The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-02-07

The Quaker kept three horses, and
Cousin John was particularly fond of at
tending to them. The last thing every
night he bedded the horses and foddered
them, and at his suggestion the groom was
discharged One morning John said to
his cousin
aThis is a very fine old house, and just
the sort of place that people would say
was haunted The old wainscoted room
where you sleep, the shop below it, and
the halls and passages seem almost in the
same condition in which they must have
been over 100 years ago.
s'My father, was the answer, "did not
meddle with any of the rooms that were
habitable, except to have them cleaned.
He put up a kitchen and parlor, and
leyeled the ruins between here and the
stable. Otherwise he did little to the
place. But l never heard it was haunted.
What put such thing into your head 2"
r. @Oh! nothing much, replied Cousin
John.
But this answer only served to rouse the
old mans curiosity, for in reality he was
very superstitious.
"Have you ever heard or seen anything?"
he asked.
"Well, to tell you the truth, . was the
answer, Il have both seen and heard.
For several nights I have heard footsteps
in the passages after we have retired, and
last night arose to discover whence they
came. Gently opening my door, I glanced
along the passage and distinctly saw some
person standing at the top of the stairs.
The next moment the figure disappeared. "
'This is very singular" the Quaker said,
''for with the exception Of Margaret, the
cook, we are the only persons in the house. :"
After further remarks the conversation
was dropped. Later on in the day the
draper informed his cousin, with a very
serious air, that box of old family silver,
left with him as collateral on loan, was
missing from his counting-room, small
recess in the rear of the shop. Cousin
John expressed unbounded astonishment,
and instituted search.
The only window in the room was grated
outside, and there was no sign OF the bars
or the strong paddock on the shop door
having been tampered with. That night
extra care was taken to make everything
fast, and the next morning nothing was
disturbed.
The morning after that, however, the
draper's strong box was found forced open
and several hundred pounds in gold and
silver were gone.
The Quaker was greatly alarmed, but
declined to ask the interference of the au-
thorities, as he thought knowledge OF
the fact might induce those who had de
posits with him to withdraw them. Hith-
erto the money belonging to the depositors
was untouched, as it was placed in vault
under the shop, the entrance to which was
known to the Quaker and his cousin alone.
The Quaker, however, after the second
robbery would have called the constables
to his aid, but it so happened that the very
day mortgage was taken up, held by one
of the Quaker's chief depositors, and Is, 900
was placed in his hands. It was placed in
the vault, and the old man and his cousin
expressed little fear of its being reached by
thieves.
On their entering the shop next morn
ing, however, they found the counter torn
aside, and the trap-door to the vault, which
it had covered, open. The $4,000 and
over $4,000 additional was gone After
this, for the first time, it was discovered by
Cousin John that the window of pantry
had been left open. Through this, evi-
IDENTIFY, the thieves had entered, and no
doubt the noise heard by the cousin while
coolly accommodating the premises, and the
person seen on the top of the stairs, was
doubtless one of the marauders.
Two Bow-street runners were sent down
from London and made a thorough inves-
tigation. The theory that the thieves had
entered the pantry window was exploded,
for it was only two feet square, and right
across the aperture was stretched spider
web, which evidently had been there for
months. Furthermore the pantry had no
connection with the counting-room.
1t was discovered that over FL 900
worth of goods had also been removed from
the store, but at what time could not be
decided
When the Quaker had made good the
losses sustained by his clients he was still
comfortably off. He was far from satisfied,
however, with the result of the inyestiga-
ton. Soon after this the cooks daughter,
a strong country wench, was permitted by
the Quaker to spend few months with
her mother. She was very shy, and kept
pretty much all the time in the kitchen.
At night, however, she was lively and wide
awake, and often stood with the door of
her bedroom ajar and listened. On more
than one occasion she saw that Cousin
John was evidently doing the same thing.
After about month of patient watching
the cooks daughter saw the cousin come
out of his room with dark lantern and go
down stairs She followed and looked
over the ratings. The cousin went up to
one of the large panels in the wainscoted
hallway and, reaching up to the top OF it,
pressed it. 1t slowly turned upon pivot
and disclosed a passage, into which the
cousin passed Then the panel was again
closed The country wench-or detective,
for such she was-drew dark lantern
from beneath her garments and went down |
stairs. The panel yielded to her touch as
it had done to Cousin Johns, and she
found herself in narrow passage, along |