The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-01-25
weight, and I gaspsd for breath with .
sense Of sufSocation in its density.

sense Of sufIocetion in its density.
II stood thus for some moments.
wished I had brought o light. The beating
Of my heart seemed like o companion in
my solitude, and I remember laying my
hand upon 1t to feel its ~pulsations. Then
slowly, slowly. out Of the thick air, there
grew upon me a horror, nm unspeak-
able, awful consciousness of the presence
of the Invisible which floze my blood,
aud chilled my life at It's core. My body
seemed turned to stone. All its activity
was paralyzed, and had I sought to turn
and dee, I knew my muscles would have
failed to do my bidding, aud my feet have
unk under me. l was powerless to open
my lips. Only my mind was free as air
to receive in every fiber this sense Of UNI
utterable terror for that instant. Fear
held dominion over me-. Fear, such as I
had never dreamed of, ruled in every atom
of my being. Tho sound of the shutting
OF q door resounded in my ears like an
an instant along the wall, and in its mo-
mentary CLEAN I saw u woman's face, a
wicked face, aud q girls form, q shadow
cerouched at my side. The light was gone,
but there still rung in my ears q long, low
sob, like the cry Of Q lost soul. and the
sickening noise Of o fall on the stones
below.
1t must have been some time after this
that Margaret found me sitting on our
stairs below the closeddoor. How / came
there 1 do not know. She did not speak
to Inc, for I think she knew by my face
what had happened, and she followed her
instinct i'll treating me much as / had
treated her. As soon as any power of ao-
ton returned to me, I resolved upon.quit-
ting the house instantly. and set about
preparations for our departure with a
feverish activity. I could not be easy SO
long as We remained in the building, and
We spent the few days necessary for the
%lepacking of the furniture at Leland's
Hotel, visiting the house as little as pos
sible and never remaining over night.
Margaret went to her mothers to stay till
she could ecove from the shock 10 her
nerves and be fit for work"
knew it would he useless to try aud
persuade Mrs. Capel that oil she had re-
lated was but the illusions of an over
wrought imagination. 1 released her,
therefore, from the engagement, and de-
termined to inspect the building for my
81 satisfaction. An old doctor who re-
sided on West Monroe street, in the neigh
borhood, tod me that the last permanent
occupants Of the house, before it began to
bear so evil u reputation, had been two
women, u mother and daughter. The
mother, u widow, owned the place. She
was n tierce-tempered, hard woman, who
seemed possessed, as the gossips said, by
Il spirit of unnatural hatred toward her
daughter, q girl with o certain sad beauty
of her own, as the doctor described her to
not an idiot, but lacking" the doctor
it. AS she grew into
w%omanhood her mental deficiencies
increased, and the mother, fiercely proud
i'll her way, could not endure the spectacle
of her child's misfortune. She would
have hidden her away from the world, but
the girl rebelled. There were taunts,
quarrels, sometimes blows, between the
two, and the mother, defiant and furious,
locked her daughter in the rear part of
the building. Here the tragedy of her
life played itself out, and here she u
found one morning by the servant. who
slept in q remote attic, lying dead Mt the
foot Of the stairs. How she came by her
to directly criminate the mother, and the
inquest that vas held resulted in q YER
dict of accidental DEATH" The mother
herself died soon after, leaving her prop
erty to o distant cousin, who reaped little
benefit from the house, since it o be-
came impossible to let it.
The doctors account seemed to lend
weight to the statement of Mrs. Capel.
l entirely disbelieve i'll the supernatural,
and, after making III examination of the
premises, was on the point of leaving,
when I noticed a panel in the open door
that had 9 peculiar surface. AS l stood
watching it, while night shades were fall
ing, the outlines of two figures became
more and more visible. One was that Of
Q middle-aged woman, with a hard, fierce
face. while the other was that of a young
girl in o crouching attitude. When the
door was closed the panel could not be
seen except from the extension. exam.
ined the framework Of the door, and found
it to be in q rickety condition. A gust of
wind from II special quarter striking
the framework threw the door sufR-
aslant to free the bolt from
the clasp and allow the door to
swing open into the hall, and reveal
the painted panel. On subsequent in-
quiry, I found that the extension had at
ono time been occupied by an artist. who.
doubtless, hearing of the tragedy as re-.
lated by the doctor, had painted the scene
on the panel. II also discovered that the
artist had been making experiments with
phosphorescent paint, and also with q
paint that changed color OF various do. |
grees of temperature. l had the France
work of the door repaired aud the panel
taken out, and since then no tenant has
to me with ghost stories. I have
tho panel at home in my parlor. In the
dark, when the weather is slightly damp,
the two figures come out very distinctly,
but ut times they are invisible. The
luminous paint used is now quite COM
mon, but the artist who invented il has no
Of the supernatural sensation this
early experiment made on the tenants Of
the Halsted Street Haunted House..
POliteless OF Clerks.
Politeness is an essential requisite to
fho a,,ccnaafn1 c1ork Thoro noaI h.