Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-03-17


woman trembled
She seemed strangely nervous and agi-
tated now. She clasped the paper close
| ly, then put it in her bosom, and glided
from the room
/ had got over the sudden terror in
spired by such a strange sight, and had
made up my mind that [ had detected
some terrible imposture There was q
slight pause in the lobby, and the noise
of a garment being drawn off; then the
outer door opened and the visitant passed
out ON to the staircase
I followed as quietly as l could. The
staircase was lighted with gas. AS L
trod on the second landing the ghost
heard the noise and looked up. She
was dressed in an ordinary black cos
tune now, and her face was natural
color. To my intense surprise she
neither screamed nor attempted to run
away. She stood still and beckoned me
to her side.
"What are you going to do?" she
said.
" To give you into custody"
care you friend of his?"
I answered I" Yes, mechanically.
"Then let me go free if you value his
life."
eff / let you go I am your accom-
plice," / murmured; "your accomplish
in some vile imposture.
"No. Ii you are my accompllce to-
night, you are an accomplish in the no.
lest deed woman ever wrought. Pass
me through the gates if you doubt me;
watch me; follow me home; give me into
custody if you like; I don't care, I've got
what [ wanted"
[ took her arm as though I had been
policeman, and said: "Pass through
the gate then, and if you attempt to get
away from me shall call for help"
She nodded to the proposition. The
man at the gate was half asleep. [ rous-
ed him, and from his box he pushed the
cord and let us pass through the wicket
door into the Strand
then listened to the strangest story
that ever mortal lips had uttered, and
there was no doubt that every word of it
was true.
The confession which the trembling
wretch had written at her dictation-as
he believed at the dictation of his dead
wife-I had read. 1t was plain state
ment of how he had poisoned the poor
girl whom he had welded in fit of mad
jealousy, and how he had concealed his
crime; how at the last moment he had
overheard whisper that some one sus-
pected foul play; and how, fearing the
body might be exhumed, he had, with
the assistance of an accomphce, since
dead, stolen the body that night and re-
buried it in the garden of house in a
lonely part of the American town where
this accomplice lived.
This woman was his wife's sister, and
she had suspected foul play from the
first. She was an actress, and was away
on provincial tour when Blissett Emer-
ton woed and won Drusilla and took her
abroad with him. Emerton had never
seen this sister. The marriage had been
secret and hurried, and he had seemed
strangely anxious to leave the country.
They were to be back in five months.
Drusilla-poor trusting fool! Idol
lied the man and obeyed him. To her
he was a knight without reproach.
But soon his conduct to her altered
strangely, and she began to suspect that
all was not right He grew cold and
cruel, and she was miserable and I'M
happy.
She wrote secretly to her sister, told
her troubles and how quickly her hus-
bands conduct had altered The sister
urged her to leave him and come home
She was expecting her to do so when
there came the news of her illness and
death, and then of the mysterious disap-
pearance of the body. From that mo-
ment Drusilla Emerton's sister made up
her mind to fathom the mystery and
bring the guilt home to the murderer.
She refused to accept the explanation of
her sisters death She believed Blissett
Emerton to be quite capable of carrying
out carefully matured plot to get rid Of
her. The disappearance of the body
strengthened her suspicious. She con-
cluded at once that he feared the corpse
might afterward be exhumed, and as it
turned out her suspicious were correct.
When, some time afterward, he arrived
in England, she commenced to put her
plans into execution. She would terrify
bis secret from him. have said she was
an actress by profession. She was also
| an exact counterpart in height and
feature of her dead sister.
When Emerton went to live in cham
bers she managed by clever artifce to
get a duplicate set of keys. The place is
open night and day, and there are only
| one or two men in residence 1t is easy to
choose a time to step up the stairs I'M
noticed. By getting into the enclosure
before IL one would not even be seen by
the gate-porter. -.
The plan which occurred to the muir
dered woman's sister had been put in
execution for the first time that night
Early in the evening she had let him see
her face among the trees. I had been an
unsupported witness of the SUCCESS of her
appearance as one from the dead.
ALI this was told at the trial in Amer
| lea. He was extradited, and went over
as witness. But not even on the scat
fold would he tell where reposed the re-
mains Of his victim. The avenging sister
is now member of Mr.. Is dramatic
company, and the story, although well
known in the states, is now perhaps told
for the first time in England.