Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-06-15

Ing muscles and traces OF blood that
was ike mud on the cIeanlV cut of
bones. severed as With an ak near the
middle OF the forearm. Around the
wrist an enormous iron chain, rivsted
and sOidered to the uncleanly limb,
fastened it to the wall by a staple
strong enough to hold an elephant.
al asked what it was. The English
man cody answered:
g. That was my dearest foe. He
came from America. That was cut
of with a sword, and the skin sCraped
of with flint and dried in the sun for
eight days. Pretty good for me,
WASH it.
az touched the remnant of human.
ity. which must have belonged to a
Colossus. The immoderately long
fingers were attached by enormous
tnndons. to which shreds Of the skin
still adhered. The hand as frightful
to behold, dsyed as it was; it natur-
ally suggested q barbarous revenge.
'' The man must have been very
powerful, said I.
'' oh, yes said the Englishman,
gently but / was stronger than he
was. put that chain on it to hold
it.
Thinking he was testing, I said:
'' The chain Is rather useless now.
The hand won't get away
"Sir John replied, seriously: It's
! always wanting to get away. The
chain Is necessary
81 gave him quick look, wondering
whether he was a mailman or a prac-
! tiCal Joker. But his face remained un-
moved, calm, and kindly. I changed
/ the subject, and examined his guns. L
noticed, however, that three loaded
revOivers lay in different places on
| the furniture. as if the man lived in
! constant fear of an attack.
81 called on him several times, and
| then went no more. Every one had
grown accustomed to his presence,
and consequently wholly Indifferent
to him.
GA whole year went by, when one
morning my servant awakened me
with the news that Sir John ROWeu
had been assassinated in the night
Half an hour later I entered the Eng
lishman's house with two police Offici-
ais The French valet, frightened
and overcome, was wringing his hands
at the door. He was the man I first
suspected, but he was innocent.
'"Ihe murderer was never discover
ed.
Entering Sir Johns drawing.rOOm,
/ at once perceived his body lying
stretched on the floor in the middle
OF the room. His coat was torn, one
sleeve was wreuched of and hanging,
everything gave evidence of a terrific
struggle. The Englishman had been
strangled to death. His black, swollen
face expressed the most horrible fear;
he held something between his clenCh-
ed teeth, and his throat was pierced
with five bleeding holes as if made by
A z
and examined the finger marks IN the
flesh. He uttered the singular words:
g 4 should say he had been stran-
gled by a skeleton
81 felt the chillsTun down my back,
and glanced up at the wall where 1
had seen the horrible fayed hand.
at was there no longer! The chain
hung broken.
81 bent over the corpse. and found
in its teeth one Of the fingers of the
vanished hand, cut. or rat her shaved
off by the teeth lust at the second
joint.
"The inquest was held, but nothing
was discovered No door had been
forced, no window opened, no furni-
ture displaced. The two watch-dOgs
had not wakened.
1.-The servant testimony was about
as follows: For q month past his
master had appeared troubled. He
received a great many letters, which
/ he burned as fast as they came Often
picking up a ridding-whip in a rage
that approached insanity, he would
lash the dried hand that was fastened
to the wall, and which had been re-
moved so mysterlOuSly the night OF
the crime. He went to bed very late,
| locked himself in carefully, and always
\ Al II
would often speak out loud at night
as if he were quarrelling with some
one. On the night IN question, as 1T
/ happened, he made no sound, and 1t
was only when the servant came to
/ ODen the windows that he discovered
/ Sir John had been assassinated. He
! had no suspicious Of anybody. 1 re-
/ ported the whole matter to the prop
er authorities, and the island was
minutely searched Nothing came to
light.
'Now, one night, three months after
! the crime, had a frighUful nightmare.
1 dreamed saw the hand, the hideOus
/ hand, running ike a scorpion, or
| a spider, up and down my
walls and curtains. Three times
I aWOke, three times 1 went
/ to sleep again, and three times L saw
/ the ieshless horror crawl around my
room. moving its fingers like legs.
! Next dav the thing itself was brought
/ to me. 1t had been found III the
! graveyard on Sir John ROwelPs tomb
/ De had been buried there because his
/ family could not be traced.
''The hand lacked It's first finger!
/ s'That is the story, ladies. There is
nothing more to 1t.
/ The terrified women we're pale and
/ trem bling. One Of them exclaimed:
''That is not a solution, nor an ex-
/ PLANTATION. We shall none of us sleep
| fn-niaht unless Won tell what YOU