The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-30
A MYSTERY UNVAILED.
An Honest Germans Explanation
of Weird Tale.

Those readers who have thought it worth
their while to wade through the histories
of my strange experiences must often have
set me down as prosy old fellow. Ishal
not complain of any such rating, but
shall ask for little further indulgence
and beg them to defer for little theil
final judgment, at least till they have reaC
present situated, and if this narrative doe
not make every hair stand on end, thrill
every nerve TO the borders of frenzy, and
freeze all the marrow in their bones thew
are beyond the reach of nervous stimu
lants. | myself have always had a great
liking for my novels, hot and strong. ''ThC
Italian" THE Mysteries of Udolpho.'
''The Monk" "Frankenstein, these arc
the novels for my taste. They are a trihe
old-taShloned, but more recent favortes of
mine are those wonderful stories of lie
Fanu, one in which a man is nearly buried
alive and another about a savant who is
haunted by u horrible little ape with fiery
eyes, the result of overmuch study and
green tea. This lasts indeed rather absurd
Ill It's conception, for men who sit close
at their books as | do are the last people
IN the world to be troubled with such de.
Iusions. Whenever open one of my old
favoriteS i wonder how peoDle can ever
the hlstorico- religious order or these mel
ancholy maunderings of Mr. ORWELL, from
winch one discovers, after a weeks hard
reading, that a certain neutral-tinted
young lady has decided not to become the
wife of young gentleman of the same
hue, and has concluded that they had
better pursue a separate path through life.
Well put all the wonderful horrors YOU
ever read into one story, and then multiply
by ten and the product will fall infinitely
behind the tale | have now to set before
you. The house over the way-which stares
at me now as l write, with its blank win
dows like dead mems eyes-holds within its
four walls a secret so terrible that, as | sit
down to write, | shrink with dread from
the task of lifting the vail. A nameless
horror seizes me when | reflect that for
weeks have been living within twenty
yards of thing SO awful that it seems to
require new set of terms to describe it;
but must conquer my fears and set to
work at once.
just in front of my windows is a gap in
the street, where one house, considerably
larger than the rest stands back ten wards
or SO from the road. The tagged space in
front OF 1t is shut Off from the street by a
high curlously wrought iron railing, now
cankered by rust and ruined as to its finer
details by the coats of paint with which
succeed1ngcompany's painters have daubed
1T. In spite of the ratings, this bit of va
Shhb BIounu Is useu Dy Dne ne1gnDorS as a
sort of common dust bin. Old hats and
shoes, broken crockery and bottles and
other nameless rubbish are deposited there
privately during the night; and at inter-
walls, when the collections become Excess
'sive and seem to threaten the communica-
lions with the outer world the dust cart
comes and clears it away, the operations
of the dustmen being directed by tall,
gaunt womani in black bonnet and shawl,
whom never see at any other time.
In none of the windows which face the
street is there ever any sign of life or hab-
itation. | once made an attempt by ven
turing down mewsin aneighboring street
to investigate the rear, but / could see only
a very small portion of the house and Just
half a window. This was all that was not
hidden by projecting outbuilding. The
window was open, and | could plainly see
within tho chamber huge wheel, like the
fly wheel OF an engine, slowly revolving. /
can not describe how powerfully this dis
minutes, and should have waited still
longerin the hope of finding ont some
thing moro, had | not been warned off by
stable-man, who informed me that mo
admittance except on business" was the
rule in that particular NEWS.
made no further attempt at explora-
tion indeed, it was only by chance within
that had done so much. So completely
have learned to rely on Simpson in these
matters that | look to him to do all the
mystery Calculating as naturally as a lame
man trusts to his stick; but from careful
observation at my window became pos
sessed of further knowledge of fact con
corning that mysterious house opposite,
which made me more anxious than ever
for Simpsons appearance. This fact was
very strange, a very awful one. In the