Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-06-25

His drawing-room was hung with
black silk embroidered with gold.
Large yellow flowers, rioting over the
dark background, shone like fire. He
explained that it was a Japanese fab
RE.
But, in the middle of the largest pan
el, u strange object drew my eye. On
square OF red velvet black object
was thrown into relief, 1t was hand
IA human hand. Not a skeleton hand,
white and clean, but a dried and black
ened hand, with yellow nails, naked
muscles. and traces of blood-old, clot-
ted bloou, where the bones were cut
short off as il with the blow of an AK,
about midway up the forearm. An
enormous iron chain, riveted at the
wrist, soldercd to this unsightly mem
Der, attached it to the wall by a ring
strong enough to hold an elephant in
leash.
"lVhat is that?" | asked
"Thatis my worst enemy" replied
the Englishman, calmly. "He came
from America II was cut off with
sabre, skinned, and dried in the sun
for a week 1t was a pretty good piece
OF work for me. "
! touched that human fragment,
which must have belonged to a giant
The fingers, disproportionately long,
were attached by enormous tendons,
to which shreds of skin still clung
Scorched rs it was. it was a frightful
thing to behold, suggesting irresistably
some savage revenge.
"IIe must have been a very strong
man, said /.
"Oh, yes" said the Englishman,
gently But | was stronger than he
/ had that chain put on to hold him.
thought he was testing, and said:
"l'hc chain is wholly useless now;
the hand viii not run away
But he grayeIy replied:
Tine chain was necessary. 1t was
always trying to get away"
With a rapid glance | questioned his
countcnancc, asking myself:
''Is he u lunatic or an ugly iester2"
But his face remained impenetrable,
calm, and benevolent. ! talked Of
other things, and admired his guns. |
noticed that three loaded reyolyers lay
on the tables, rs if this man lived in
constant fear OF an attack.
/ visited him several times and then
went there no more. People had be-
come accustomed to his presence and
had crown Indifferent.
A whole year passed. Then one
morning, toward the end of November
my servant awoke me with the an
nouncemeut that Sir John Rowoll had
been assassinated in the night
Hall an hour later, with the central
commissary and q captain Of soldiery,
| entered the Euglishman's house,
His servant, bowidered and despairing,
was weeping before the door / sus-
pected him ut first, but he was inuo-
cent The guilty man never could be
found.
As entered Sir Johns sittng-room,
/ saw at the first glance his body
stretched out on It's back in the middle
% the floor His waistcoat was torn
one torn sleeve OF his coat was hang
ing; all told that terrible struggle had
taken place
He had died Of strangulationl His
terrible countenance, black and swol-
len, seemed to express IN abominable
fear; he held something between his
set teeth, and his neck, pierced in a
hundred spots, as if with iron points,
was covered with blood.
A physician joined us. He examin-
cd long and closely the marks of fin
gers in tho flesh OF the dead mans
throat and spoke these strange words:
zone would say that he had been
strangled by 4 skeleton.
A shudder crept over my back, and
| raised my eyes to the wall, to the
place where had formerly seen the
horrible, shriyeled hand 1t was no
longer there. The chao hung broken
Then | leaned over the dead man,
and found in his distorted mouth one
of the fingers OF that missing hand, cut
or rather sawed, off by his teeth close
to the second Joint.
They proceeded to make investga-
tions, but discovered nothing No
door or window had been forced, no
article of furniture moved. The two
watchdogs had not been awakened.
The testimony OF the servant could
be summed up in n few words
His master had seemed agitated for
a month past He had received and
burned many letters. Often Selling n
horsewhip, with fury that resembled
madness, he had lashed that dried
hand chained 10 the wall, which had
been removed, no one knew how, Mt
the very hour of the crime.
1t was his habit to retire early at
night and to lock himself in with care.
He always had weapons within his
reach. He often talked very loud in
the night as ii quarreling with some
/ body
That night it CHANGED that he had
made no sound, and it was only on
coming to open the windows in the
morning that the servant had found
Sir John assassinated. He suspected
nobody.
/ reported to the magistrates and
public officers all knew about the
death, and a minute inquiry was pros
ecutod over the whole island. Moth
I ing was discovered
/ One night, about three months after
/ the crime, had a fearful nightmare.