The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-09

through WHICH [accor0Ing TO my wIreJ INC
apparition had disappeared. 1 tried the
door. It was certainly locked, but I opened
it with the key and passed in with my
wife. When we vera quite within the
room ard in the light OF the fickeriDg
fame Of tho fire nay wife caught my arm
and whispered again: Look Do you see
saw nothing.
For the rest I had better tell directly
what my wife sa7; for I saw nothing-till
the end, when there was something tan
gible to DO seen. We SAT down together a
little way from the fire, she holding my
hand, which she would catch at hard and
hold on to, at, I suppose, poignant instants
of her vision.
She saw thu golden haired child sit Of a
footstool quito close to the fire, and the
black kitten sit near her, both gazing in
tently, and rs it were with content, ct the
flames.
They sat, and the Goals (aGsuring Us of
our touch with the re24 world blew hiss
ing jets Of smoke, which would break into
rushing fame illuminating GIL the room,
and the einders cracked and fell together,
dropping fragments out upon the brass
fender with q chatter that made Us start
all that, Of course, st intervals which
seemed hours long. Then at length she
saw hand-notAing but shapely, ghost
~ hand and wrist-lash from the dark on
the left hand side Of the fireplace, sane the
black kitten by the neck and catch it
away; &n instant after the same hand
flashed down upon the child; the child fell
forward against the fire and with piercing
scream OF agony GissDDearedi
Ny wife started forward with a scream,
SO that to this day it is impossible for me
to decide for myself which 1 heard-the
scream of my wife OR the cry of the child
tie sound of this world or of the other.
Ny wife had tainted; carried her out
of the room ard locked the door. Thought
it was not worth while to disturb the
house; but when | had brought her to and
heard all she had seen she insisted that
she could not rest that night till an ct
tempt had been made to solve the mystery
and to lay the ghost.
I returned down stairs, found Clyde and
old Vansittart and told them what we had
done. Clyde seemed a good deal put out;
he believed nothing but trouble would
come Of this mcddhng; however, since we
had gone SO far he was prepared to see us
through with it. So we all went to the
haunted rOOIn-Women and all.
We all agreed that the ghostly hand was
the center and origin of the whole ma
c1inery, SO to say, Of the apparition, and
my wife and Mrs VansitGart declared that
the hand came from the left hand side of
the fireplace Now there (as all over the
walls of the ROOM Clyde had fastened
some gTeenish colored material of canvas
Aay- n 1-c1 IA y>iof
which were here as everywhere. Receiv-
ing his permission to undo that part of
it drew the pins and disclosed an old
fashioned flock paper. He swore and de
clared he had instructed the workInen to
strip the walls before putting his stuff up.
Stripping away piece of the flock paper
l disclosed first one common wall paper
and then another, till ! came to fiat, sound
wood work. Stripping everything freely
away from that ! saw on close examina-
ton a small, tight fitting cupboard door
That discovered l paused, and we all
looked at each ether. What strange secret
of the house might be exposed by the open
ing of that dCorI
Prise away!'' said Clyde to me, handing
chisel with malignant ferocity which
startled me.
With some effort the door was forced
open-and 10! grisly sight that made the
women scream! A skeleton hand-a right
hand-with precious flashing rings slip
ping over the joint of one of the fingers
hung by loose siIken cord from hook,
while below it on the floor of the cupboard
lay small complete skeleton of q four
footed creature, which we determined could
be none other than ki5tenl
Strange and horrible! And what did 1t
mean? l gave my guess then, as l give it
now. The hand was the hand of the for
eign woman who had hated her own child
and hated cats, who had in that very room
struck ct her child through her chil6's
kitten-had probably (as the vision seemed
To signify seized the cat, and in her passion
had killed it and IN her fear had hid it
and then had struck at her child, not vita
intent to kill, probably, but SO rashly and
violently that the child had fallen against
the fire and had died of her injuries. The
buccaneeCing husband with the rose of
health in his check, but with the evil of
hell in his eye, had somehow found out all
that, and in C passion for revenge had cut
OIL his wife's cruel right hand and hung it
up there in memorial of har CRUELTY
If that be not the explanation, there is
none.
q think you must be right" said Clyde,
"aDd in confederation of your view point
to that portrait Of the lady over there in
the corner, in which, you will see, the right
hand is as if hid under the mantle"
There are two or three curious points in
the story which NY attempted exposition
Of the original mystery does not explain
es, for instance, why the injured child and
not the cruel mother appeared in complete
ghostly gUise, and why 1t appeared only 10
women, and among women only 70 moth
ers-but 7 have never yet seen or heard the
theory that completely met and routed sll
difficulties il any set OF superna. raj
events.
These things, however, l know; that we
buried the bones found u tie cupboard,
tEat the Dkautom child ceased 70 chino the
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