The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-08
A SUPERNATURAL WONDER.
A Morgue Keeper Tells OF . Start
ling Experience.

Grizsled old "Bill" Clark. the head
morgue-keeper at % Adams street,
Chicago, has been SO many years en-
gagged In the care Of the dead he al
most feels more at home in their COM
pany than in that Of the living. at
whom he looks askance as a rule, but
occasionally he will unbend into So
liability and at such times will draw
from the storehouse of his memory
weird and CHASTITY experiences which
cause the new hands at the morgue to
open their eyes in wonder.
No one, however. ventures at any
time to express even a grain Of unbe-
lief in any Of the venerable morgue-
keepers entire accuracy Of recollection
and truth Of narrative. "0ld BIZ was
never known to tell a lie In all his life
and he cherishes his reputation for
veracity as. the very spple Of his eye.
The other night he told a strange
tale about the headless peregrinations
OF the body Of Marie Grignovits, which
the police found floating in box in the
Chicago river just north Of the forks.
The corps was that Of girl Of 1s or
thereabouts and, though 1t was MANNED
and hacked with knives, traces of its
unusual beauty remained perceptible
to the most unobservant Of the hum
dreds who were attracted by the curiOs-
fly or duty to view the body. twas nude
when found and the absence Of the
head seemed to add an insuperable OBJ
stacle to the difnculties Of identifica-
tion. Oflcials despaired and even the
most ardent Of new-fedged reporters
butted their heads In vain against this
stone wall of mystery. Everyone had
given up hope and IT had been deter
mined to inter the poor headless corpse
next day when strangely enough, out
of nowhere, unheralded and by a route
unknown then and eQ1aily undiscov-
cred now, the head appeared at the
morgue, exciting the wonder Of all and
the superstitious fears Of thousands.
II never did know hox that head
came to reJoin Its body, and don't
suppose ever will" said Clark, "but
what l do know is just this: I was on
guard at the old morgue that night.
There might have been thres or four
bodies on the slabs, I can't exactly say,
one Of them being, Of course, this head
less girl Grignovitz. There had been a
good many visitors early, but after
awhile things got quiet. midnight
came on and sort Of made myself
in a tilted chair and, with
a bit Of pipe. and leaned back, think
ing.
1T may be my eyes closed for just a
second or 80, but, anyway, a quick rush
Of fresh air and the shutting Of the
door sent me on to my feet with
start. l glanced around quickly and
ran to the door and looked out. No
one was in sight and all would have
been still except that l heard bell
tolling midnight. Then stepped back
in doors, feeling bit queer, somehow.
1 turned up the lights and the first
thing / saw was that the body Of the
headless girl was gone. The naked
slab lay there before me, but its late
occupant had vanished as entirely as
If she had become spirit Of air.
well. now, I needn't assure you this
took my breath away completely. All
the time l knew the body hadn't been
stolen or hadn't disappeared by natural
means and this made me feel more
peculiar than ever. There wasn't any
in those days and I could
do nothing by leaving the morgue, so
I sat down in my chair again, feeling
3 little shivery. I'd been there about
q minute, guess, when felt the same
peculiar rush Of damp air over my legs
and I knew the door was open again.
Soft footsteps came toward me. I
didn't dare raise my eyes, but the tail
Of my glance fell on the floor and I
saw stalk past me the wet, naked feet
Of a woman. Then l sank down in my
chair and closed my eyes with my
hands,"
The old man stopped and with great
elaboration filled his pipe from a can
vas sack.
"Well?" queried his youngest audi
.or.
"Well," said Clark, slowly, "just then
he sergeant came in and together we
went over to where the bodies lay.
Lying on the breast Of the headless
girl, with her two hands holding it,
was the stony, staring-eyed head she
had lost, with its long yellow hair all
labbled in blood. The lips were parted
Ind the white teeth were clenched up
IN bit Of parchment. 1t had red let
.ers on 1t, printed in English capitals,
which said:
This Is the Head Of Marie Grignovitz
Traitor
"And we never found out a single
hing more about the matter" conclud-
ID Clark. Nor could we persuade him
o add word more to what he had
laid.
Much in Little.
It ia impossible to run at an altitude