The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-04-13

soon discovered that he had a Sc.
cret. The sight ct 4 silver piece
IoOsened his tongue, aud he told me
of the hats aud false whiskers.
After that | had no trouble in fol-
lowing Kelly, no matter which dis.
guise he assumed. There was a
direct highway from the town he
lett to the city with the haunted
house, but he did not keep it. He
would branch off here and there
and make a half circle to come
back again. One or two nights be
slept in barns, and so | lost track
of him tor few hours. Ga another
occasion his feet became sore, and
he lay by at a tavern for two days,
aud | actually got ahead of him.
While the towns were only thirty
miles apart Kelly travelled all OF 100
miles in making the distance, and
he was twelve days about it. / fol-
lowed him mile by mile, and owing
to severe storm was thirteen days.
l traced him into the suburbs of
the city, aud 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 person 100 miles
away who bore Kelfy's description,
aud l was about to start after him
when | overheard the following
conversation in a restaurant.
$50 the boys who went to the
haunted house got d scare 7"
Gan awful scare. l guess new
ghost has taken possession"
"What did they see or hearp
"Saw the doors open aud heard
grOans and various other noises"
"Well, it's funny"
eyes,"
1t may seem strange to you that
l at once decided that l had loca.
ted Kelly again. 1t was quite pro.
babIe that he had known of the
haunted house for years, as its fame
was widespread, aud the fact of a
new ghost showing up just at this
time made me suspicious. That
night at 10 O'Clock, accompanied
by local detective, l visited the
place. 1t was rambling, big farm
house, situated twenty rods from
the highway, and the ground
around was grown up to weeds and
bushes. All the windows we're bro
ken, and some of the doors stood
open, and more gloomy place
never saw. We entered by a rear
door, and found the floors rotting
away and the plastering crumbling
off. We pushed on to the sitting
room, where the young men had
stationed themselves the night be-
fore, aud here found some blocks of
wood to sit down on. There was a
doorway leading into the front hall,
but the door was gone. There was
a doorway to the parlor, and the
door was partly open. AS we look
ed into the parlor I swung the door
to and fro, and knew that the him
ges had been freshly oiled.
When we came to inspect the
cellar we found little but cObwebs
and dust. Each of us had lant-
ern, and each inspected tor himself.
At one corner of the cellar l found
an old oyster can in queer posi-
tiOn. 1t seemed TO be sticking to
the floor above, but after a close
examination, without, however,
touching it with my hands, l made
up my mind that it has held there |
by a chord. l said nothing to my
about this, nor about the |
discovery made in the front hall.
At Que spot, where the plaster was
off from base to ceiling, caught |
sight of wire behind the laths.
This led up aud down, end the low
er end was probably attached to |
some object. We did not 60 up |
stairs. The front stairs had never
been finished, and the back ones
we're so dilapidated that we hesita-
ted to trust them with our weight.
By IL o'clock we had taken our
seats in the sitting room, eyes and
ears alert, and ready for any emer-
gency. There was no lock or catch
On the door opening iutO the psrlOr,
but it was shut. Tue two windows
out Of the room had been
boarded up. We placed our laut-
srns ia a corner, aud as we watched
aud waited the room was in semi
darkness aud the house as still as
death.
1t must have been near midnight
when the performance opened. We
suddenly caught the faint notes Of
music, aud the sounds lasted for
TIVE or three minutes. l was salts
fed that the sounds came from a
iewsharp. Ny companion whisper
od that two female voices were sing
ing while q guitar played an accom-
Daniment. The music had scarcely
died away when the parlor door
o2eued as noiselessly as the swing
Of a cOffiu lid. was perfectly sat
ished that it was the work OF hu-
man hands, bot l was startled. 1
bad not told the detective that
expected to hnd Kelly in the house.
had simply said that l expected
to make an important discovery.
When the door swung open the man
started up in alarm and whispered:
"GreAt heavens Let rs be gomez
I Pot my hand on bis arm and
waited for the next move. 10 about
q minute We heard a tnnk tank
tnnk on the cellar stairs. / knew /