOR.
[Continued from yesterday.I

Continued from yesterday.I
The excitement created was fearful.
Women screamed. Shouts of men were
presently min gled with deep Oaths. A
rush from all sides was made for the house.
The three men in the fatal room above
had scarce time to recover from their first
shock, when their silence was broken by
the tramping and struggling of the excit-
ed throng. So unseemly thing could
not have happened but for the fact that
the nervous tension to which they had all
been subjected had become nearly unbear-
able, and nature itself demanded some
physical outlet. Atkins now gave proof
of that sturdiness of spirit of which indi-
cations have already appeared. He met
the first who reached the upper floor,
looking almost like madmen, with an up.
lifted hand, and a manner so collected
and solemn that its calming effect was in-
stantly felt.
"For Gods sake I" he cried, in strong
earnest tone. keep cool! Don't act in
this wild way. It's all too soon. Nothing
is found out yet. Let us behave like men
who have most solemn duty to per-
form"
They were crowding him more and
more into the doorway from the larger
into the smaller room, those behind still
pressing up in the fierce excitement OF the
moment He raised his voice to its full
pitch. with the authority such exigency
gives.
Friends neighbors! listen to me.
Some of you back there, stop that rush
aud help me to keep order. Who are you
afterP There's nothing here that we've
seen vet but an empty ROOM If there's
rIt,th ht,,r IN ka .,fu t<xA A.,A
Let's 90 about it as orderly men should.
Keep quiet, and Iii tell you all that has
happened"
Such words, so spoken, had full effect.
Indeed their passion had spent itself in its
own outburst. Order was soon obtained,
and then in a few clear words Atkins ex-
planned what the clue was which the ne
gro had so unexpectedly put into their
hands. By this time the front room, which
was equal in size to the two smaller ones
at the back that opened into it, was liter
ally packed full-an idea of something
proving powerful enough to keep them
from passing through the door At which
Atkins stood, except little way under
the great pressure from behind. No one
stepped in of his own accord. To their
credit it must be said, that as soon as the
necessity for greater freedom to move
about appeared, most of their number vol
UNFAIRLY descended and awaited the result
below.
Of the three rooms, one, as already stat
ed, ran across the front of the house. The
two at the back opened from it, and were
made OF unequal size by a rough stairway
up into the loft, under the peak of the
roof, constructed against the partition
that divided the rooms. The space under
meath this was fashioned into the closet
which Atkins had observed. All three
rooms had been roughly plastered by
Dempton himself at the time when he had
professed TO be preparing for Elsey's re-
turn.
The first step taken was to examine
the closet. With their attention thus di-
rected to it. its depth, which should have
been equal to the width OF the stairway
into ths loft, seemed considerably less;
on measurement, proved to be SO. They
| listened at the inner partition OF the closet
| while strong rapping was made upon
| the wall OF the next room. 1t was evident
that there was space between that dead
ened the sound. Thus the presumption
| of secret there to be disclosed increased.
Why need they approach it so gradually
| when few blows of the axe would PEN
citrate the concealed space-if it were
there Man naturally shrink from break
ing violently in upon the dark silence Of
such a spot. They move abous it till
grown somewhat familiar with it. But
at last there was nothing else to be done.
DemptOn's own store of tools supplied
what was wanted. All the rest stood
back while one vigorous arm knocked
| away the plaster and lath till there was
made--a ghastly hole indeed Who want
ed to look at it ? The recoil was general /;
and the expectant throng below, 50
eagerly awaiting the issue of the sounds
| they heard above, felt as if the horror were
descending to them when they saw one
strong man after another come almost tot
tering down the stairway, white as sheet
and without uttering word.
This was the first effect. At the imme-
diate spot measures were taken to bring
the whole secret to light. And = marvel
of contrivance it was for such purpose.
A space some eighteen inches wide was
carefully and closely plastered all around
except q concealed passage to the outer
air at the upper part. A layer of stones
also thickly plastered, composed its door.
On this bed-a bed of death, truly-were
stretched the remains of human form
rightly so termed. for the means taken to
consume them had left but little. There
was nothing to tell whose form it was,
but of that there could be no doubt.
To the few who had gone through that
house before. and to whom that IRON
nerved man had offered to take down the
sisters clothing from the very partition
that concealed the brothers, fearful tomb,
how strange it seemed that they could
have been so blind, when now the pro-
ceedings could be so plainly read in al
mOst every step.
Dempton's first care, having slain Esey
was to conceal his body how he did it is
sufficiently indicated above without enter
ing into detail. The closet under the
stairway to the loft was an afterthought.
The rooms had originally communicated
through the door which the negro had SO
strangely seen and when he had CON-
pleted his plan, Dempton had taken the
door down and carried the side-wall Of
the room smoothly over.
But what head and heart, and what
1 II.