The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-04-09
A SUBURBAN MYSTERY.

The purpose Of this STORY u to oleax
|up suburban mystery and provide the
last chapter which Is to set ct rest I'll
speculation.
For more than two years the resi-
dents of Morton's Grove have been
guessing at the cause Of the traclks.
and If they have not guessed correctly
1t is no discredit to them.
It was two years ago this last Febras
lary, and on a certain evening toward
the end Of the month that a moist SNOW
of big, lazy fakes began to fall upon the
suburb of Mortons Grove.
There was hardly breath of wind,
and the snow sifted itself evenly and
iclung wherever it touched.
There were but few trees in Mortonss
Grove. In the christening of the SUBJ
Iurb the real estate Napoleon had am
Ecipated that period when all the shrubs
land switches would have their growth.
Therefore the snow did not lose itself
in tangled boughs, but settled peaoe-
fully on broad levels of lawn and steep
pitches of roof. Except where Q wall
or fence stood bolt Hpright there waa
I'm unbroken mantle of white. Even
levery picket wore plume and every
'fence-board run.
The snowfall eased at II o'clock, and
by that time Morton's Grove was al
most hushed for the night. The bdg
wooden houses stood spaciously apart
and were darker and more fantastic
than ever against the white. Ono by
one the windows winked themselves to
darkness, and several hundred nice peo-
pie slept, not reslixing that a mystery
was upon them.
f, If reports be true, the second Miss
Eaton was the first to SEQ the soot-
prints.
, She arose very early in the morning
to reaasure herself that the geraniums
were far enough removed from the win
dow and still not too near the base-
burner. She walked to the window and
looked across the snow at tho dull,
sealed houses aorues tho way and the
,wiry bushes frozen in the front yard.
It was the gray Of tho dawn, and the
shapes outside were not distinct, but
when her eyes fell to the foreground she
saw enough. First she stared in puszled
surprise, and then she moaned and ran
to the stove to warm herself, still gaz-
ling at the window.
No wonder, indeed. This is what she
had seen:
! Huge footprints, marking the course
of a man, undoubtedly, who had come
from the street to the very window
lat which she had been standing. That
was not the worst of it, The footprints
Led from the street to the window, but
there were no footprints from the win
dow to the street.
What did that mean?
It meant that the man had come TO
the window but had not gone away.
He had come through the window into
the house! He was in the house at that
moment!
There was pit-a-pat of slippered
feet ON the stairway, and the second
Miss Eaton gave a gasp and discon-
nected account of her discovery 20 tho
first Miss Eaton, who was still in bed.
The first Miss Eaton couldn't under
stand what was meant, but she became
iconvulsed with fright. merely through
sympathy.
Christine, the Swedish girl employed
las man-of-all-work for the maiden la
dies, heard the noise and came to the
rescue. She valorously clad herself
Iand went through the house from end
to end, lifting every coverlet behind
which man or boy might have concealed
himself.
i There was no man in the house and
there was no sign that any man had
been there during the night, although
Miss Eaton discovered, to her horror,
that the snow on the window sill had
been disturbed as if by man crawling
in at the window.
"What large tracks, !" shivered the flrst
Miss Eaton as she surveyed the hideous
trail across the front yard. "Oh!"
The tracks were rather large for a
fact. A foot that measures 1s inches
lfrom heel to toe goes above any known
average and is supposed to belong only
In burlesque literature.
But these were real tracks.
The Eaton sisters, or the Eaton
girls" as they were still terrued, out OF
compliment. stood togethA-I II the win
dow after breakfast. They saw Mr..
Ballard johnson. who lived in the first
house to the east. come along the side
walk.
Occasionally he stopped and shook his
head, and then he walked on with his
eyes hxed ON the snow-coveFed ground.
Tho Eaton girls rushed TO the door and
the frst Mis- Eaton shouted: "Oh, Mr..
johnson. have you seen those txaGlz.
too?"
He turned. apparently somewhat con-
fused. and replied; Have II Why.
Ithose tracks lead mp to my hunt VIM
dow. / thought q Arut some ono hAdI
got Into tlas h0usa. Did you evsr - q
man with fest = hig - tAess tsaeks7~
mo. but thsy're nal txseits. What I
can't understand y bow the man sveg,
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