The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-13

their situation when found indicated be-
yond doubt The skeletons had evidently
been in the recess for years prior to their
discovery.
The careful investigation Of the case
which the police carried on for months
failed to clear away the mystery. No one
in the house, which was denSely tenanted,
could throw the fainteSt glimmer on the
CHASTITY discovery. II was learned by the
police from some of the older residents of
the neighborhood that the house. while
a tavern, had bornea hard name. II had
been a stopping place for the tide that
flowed from Europe to the gold fields of
California, and many rough and tumble
fight had occurred in its baIToom But
that murder had been done no one
for a moment suspected The pro
prietOr, siniSter-lOoking yankee.
had amassed fortune, and at
the outbreak of the war had retired from
business and disappeared. No one cOnld
tell where he had gone; some said he
enlisted and was killed. Others that ne
had gone TO Europe. The bones were
buried in potter,s field. TO this day the
police have never found the murderer. 80
After a pause, the deputy added in low
voice: Il did"
The reporters started and clustered
closer about the deputy.
Yes, continued the deputy II found
him in the insane pavilion Of Bellevue
hospital. He lies now in the same potter's
field where the bones of his victims are.
While I was at the morgue one day I was
informed that an old man had been found
wandering insane on the street who oc-
casionally had lucid intervals. during
which he asked for me. In one of the
dark rooms of the insane pavilion.
strapped to his cot, ] found an old man
with snow white hair and fun beard.
whose color was that of death and whose
bloodshot eyes shot with lightning rapid
ity about the room. He was evidently
dying.
constantly while he writhed in his men
tai agony.
"As soon as he saw me he immediately
grew calm and becl1oned me to his side.
you're the deputy? he said in a
weak voice, and when l assented he said
he knew it, for my face had haunted him
ever since he had read in England of the
discovery of the skeletons.
"Iwas in Liverpool asleep at my hotel
when you discovered those skeletons, he
whispered; but l saw you as painly as !
do now searching about that cellar
When you found that leaden plate ]
awoke with the sweat pouring
from me. l fed everywhere to escape
Your face, but you have haunted me ever
since and finally have driven me back to
this city. Before / die let me tell YOU my
secret. / murdered those men. 1t has
driven me mad
He told me-" went on the deputy
chat many of the men who stopped at his
hotel on their way to California had large
sums Of money. One of them had fallen
downstairs late one night while drunk and
was killed. The fear that he might be
suspected of numbering the man for the
money which he had. led the keeper of the
hotel to bury the body in the backyard
and to conceal the death from the authori
ties, The case with which the
death was concealed impelled the
hotelkeeper to put importation, with
the assistance of his wife, a plan OF
almost scientific murder.
''In the ceiling of an upper room he haL
fitted the sheet of lead, and so painted il
thatit couldn't be distinguished from the
ceiling. BY means of pulleys and ropes
which were arranged between the ceiling
and the roof and the walls Of the room
and the adjoining room, and connected
with window of the next room, the sheet
oflead could be dropped or raised by touch.
ing a spring and raising or lowering the
window with which the swing connected
When he wanted to rob man who had
sheet of lead. A touch of the spring
and lowering Of the window at midnight
would drop the lead upon the unconscious
sleeper and crush him TO death. The body,
wrapped pin a Sheet was hid n the alcove
which was kept walled up and only opened
to admit new body. In this way, the
old man said, he had killed the four men
Then he and his wife, who had subsequent
lY drowned herself, had converted their
property into cash and with their i'll got
ten fortune had left the country. The old
man soon lost all his money and had be
come insane from remorse. In spite OF
his efforts to keep away he had been
drawn by the thought of his crime back tC
this city. He said he had never seen me
before save in his dream, but he knew
me the moment l entered the room.
"He grew violent after finishing his
tale, and the nurse prepared a quietine
dose for hiV. AS she stepped to his bed
side to administer it he shuddered con
vulsively and his jaw dropped. When ]
felt his pulse" concluded the deputy
'he was dead"
As the deputy finished the sun broke
through a rift in the clouds and fell
athwart the room. A sparrow hoped
upon the window sill and chirruped. Every
one jelt relieved and more cheerful just
then an ante-mortem call came in and the
crowd broke up.
''Is that fake story you're givin' us?'
asked one Of the biggest truth stretchers
among the reporters.
Glow can you ask such a question:
answered the deputy with an emphasis
on the you, as he hurried away to investi
gate case.