The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-05

ing of their feet; and yet il wOuli have
been worse 20 depart Hehad deadly fear
that underneath that mass of broSeu wood
and plaster and accumulated dust, the body
of his friend, George EASTWOOD. might be
found, together with that of the woman
whom George Eastwood had profeSsed to
love. 1t was his ear that first distinguished
the repetition of the faint NJ auing which
some of the workmen had previously heard ::
and it was he who was first able to tel them
who lay there.
''Dick Eyre, the cripple" he said. Eyes,
he was with me in the street, aud rushed
upstairs when ne heard the beginning of a
scutfie. He will perhaps be able to tell us
who was here-if he is alive when we get
| him out.
He waited while the men went on work
ing with redoubled zest. 1t took them two
or three hours to get to the buried lad, for
the fallen ceiling, rafterS aud furniture had
| formed a mass OF debris which was exceed.
! lngly difficult to move, and much care had
to be exercised lest greater injuries sAould
yet unwittiugly be inflicted upon the SUI
| ferer or sufferers underneath. There had
also been della; ia setting to work, and it
was between and d o'clock in the morning
when at last the crushed a d maugled form
| of Richard Eyre was disencumbered, and
laid in the ambulance which had been
brought TO Mill street for his use. He was
still alive, but unconscious, and he seemed
| TO breathe with difficulty. He was carried
| at once TO the nearest hospital, and some
| one was appointed to watch bv him night
and day in order to take down his earliest
| conscious utterances.
But nobody else was found beneath those
| heaped up fragments. No trace of the
| presence of any man could be found. There
were some scraps OF woman's clothing, but
nothing which appertain d to masculine
| needs And vet it was certain that some
body must have been in that upper room
when the rotten d )or gave in. There must
have been some one with whom Stephen
| Eyre had engaged in deadly struggle.
| Some one must have seen and known how
| he fell against the window, how the iron
bar gave way, and how it came that he lost
| his footing on the window ledge He had
not been alone. Richard Eyre could surely
clear up the mystery.
The feeling In Mill street and its neigh
borhooi was very strong. Stephen Eyre'S
fanatical zeal had made him respected, if
not niue beloved. And now that he was
| lying dead, fresh stories came to light day
by day concerning his fortitude, his pa
thence, his self-denial. Now it was a
| woman, her child in her arms; who came,
| sobblng pitifully, to say that she could no
! longer pay her rent now Capt. Eyre was
| dead. Now it was a man who wanted to
pay back what the captain" had lent him
| IL.
an old crone moaning out lamentations for
tne man who used to read and pray with
her. Now sick child, who was found
weeping for the gaunt playfellow whose
| stories mad never faiied to charm away her
pain. Ga all sides Stephen Eyre was
mourned; and the rumor, floating vaguely
amo lgst mis- friends, that he mad vowed
had betrayed him, and gone to
| Mill street that night to execute
| it, gradually died away. For what
reason s0ever, his adherents said, he had
mounted to that top room at No. 20, the
! reason had been good. He had never done
| anything but good to the souls and bodies
of those amongst whom ne had lived, and
preached and worked. In short, he was
| elevated to tie rank of saintship, and
would have been very much astoni he'd by
his own apotheosis if he could have risen
| from the grave to hear of it,
The indignation caused by his death was
considerably heightened by the discovery of
point to which attention was called at the
inquest One of the dead mans hands was
found TO be severely cut across the fingers.
as II some one bad tried to detach him from
his hold upon the window.led % by attac 4
ing him with knife. Stains of blood upon
the window-ledge itself showed that this
was the place where the assault had taken
place. If such were the case, it was quite
PLAIN that no accident but cruel murder
had been the cause of Stephen Eyre's un-
timely deata. The jury were SO much n
pressed by that piece of evidence that they
brought in verdict of wlllful murder
against some person or persons unknown
The apparent lmpoSsibility of finding the
murderer, however, added an element of
mystery and excitement to the incident.
The papers were full of it for few DAYS.
and 1.-The Great Mill Street Mysteryn
raA
placards and as new and striking cry for
the newsbOys. For time Mill street was
besieged by reporters. and every inch of
No. % was examined, photographed and de-
scribed, until the dwellers in its neighborinp
houses actually prided themselves upon their
connection with the place
The excitement gradually faded away.
and Steplen Eyre's death was forgotten
but radcis belmont maintained painful
memory of the event. He could not be
perfectly sure in his own mind that George
Eastwood was entirely unconnected with 1t.
What made ''Black Saln saw to Stenhen
Eyre that Jess Armstrong; lover had come
back. If there was no reason for the asser-
ton! Tnat it was made out of sheer ill
nature MIR. Helmont did not quite believe.
And if he had come back; if it was he who
had been with jess in the top room of that
deserted house, what had since become of
him! lJ was mystery which the parson
thought that he should never solve without
the help of Richard Eyre
He wrote to George Eastwood,s home. to
his latest addresses In London and on the
Continent, but received no answer. He
went daily to the hospital where Dick Eyre
was lying, and daily received the same
answer-"No better, unconscious STILL
Until at last he went aud heard the half
expected words-"Richard Eyre is dead"
ibid he say nothing before ne diedg' Hell
mont asked of the nurse
'He called out 'Jessl JESSE sir. but that
was ALL he was never able to speak co i
necte lily. We never expected him TO live.n
Helmont went away dejectedly. Poor
Dicki Poor Stephen Eyrei WHAT chance
was there now of his ever learning the truth
about "the Mill Street Mystery" He bcgal
to think that it would have to be- relegate ed
to the realm of things that never are found
out
A few weeks passed away without his
hearing anything more of the persons con-
cerned in this sad tragedy. Then, one
morning, the young fellow who acted as
his secretary opened a letter and, as usual.
turned to the signature first. 1t was from |
George Eastwood, and written from Sar-
DINA.
Quite a commonplace letter. He had not |
written lately because he had had touch |
Of fever at Naples He was sorry to hear |
of the mysterious death of Helmont's |
protege, Stephen Eyre, which he had read |
sK,f ~ T.. I.,I l. 4