Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-08-17

DAY. Twelve O'CLOCK came. we could hear
the neighboring church clock chime the
hour, but nothing happened. The stiffness
of death reigned in the old place. Mark
ham was intensely disappointed, the doc
tor seemed relieved, while Mitchell evil
IDENTIFY considered us party of fools and
himself the greatest fool for coming
''Why, Mr.. Markham he said, I'VE
never had SELF like this before. We
haven't had even as much as some table
rapping. The ghost hasn't given us fair
run for our money" After some discus
sion we agreed to again reconnoiter the
cellar, and without lighting our candles
we CROPPED our way from passage to pas
sage, but found, to our surprise, the cellar
door closed. Mitchell, looking through the
keyhole, announced in an awestruck whis-
per that something peculiar seemed to be
swinging in the center. The doctor shiv-
cred. He remembered that the only thing
that could be in the center was that ghast-
~ trophy of death. Markham was the
next to peep through. We could see a
tremor pass through his body, and, white
as a sheet, he turned away. Neither the
doctor nor myself cared to take his place;
SO, drawing back we made way for Mitch
ell who was preparing to burst the door
open. Just as he was about to spring,
however, it suddenly swung back, and the
sight that met our eyes almost paralyzed
our senses.
Swinging in the moose of death hung
the figure of the monk. His face, CHASTITY
and horrible, seemed to grin at us in
agony, a white and awful contrast to the
darkness of the vault Spellbound, we
seemed rooted to the spot, but we sudden
~ became conscious of new terror, and
one rapidly approaching. There were
steps coming behind us. The sound of slip
shod sandals came nearer and nearer. We
turned. My heart failed me; my knees
shook as If with ague. Coming steadily
toward us in the moonlight was another
figure of the monk. In few seconds he
would touch us; but, swift as lightning;
we almost threw ourselves into an empty
room on our right, and shaking with fear
we four strong men flung ourselves against
the door to keep it closed while that aw-
full thing weu1 past.
!. The shutting sandals came nearer and
nearer. They passed our door, We could
7 hear them enter the cellar where the rope
hung, and then once more the stiffness of
death occupied the place. For few mo.
ments we did not dare to speak. Then
Mitchell softly opened the door, and peep
ing out informed us that there was moth
ing in sight, and that even the swinging
body of the monk had disappeared. With
out word he led the way. We followed,
one by one, and in few minutes we were
outside the house and on our way to Ap-
pleton's There was very little said about
the matter. We had all mentally deter
mined at least to let our ghost alone for
the future; consequently no further resolu-
lions were passed the next morning, and
barely mentioning the subject we re-
turned to town to the different walks of
life to which we belonged.
\. -
One day, three months later, picking
up the morning paper, read:
STARTLING DISCOVERY AT BLACK
HEATH.
A SUPPOSED HAUNTED HOUSE THE RESORT OF
COINERS.
All, this is interesting, I thought, and
was not disappointed. 1t turned out to
be an account of raid by the police on
the house we visited. Our ghosts were
nothing more than desperate gang of
coiners. The terrible noise had been pro-
duced every night by their letting fall in
the basement tremendous iron weight
upon the foundation stone of the house.
The body Of the monk that we had seen
hanging by the neck III the cellar was
nothing more than well made dummy.
with it's clothes stepped in phosphorus.
And such was the end Of the Black.
heath mystery. CHEIRo THE PIANIST.