Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-12-12

ah0 III AulcTACA. Nc uuuCO 4AuGuAuSly
~, yes; have had many adventures.
| II then began to talk about hunting
and he gave me many curious detail.
about hunting the hippopotamus, the
tiger, the elephant, and even the gor
lila.
II said: 'All of those animals are
very formidable
He smiled. oh, no! man is the
worst He began to laugh with Q
hearty English laugh, and added: .
have hunted man aiso.'
Then he spoke OF arms and invited
me into the house to show me the diff
ferent sorts of firearms. His salon was
drapped with black silk embroidered
with gold. Large yellow flowers
grouped on the somber cloth, glowed
like fire. He said: That is Japa
nese flag
"In the center of the largest panel 6
strange thing caught my eye. A blach
object hung on red velvet square.
approached it. 1t was hand--the
hand OF a man. Not the white, clean
hand OF o skele but q dried, black
hand, with yellow nails. The muscles
/
across the forearm suggested the mark
of Ratchet. An enormous chain was
rivitcd about the wrist and attached tc
the wall by ring strong enough te
hold an elephant.
II demanded: What is that?'
"The Englishman quietly replied
THAT was my best enemy. 1t came
from America. 1t was cut off by q
sabre, and it was then dried in the sun
for u week.
~ touched the human remnant,
which might have belonged to q colos-
sus. The fingers. immoderately long,
were held by enormous teudons. This
hand was hideous to look upon, and
made one think Of the vengeance of q
savage. / said: He must have been
very strong man.
The Englishman grimly replied
oh. yes, but l was stronger than lie. l
have put on the chain to hold it.
II thought he was joking and said /:
The chain is useless now; the hand
will not escape
"Sir John Rowell gravely responded:
1t is always anxious to get away. The
Cllalu uuS Oeeu necessary.
With rapid glance l questioned his
countenance, asking myself: Is he o
fool or is that bad joke?'
"But his face remained tranquil and
impenetrab Q. l spoke of other things
and admired his guns; 1 also noticed
that three loaded revolvers were lying
about the room, as though the man
lived in constant fear OF an attack.
visited him several times. and then
discontinued my calls. We had become
accustomed to his presence, and he be-
came Indifferent to all.
"A year passed by. One morning
toward the last OF November my servant
awoke me with the announcement that
Sir John Rowell had been murdered
during the night. A half hour later I
entered the Englishman's house in COM
pany with the general commissioner
auu the Chief OF poiice. The valet was
weeping before Ah1Sdoor snspected
this man at first, but he was innocent.
The assassin has never been found.
Upon entering Sir Johns salon /
behe!d the corpse extended on its back
in the middle of the room. The vest
was rent and sleeve torn, aud every
thing Indicated that a terrible struggle
had taken place. The Englishman had
been strangled to death; his black aud
swollen face bore the expression of terri
bic fright; something was imprisoned
by the set teeth, and the neck, pierced
by five holes, was covered with blood.
"a surgeon joined us presently. He
examined infinitely the tinger-marks in
bn cts
words: i should say that he had been
strangled by skeleton
"a shiver ran down my back, and /
glanced toward the wall where had
seen the hand 1t was not there. The
chain, now broken, hung from the ring.
Then l bent over the corpse, and found
between its set teeth one of the fingers
of the missing hand, cut. or rather
sawed off, by the teeth at the second
joint.
"We proceeded with our investiga.
ton, but nothing was discovered; nc
door had been forced, no win dow
broken, no article of furniture over
thrown, and the two watchdogs had not
been awakened.
"Here in few words is the servants
deposition: For month past his master
had appeared agitated. He had received
many letters, which he burned as soon
as read. He would frequently take q
riding whip and in fit of anger iuri
ously lash the dried hand chained tc
the wall. He retired at late hour,
carefully locked himself in. and always
had arms within reach. Often during
the night he could be heard talking
loudly, as though quarrelling with some
one. On this night he had been very
quiet. and it was not until morning that
the servant, on opening the house, had
found Sir John assassinated. lie sus.
pected no one,
II communicated all that knew Of
the crime to the magistrates and officers
of police, and thorough search was
made throughout the island, but moth
ing was discovered.
well, one night. three month afte,
the murder had been committed, had
q horrible nightmare. Iseem to behold
the dreadful hand running like scor
pion along the curtains and across the
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