The Press., 1892-08-11
SEARCHING OUT. A MYSTERY.

the dismembered skeleton of man had been dug up in the cellar of an old house back of the hotel and until the mystery thereof was solved, no inhabitant of Twid- dleton could enjoy an hours mental re- pose.
 Business was neglected in Middleton. Men congregated at corners to discourse upon the all-absorbing topic; and women left the dinner-pots to boil over, while they discussed the mystery above their yard fence. The parson had made the "Murder of Abel" the subject of his last question, "Is there Eugene Aram among us [" had been treated in a manner to curdle the blood of the hearers, and in- spire each with dark distrust of his next neighbor. Still, no one had taken any actual steps to the discovery of the mur- derer, until MT. Solomon Slocum publicly announced his intention of taking the matter in height, and in his own words, ''s ''sifting it to the bottom"
 If any one short of a No. 1 detective were competent for this task; it was Sol omon Slocum. There had never been a mystery in Middleton that he had not sferreted out; never a secret act of law lessness, from the burning of Squire Rennie's barn to the tying of a cat to Miss Skinner's door-knocker, but he had suc- ceeded in identifying the culprit. He also interested himself in matters of more private and innocent nature. He knew the history of every family in the county, with most of their domestic affairs had ascertained the age of every single lady, and would tell without hesitation who wore false hair and teeth, and when silk dress had been dyed and made over.
 Slocum went to work in a very method ical manner First, he ascertaihed from corporation deeds that the house contain ing themysteriods cellar Mow occupied by an estimable single lady, who fainted on the discovery that she had been Iiv- ing oyer a dead niaris) had been built nearly hundred years ago by an ancestor of the Harker family. Then a shadow fell upon the Harkers, and several per sons were led to the discovery that they always seemed a sly and underhanded set. Job Harker, however, proved that the house had been sold some twenty years after it's completion to Captain Womble, whereupon the. Wombies came in for share of the shadow; and young Timms, the village poet, whose Fourth of July ode Tom Womble had fidiculed, asserted that he always had mysterious repulsion to the latter individual and had clearly seen murder" upon his brow. Tom and his father then came forward the former with & horsewhip and the lat ter with a paper, which proved that in the house no cellar had existed within it.
 Following this clue, Solomon Slocum, after much investigation, succeeded in satisfying himself that the cellar, in fact, was comparatively modern addition, having been excavated in the year 1S45, just after the property had passed into the hands of the Bowans.
 This discovery, of course, at once placed that family under ban of the darkest suspicion. Solomon, whose only son, Joe, had long been paying particular at tention to pretty Jessie Rowan, found himself not proof against the general prej- udice.
 "No Slocum," he remarked, with virtu. ous resolution, "shall marry into family in whose veins runs the black blood of a murderer
 And though it was not evident to the hearers of this speech that the blood of g murderer must necessarily be black, they nevertheless approved of the sentiment all save Joe, who sturdily declared his in tention of marrying the girl he loved. al though her veins should run ''ink and ivory black" ..-ts.
 'The case having narrowed down te this p'int," observed Solomon, looking gravely around upon an interested audi ence in the tap-room of the hotel O. which, by-the-by, his father, Christophel Slocum, had been for many years previous the popular proprietor-''thec case having as said, been narrowed down to the yeal "45,' it remains for us to discover wha men folks hev onaccountably and mys teriously disappeared since that date, ane then to ascertain, if possible, what rela tions the missing man had with any O the Bowans." =. ....t.
 "Thar was the Yankee notion peddler, suggested Slocum's pal ticular chum, wht kept the store and post-office opposite ''He was missin' more'n three weeks"
 "His body was found and decentl. buried," Slocum replied.
 "Then that swell chap who was so fiusl O greenbacks,' said another
 Bogus. No wonder he mysteriousl. disappeared-with the police after him.
 "Ahem! The young student that spen month hel @ in your fathers time, ,Slocum recruitin'-''
 "Recruitin'! never heard of a man O omon, positively. .t..i..g
 "Recruitin' of his health, as he said You must remember that he left here il mighty sudden and inaccountable way and to my knowledge never was heard o ag'in."
 "To-be-sure, to-be-sure :" assented Slo cum, his eyes sparkling as he found him self possessed of this valuable clue "Drewry was his name. A jolly younl chap he seemed to be. Plenty o, money too, as I ricollict. And now it's for m to find out exactly the date of his bein here."
 He hurried away home, and speedil returned with certain massive and well worn volumes, which proved to be tn ledgers and account-books of his lat father, while landlord of the inn.