The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-30
AN ADIRONDACK MYSTERY.

as there then no death for a word once
 spoken
 Was never a deed but left its token
 Written on tables never brokeni 7
 Do pictures of all the ages i've
 On natures infinite negative D. IIhiHiey.
 It was very prosac ruin, the crumb ling foundation walls of what had once been large dwelling, in clearing in the midst of the great Adirondack wilder. ness miles away from any house. Mead ows sloped down the mountain side to a distinctively beautiful lake, even in re- zion famed for its lovely mountain tarns, and beside it, though in September, hay makers were curing the scanty mountain harvest. "The ruin has a history, how ever," said the legal friend who brought it to my notice and on our return to the city he introduced me to Judge -, one of the most honorable and efficient mag istrates on the city beach, the present owner of the estate, who favored me with this most strange eventfal history.
 Its early history" he began, pos sess only in fragments. It was built probably seventy five years ago by Philip Rhynwood, member of one of our oldest and wealthiest New York families, whose possessions in the neighborhood covered several square miles. I acquired It some twenty years ago. The simple account of my first visit with view to purchasing, together with the experiences there one summer of myself and family, will form the strangest tale you ever listened to. To begin with my first visit We left the New York Central Wan, the owner, and r at Amsterdam, and after travelling all day over the divide and along the banks of the romantic Sacon- daga drew up at sundown at Rhinelands l will not dwell on the beauty of the scene opening up from it, since you are familiar with the region, but thought it then, as do now, one of the leveliest and most interesting hooks in the North Woods. Van had man in charge, and there were cattle and sheep scattered picturesquely over the four hundred acres of clearing. The house without looked very much as it does now, but confess the interior surprised me. The building, fou are aware, Is two stories and an attic. forty-two feet wide by thirty deep. Through the centre ran wide hall. on which the drawing-room and parlors opened This hall had wide cushioned settee near the doors, and its walls were hung with portraits of knights of Malta, said to have been chiefs of the order, the pictures, it was said,, painted from life. The parlors were richly but strangely fur nished. The carpet was of a soft neutral color. The stiff straight-backed chairs ot m ahogany were cushioned in red, as was an ancient sofa whose rich deep pill lows were temptingly displayed; but the feature of the room was large mahogany sideboard in corner, richly carved and gieaming with silver. Ths curtains throughout the house were really tapestry, of curious desis, n, evidently from Sara cen looms; and wherever it was neces saay to loop them deers' antlers were em- ployed for the purpose. There were more knights on the parlor walls. and l asked my friend to explain their pres ence there. That makes a curious story,' said he; they were the property Of a mysterious German baron, who ap- peared here some years after the original proprietor left the place, purchased it. furnished 1t in the manner you have seen, and after living here quietly some ten years, disappeared as mysteriously as he came. But come into the chambers. These were all on the second floor, and as they figure largely in what follows, you must allow me a brief description. There were three front chambers, one on the right of the hall and two on the left, and an equal number in the rear, one being at the end of the hall, which VIC called the ballroom. These were fur nished quite as richly as the parlors; the beds struck one for their extreme width and for the rich silken canopies, of the same stufs as the tapestries that enclosed them. should have stated that on the curtains, tapestries, and cushions were the richly embroidered arms, the Maltese cross, the pointed hood, and other sym- bols of the order of St. John.
 We had dinner that night worthy of the mountains-trout fresh from the