The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1888-11-09
CAUGHT In HIS OWN TRAP.

During the first three years Of my
career as a detective ] had some singular
Jobs given me to work on, and the man
ner in which one of them was worked and
the Developments Of the case ayinterest
tho reader.
About three miles outside the limits of
large city in Pennsylvania stood large
farmhouse. There had been q murder
committed there. and whiske ey had played
havoc with an heir. and the house had
stood vacant for three years before saw
it. The farm had passed into the hands
or New Yorker on mortgage, and he
seemed to have forgotten all about it.
Naturally the cry of haunted house"
WAS raised, and presently you could not
havs hired a neighbor to enter the house
In the daytime There were people hv-
ing within a quarter of a mile of the
place, and by and-by they began to tell
some queer stories.
On two occasions parties of three or
four went out from the city to stop in the
house all night. but in each instance they
were driven away by strange noises be-
fore midnight
lived in town forty miles from the
haunted house, and consequently heard
nothing of it.
had case against an absconding
treasurer. He had the funds of large
and prosperous lodge in his hands, and
got away with So 600 belonging to It, He
Furthermore borrowed about &, 600 of his
friends, and got $500 on a forged draft.
This occurred In a town about thirty
miles from the haunted house
The dsfaulter had bought a railroad
ticket for Chicago, and left behind him.
as IL By accident. parcel addressed to a
party in the Garden City. 1t ought to
have been reasoned that this party WAS
he under another naure, and that he had
gone 20 Chicago as fast as steam could
carry him, but 1 reasoned Just the op-
posite.
He had gone without his trunk or
clothing, but when j came to overhaul
his things his lanslsdy figured out that
two clean shirts. several collars, a stout
pair of boots and an old salt OF clothes
were missing from the house. Tho boots
and old suit had belonged to a boarder
who died months before.
There were three highways leading out
OF abe town. j worked two of them
without success On the third I soon
found farmer who had seen a foot trav-
eler resembling my man pass on the
evening he had absconded Five miles
farther on became positive OF his iden-
sity.
He walked all that night, with only
two brief halts before midnight to inquire
about roads; but once on his trail soon
picked up plenty of pointers
The absconder's name was Kelly, and
he was a keen, shrewd fellow. He had
planned the embezzlement and escape
weeks ahead, and be followed out a regu-
lar programme.
He left town dressed as a laborer. and
carrying n valise- He had light felt
hat. a black felt hat and a cap, and about
once in ten miles he exchanged his head
gear.
He was a smooth faced man, but had
provided himself with goatee and side
whiskers. -
thus heard OF him once rs a smooth
faced young man wearing a cap and hav-
ing one arm in a sling; next as q Young
lsh man with a goatee and a black hat;
again as full-whiskered man with a
light hat.
confess that was badly puzzled and
about to despair, when came to "A farm
house where he had stopped for dinner.
he was then smooth-faced and wore a
cap, and claimed to be an agent for a wind
mill company whose rights had been in
tringed on and who were taking steps 70
collect royalty.
When Kelly entered the kitchen for
permitted to eat with the family, was
left in the sitting room. His curiosity
regarding the contents OF the valise was
aroused, and he picked the lock and over
hauled them.
He was careful not to say anything Of
this TO the family, but when came along
on nay errand / soon discovered that he
had a secret. The sight of silver piece
loosed hi. tongue, and he told me OF the
hats and false whiskers.
After that / had no trouble in follow
ing Kelly, no matter which disguise he
assumed.
There was n direct highway from the
town he left to the city with the haunted
house. but he did not keepit He would
branch of here and there and make n
half circle to como back again. One or
two nights he slept In barns, and so I lost
track OF him for n few hours. On one oc-
casion his fest became sore and he lay by
at a tavern for two days, and then ]
actually got ahead OF him.
While the towns.were only thirty miles
apart, Kelly Travelled all of 100 miles in
making the distance, and WAS twelve days
about it. / followed him mile by mile,
and owing TO a severe storm was thirteen
days.
traced him into the suburbs OF the
city and there lost him, and though had
the help OF three or four local officers, we
could get no further trace of him. At
length we heard OF n person n hundred
miles away who bore Kelly's description,
and 1 was about TO start after him when
overheard the following conversation in
a restaurant:
so the boys that went to the haunted
house got scarei"
An awful scare guess new ghost
has taken possession"
What did they see or hear,' ~
saw doors open and heard groans and
various other noises"
well. it's funny"
"Ye."
once decided that / had locsted Kelly
again. Is was quite probable that he had
known of the haunted house for years, rs
its fame vss widespread, and the fact of
new ghost showing mp just ut this time
made me suspicious.
That night ut ten o'clock, accompanied
by n local detective, / visited the place
Ii was rambling big farmhouse, stu
ated twenty rods from the highway and
the ground around WAS grown up to
weeds and bushes. All the windows were
broken and some of the doors stood
open, and more gloomy place l never
saw.
We entered by rear door and found
the "oor rotting away and the plastering
Grabbing of. We pushed on to the ait
tag room, where the young men had
stationed themselves the night before,
and here found some blocks of wood to
sit down on.
There was doorway leading into the
front hail. but the door was gone There
was doorway TO the parlor, and the door