The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-02-28

the shrieks and prayers for mercy OF 8o-
men, the bitter oaths and imprecations of
men. the clsshing Of weapons, the deadly
stabs and the dull thud of falling bodies as
each victim was in turn dispatched in
short the bloody drama of long years be-
fore was re-enacted on that fearful night
AT length an appalling silence settled upon
the horrors of the scene, and the hitherto
spell-bound spectator knew and felt no
more till he swoke to life in . ward Of the
regimentsl hospital, having been brought
with difficulty through the dangers Of =
brain fever. Three OF bis companions were
dead of the same complaint, and two more
were in state of hopeless idiocy. The
strictest inquiries we're made, and a search
ing examination took place in the endeavor
TO detect any fraud or deception, but moth
ing was elected in the way of reasonable
explanation and the matter was hushed up
by the authorities. Soon af:erHard the
Government purchased the estate and
razed every building on it to the ground.
A SOLDIER COMES BACK,
People who can look back to Calais as it
was twenty years ago may remember
small shop kept by tobaccoDist which
stood at the corner of the Rue de Guise,
nearest to the Place. The house belonged
to maiden lady, who, like most French
shopkeepers, lived on the'ground floor, and
was glad to let the first and second floors,
comprising some elegant apartments, to
English families WHO swarm over to Calais
in the summer season for sea bathing
French people carefully sbstained from
renting these apartments, as the mysterious
disappearance of the last occupant three
years before had caused rumors OF all kinds
20 circulate in the town. The tenant in
question was a military man, a captain in
the regiment then on garrison duty. was
unmarried and lived by himself, passing
most of his time in one Of the numerous
cafes which are the invariable resort of
French officers He seldom had any Wis
itors, but a servant Of the same regiment
came morning and evening to receive his
orders and to attend to his personal re-
qUiIemeHts. One morning this man walk
ed in.o the shop below, where the mistress
of the house was serving her customers,
and asked her il she had seen his master,
for lie had found the private door open,
and on going as usual up stairs had seen
that the bed had not been slept in, and that
all in the room was as be had left it the
night before. Tie lady replied that she
had heard no sound whatever in the apart
ment above since the sounding of the re-
traite the night:before at half pact eight,
when she certainly heard the hall door shut
and supposed is WAS the captain coming in,
as WAS bis wont, at that hour. The whole
town was searched ; the police were applied
to; the sergeant, on whom suspicion at
first fell was subject to a searching exami-
nation ; but no result followed, except that
upon looking over the things in his room
one large sheet was missing from tho ne "
ly-made bed. In short his fate remained
shrouded in the deepest mystery.
Three years after this event the apart
ments, newly and elegantly furnished,
were let for the summer to the family Of
Judge Dr., consisting of his wife and some
young people, mostly grown up. Having
settled themselves comfortably, they were
at tea one evening in the sitting room which
opened Immediately on the stairs going
down to the private entrance, and which
reached to within few feet OF the hall
door, which space formed very narrow,
dark passage, a common mode Of saving
room in old French houses. As the family
sat at tea the drum Of the place began to
beat the retraite, and just as they finished
three loud knocks were given at the door
oF ha cit IN.
the usual response, "Entrez ~ on Q of the
family opened the door and looked down
the staircase. No one was there, and, as
was natural, they thought their unknown
visitor had left the house. AS this knock
ing occurred two or three evenings in sue
cessiou with the same result, the family
determined to lock the housi at the foot Of
the stairs and TO watch for the mysterious
knocker. The knocks came as usual when
the retrate sounded but before the third
knock was given the watchers inside sud
denly threw open the door, confronted a
tall figure closely wrapped in large white
sheet, which suddenly vanished down the
stairs and sank out Of their sight at the
bottom. The next night the same thing
happened, and Judge Dr. found it neces-
sary to remove his family, who were much
alarmed and agitated by what had occur
red.
Soon after this the owner of the house,
finding it impossible to let her rooms, had
the whole building taken down, and an en-
tirely new house and shop built on the old
site. When the wOrkmen removed the
staircase and took up the flooring Of the
narrow passage at its foot, they found the
decaying body of military man, wrapped
round and round in large white sheet.
There could be NO doubt that this was the
unfortunate captain, who had been foully
murdered and buried in the silence OF the
night, but by whom could never be found
out, as the sergeant, who was always under
deep suspicion, had died in hospital of dis
sipation and absinthe more than a year be-
fore the discovery. Atlantic Monthly for
March.
MINERAL WAx.-The most won derful
mineral discovery yet made is that of i'm
mense beds of mineral wax, in Southern
Utah and Arizona, specimens of which we
havo before u.s. This remark able fiud, in
the opinion of some competent experts, is
of greater importance than was that OF
petroleum in Pennsylvania. Prof. Henry
Wurtz was, we believe, the frs. to identify
this peculiar substance as zistriskisite, or
D.. Il T. I.r4