The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1883-12-14
ssTHE SILVER SKULLS"

A Cleveland Combination OF Bad
Boys Who Lived i'm a Cave, Prac-
ticed With Seven-ShooLers and
Frightened Their Playmates.
The sadden and mysterious disgp.
pearance of Bert Gaylord, son of o. ~.
Gaylord, and William Raynor, son Of
w H. Raynor, which occurred on FRI
day last, has been accounted for. BotR'
boys, who are in their teens, together
with Charles Ransom and Jack Gourlay,
who are also mere boys began reading
dime novels about one year ago. A book
called 1.-THE Silver Skulls fell into their
hands, and from it they learned Of a Sc
cret den away of in the wild west. The
idea got into their heads that such a den
could be established IN the great and
good city of Cleveland, and right in the
vicinity of their homes. which are found
on Arlington Court and Garland street.
They dug a hole in the rear of Raynor's
mouse, No. 80 Arlington Court, covered
it with boards, sand and sod, and in this
they would sit, with novel in
hand, and talk about their secret
order, knswn as ''The Silver Skulls"
Each member was provided with a sew
en-shooter, with which they practice In
the cave. They got IN of the boys liv-
ing in the neighborhood in the cave and
threatened to take his life if he would
not join, and SO near did they carry
their thre.t into execution that a pistol
ball grazed the nose Of the youth they
had dragged into the den. Things ran
smoothly until Raynor and Ransom got
into a quarrel, when the ave was ahan-
doned, and "The Silver Skulls" consisted
Of Raynor and Gaylord.
These two boys carried matters SO far
that the children in the neighbor hood
were afraid to go out alone after dark.
Each boy before admitted to member
ship had to take the following oath:
'Cursed be friendship, cursed be faith
er, mother, sisters, brothers; may the
offspring yourselves hunger, blister and
decay on it's dying mothers breast; may
the blood of each breed prescribe
plaques, may the hair of each fall from
his head, the teeth crumble IN the jaws,
the brains rot in his skull, the eyes can
ker and fall from the sockets, and the
fingers grow bare il we yer betray the
secrets of the SKULLS" A boy, who In
some way incurred the wrath of THE
Silver Skulls" a short time ago, re-
ceived q warning written In
RED INK RlgnlIylng DlOOu. "A Caring
skull and cross bones decorated the pa
per, and below was a Moo ly hand. with
the word "death" written upon it. The
document read: zone month from to-
night, if you don't join NY, you will re-
ceive your death warrant, and two days
from then your death. BY order of the
Skulls"
This letter was Eaad in the room Of
young Gaylord after his departure. Both
Rsynor and Gaylord occupied positions
III downtown business houses. and Sc
cured enough money to pay car fare and
incidental expenses on the trip. Moth
ing was heard Of the runaways until
Monday when the parents received
word that GAYLORD was in Sandusky with
an uncle and Raynor was with Il married
sister in Chicago. Not a word of expla-
nation as to the cause Of their sudden
departure accompanied the letters. ALI
they wanted was that their clothes be
sent to them. 1t is exceedingly unfor-
tunate for the parents of the boys, who
are much respected and highly respect
ed citizens in the locality where they re-
side. 1t is safe to predict that the Sc
cret order known as 'The SilverlSkulls"
exists no more-Cleveland Herald.