Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-06-01
CHAMBER WARE-EWING BROS
NJ them suggested. land see the

one of them suggested, "and see the
why not tonight" exclaimed
voung Dane. whom we will agree TO
call A. 1--WE have plenty of time and
the steward of the club has the keys or
the house. The Englishman left them
with him when he went away.
The men were all young and keen ron
adventure. Perhaps the excellent cluD
punch had made them even Drawer
than usual. Anyhow, the suggestion
was received with EXPLANATIONS. Inc
KEYS we're called for. Some one pro-
duced q lantern. The rest filled their
nockets with matches and candle ends.
When they we're ready to start they
looked about for A. He was nowhere
to be found. The party set forth with
ont him. One of our officers could not
refrain from expressing some amuse-
ment that the organizer of the adyen-
ture should prove the only one AFRAID
to carry it through.
"A. afraid?" cried one OF the CLUB
members. you don't know him. lie
doesn't know what fear means. III
wager he's up to some deviltry at this
moment. Probably he has gone on
ahead to put on pillow case and play
I ghost for us
"Tbere it is" some one said at last,
and Lieutenant b., who carried the Ian
tern. looked at his watch by its light
and announced that they had just three
minutes to spare. The door was I'M
locked with difficulty, for the fasten-
ings had grown rusty from disuse.
by George cried the first man Wild
stepped into the hall, there's some
thing going on up stairs.
IT'S A." said his friend, laughing,
and they all started up stairs, Mr.. b..
walking ahead with the lantern.
A cry of agonized despair startled
the smiles from their lips and quick
ened their steps to a run. b. pushed
open the door from which the sounds
had come. AS he did so, and before he
could see anything. the lantern was
dashed from his hand and the door
slammed behind him. He stood still
in the darkness for few awful, terror
stricken seconds. Then he took a step
forward and tripped over something on
the floor He stopped over, and his
hand encountered a pool of warm:
oozing liquid 1t flashed on his mind
that this was blood and that the thing
he had stumbled over was a mans
body. His heart almost stopped beat
ing. He was afraid to move, afraid to
breathe. The instant during which his
friends in the hall were striking a
light and opening the door seemed an
eternity. Lieutenant b. is now the
gray haired father of a family, but he
saws the horror of that moment is as
fresh as though it had only happened
yesterday.
At last the door was opened. The
young men crowded in with their can
dies. There at their feet lay poor A.
with the Malay knife in his heart.
Explanations are always an anti-cli-
max. But the explanation of the fore
going tragedy is too curious to omit
though its pretentiOns to being a ghost
story are thereby destroyed. After this
second murder the authorities were
aroused to a display of tardy activity
The house was carefully searched, and
the discovery made that the walls werd
double. containing secret doors, stair
| cases and storage chambers. One Of
these secret doors accounted for the
murderer's escape and his return to ga
the knife, which he evidently felt would
be a dangerous Clew In the secret
chambers were found a considerable
supply of arms and a large quantity Of
valueables of the most varied descript-
ion. 1t was evident that the place had
been used as n refuge ana storehOuse
by Chinese pirates, its proximity to the
water making it the most convenient.
/ The owner of the knife and some men,
bers of his gang were subsequently
captured and put to death.-Washing-
| ton Star.