Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-06-27

the awful terrors that a midwinter s
night in a prison cell can hold.
Trains OF thought from which ne
shrank persisted in dragging theh-
selves through his too active Draln.
lie thought OF the criminals VINO mus.
have occupied that cell before him, anu
last mast. half-forgotten tragedies re-
called themselveh to his memory.
There was the Greenlanes Mystery
a grusome story of nearly twenty years
before. over whose details he had gloat-
ed with a boys delight IN the horrl-
bic
In the little village of Greenlanes the
villagers. returning TO the almost ue-
serted hamlet after a days hopping,
were shocked to find an aged man, VINO
had been completely paralyzed anu
speec hless for years, sitting III MS chalr
as he had been left in the morning,
with the bodies of three little murdered
grandchildren lying dead around MIN,
Rloodstained were his hands ana
clothes. and he was carried to prison.
But there was no evidence 10 sho"
that he had or could possibly nave
moved. and under all EXPLANATIONS he
remained dull and motionless, making
no sign. until one day he smiled
CHASTITY smile and died, his impene-
trable silence unbroken; the murder'
IFS reason and commission, remaining
forever a mystery.
AS Dobson thought of this he seemed
TO see that venerable head. with us
filmy eyes and pallid features distorted
in that inscrutable smile.
Round him gathered many dead VS.
ions. He seemed TO see again the deau
face of his schoolboy companion VINO
was drowned while they slid tose'hel
on the mill pond one Christmas Day.
His mother. too, was always before
him living stretched out cold and stl1,
a sheet covering her dead lips. Lips
that in life had held naught but loving
words for him.
Ghostly shades, figures pale, impene-
trable. their eyes closed, their envelop-
ing shrouds. draping wasted hhlDs'
closely encircled him. There was MS
grandmother-her worn, wrinkled race
looked odd with two pennies placed one
on each eyelid. She had worn these
copper COILS WHICH, SN''t 7,
an infant he had been taken to look
upon her in her coffin. She wore thehl
now: he saw the dark discs quite pain
" as she stood there in the SHADOW
Covering his eyes did not shut out
those unsolicited visitors. When the
LIGHT was out he lay upon his bed and
tried to sleep, but the darkness only
made them more distinct, and he
found himself listening to what they
sal dand replying.
Then in his fears he prayed, not 10
God. but to his mother who was with
God.
ooh. mother" he cried, you are in
Heaven. and am shut up here like
rat in a cage, waiting to be hanged
for \ crime | never committed. II Coo
is God. why does he suffer human be-
ings to inlliet such cruel torture upon
one another. If God is in Heaven, II
there is any God, let Him send you TO
save me before / turn mad.
Rut no answer reached the frenzled
lad. Before him was still the pale
shane of his mother covered with the
sheet. while around the vague forms
in grave cerements gibbered and
mouthed at him, with shut eyes and
folded hands. only their horrible
mouths kept talking rapidly about MIN;
he could understand parts of what they
said.
what were, hoy. ~ nent him?
Why should - Jefore lhen
A sudden shed through his
distraught mind. They were dead
folks; living people always feared the
dead. Suppose he became dead too
he would dread none then. and all Nv
ing would tremble before him.
His mothers parcel lay unopened on
the table a square bundle wrapped in
a complete copy of the Weekly Scots
man. and tied with stout string. Crop
ing till he found it, Dobson united the
string. 1t was strong. and of consld-
cradle length, quite enough to serve his
purpose. Chuckling with insane rellef
and pleasure at having discovered the
wav to circumvert his ghostly visitors,
he placed his chair under the spot
where the faint light revealed the hlgh
barred window. Fastening one end OF
the Irvine firmly to the middlebar, and
placing the noosed end round his neck,
he exclaimed triumphantly TO the sur
rounding host, who, though their eyes
were still closely shut, seemed intently
to watch the proceedings: You can't
brighten me now I'm as good as you
are,"
There was the sound of chair fall
ing. of something brushing against
the wall. Then silence joined hands
with tho darkness of what had been
Dobsons cell.
(To be Continued.)