, 1897-12-22
THE I'm AT BIRNLEY.
By CliAI.l.I-S i. LEWIS.

In every city AID town in the land
you will find Il mill, store or factory
which seems to be lIoCdooed. The loca-
ticn is apparently all right, but whoev-
tr buys, leases or rents makes "a failure.
When George Walters Of the town of
Eirnley decided to build an inn and be-
come u landlord. he selected what was
called the best location i'll the corpora
ton. He was u man liked by all, had a
fair amount of money. and everybody
wished him luck and predicted that be
would do well. 1t was strange what a
turn of luck came to the man. He had
been successful i'll everything, but on
the day he broke ground for the new
enterprise he fell over some timbers and
broke his leg. Before the framework
was up 4 workman had been killed
While the buil,!ing was being comrlet.
ed Il painter fell from a ladder and was
fatally injured. lilo inn was opened
with a hCuSewalLIiDg. Some of the
guests drank too heavily, a quarrel &C.
currrd, and the postmaster of the town
was stabbed to death. The people adj
vised Walters to get out Of it. He look.
ed upon it merely us q run Ct i'll luck
and remained until his wife died of ty.
plioid fever. Then he sold the inn to a
stranger named Grafton and moved
away.
Grafton had q wife and three chill
dren, and he had not been in the house
u month when two of the children were
drowned in the river lear by. Fifteen
days later the tavern stables We're burn
cd to the ground. The man realized
that the place a hoodOoed and got
out of it, ard it was taken by another
stranger named Eldridge. This owner
made u low place of it, but for six
months nothing happened to create
rIch gossip. Then lldridge was kill
81 in a quarrel over cards, and that was
the last of the Red Rose inn as an inn.
1t was offered for sale at almost Il
price, but the story of its i'll luck had
gone abroad, and no one would take it.
1t was finally put to use as a warehouse,
but after n fire, which destroyed Il por-
ton of the structure. it was left an un-
occupied ruin.
1t had stood thus for q year or 60. an
eyesore to the town and q wonder to all
strangers, when q man named Cum
mings came along and made certain in
quiries, which at once revived all the
gossip. He had Il sister married to a
man named Drayton. On IA certain date
the pair had set u from Columbus,
o., to drive TO II town in illinois. They
had their " carriage, and that they
passed through the tow Of Birnley was
proved by the fact that the sister mailed
him a letter with the postmark on it.
After that letter nothing further was
heard from her, though the husband
had been saen in IL of the territories
alone. l wa only a boy then, and l can
not remember all the details. Irecollect,
however, of Cummings explaining that
it was not a happy marriage, that the
woman had n large amoun of money
with her and that he was sure the hus-
band had made away with her at some
point OH the journey.
No one in Birnley recollected the ar
rival of the couple or anything connect
ed with them-no one but me. 1t &C
happened that l was able to furnish in.
formation. They arrived at s O'Clock:
one evening while there was a circus in
town. l had helped the hostler to put
out the team and had seen the man and
woman at supper. Just at daylight-l
having remained with the hostler all
night after we had taken i'll the circus
we were called upon to bring around
the team. l saw only the man get into
the carriage. l was sure the woman did
not depart. When l spoke to the hostler,
he took no interest in the matter. When
l asked Mr.. Eldridge, the second land
lord, about it, he replied that of course
she went with her husband, though he
was stumbling about and half asleep,
and | am sure he did not see her. FL
bridge had gone, the hostler had gone
and l was the only N who could give
any details. remembered and described
the W people and the horses and car
riage, and Cummings had no doubt that
they stopped at the inn. From Birnley
he proceeded on his journey west, seek
ing to pick up the trail. He got trace of
the man q dozen times, but the woman
had not been seen. After three or four
weeks he came back to Birnley with the
firm belief that the wife had been lnur
dered there.
There was a river flowing through
the town and a millpond below. The
first move made was to drag this pond.
The work was thoroughly done, and,
though all anticipated that q skeleton
would be found, nothing Of that nature
was discovered. There was found, how
ever, q salchel containing female ap-
parel. This had been weighted with
bricks and was lying at the bottom of
the pond. When the satchel wa found,
Cummings felt sure he was Oh the right
track, and the rear yard of tbeinn was
explored. Men dug into the ground in
20 different spots, but after a long