Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1898-05-13
THE Inn AT BIRNLEY.
ny crArLrs r. LEWIS

In every city and town IN tie lCu2
you will find a mill, store o. factory
which seems 20 be hoodooed. The lCCa.
tion is apparently al right, but NThoCy
en- buys, leases or rents makes q failure
When George Walter Of tho town Of
Birnley decided TO build nn inn ard be-
come a landlord, nc selected what WIS
called tho best location ia tho corpora
tion. He WAS a man liked by al, lad a
fair amount Of money, and everybody
wished him luck and predicted tLdt lie
would do well. It was strauae what =
turn Of luck came to the man. lie had
been successful in everything. bat Gu
the day no broke gtcurd Tor tho new
enterprise ho fell over EoIrc tirlbcrs Gnj
Lroke his leg. Before The framework
was up n workman bad been killed
While the building was bcirg ccInplet-
cd n painter fell from u ladder und was
fatally injured. The i'm was opeLc1
with a hoGsowarming. Some of tire
guests drank too heavily, a quarrel oc-
cured, and tho postmaster Ct tie town
was stabbed to death. The people I'D
NAsIu W lAlAA1 W. kNN A1N Va "a. A41 Aiha--
cd upon it merely as O run cf III luck
and remained until bis wite died Of ~
phoid fever Then no sold tho inn Co Il
stranger named Grafton and moved
away.
Grafton had a wife end three chill
dron, and lie bad not bCtn IN the house
q month when two cf thu chllOtcn were
drowned i'll tho river near ty. Fifteen
days later the tavern stables were burn
ed TO tho ground. The man realized
that tho place vas hooCoccd and got
out Of it, uud it was taken Ly another
stranger named EldriGge. This owner
made "a low place Of it, but fer six
months nothing hsppehcd 10 create
much gossip. Then LldriGge was kill
I'D NY a quarrel over cards, and that was
tho last Of the Rcd Rose inn as an i'm.
1t was offered for sale at almost any
price, but the story of its i'll luck had
gone abroad, and no Il would take it.
1t was finally put to use MS "a warehouse,
but after . fire. which destroyed a por.
ton of tho structure, it was lett an TN
occupied ruin.
II had stood thus for a year or so, ~
eycsore to the town ard a wonder to al
strangers, when q man named Cum.
mings came along and made certain in
quiries. which at once revived all the
gossip. Ho had q sister married to {
man named Drayton. On u certain datC
tho pair had eCt out from Columbus
o.. to drive TO u town in Illinois. They
had their own carriage, aud that they
rassed through the town of BiTulCy wa.
proved by tho fact that the sister mailed
him q letter with the postmark II it
After that letter nothing further wa.
heard from her, though the husband
bad been seen in one of the territories
alone. was only a boy then, and l can
not remember all the details. Irecollect
however, of Cummings explaining tina.
it was not n happy marriage, that th'
woman had a largo amount Of money
with her and that he was sure tho hUs
band had mado away with hor at SOM,
point on the journey.
No one in Birnley recollectcd the ar
rival Of the couple or anything connect
cd with them-no II but me. lt s.
happened that l was able to furnish ia
formation. They arrived at 9 o'clocl
one evening while there was a circus IL
town. l had helped tho hostler to pu
out the team and had seen the man ant
woman at supper. just NJ daylight
having remained with the hostler al
night after VIC had taken in the circus
wo were called upon 20 bring arounr
the team. / saw only the man get int
the carriage. l was sure the woman dii
not depart. When i spoke to the hostler
he took no interest In the matter. Who
/ asked Mr.. Eldridgo, the second land
lord, about it, he replied that Of cours
she went with her husband, though b
was stumbling about and half asleep
and | am sure he did not see her. IL
bridge had gone, the hostler had gon
and l was the only one who could Civ
any details. Remembered and describe
the two people and the horses and car
riage, and Cummin 3 had no doubt tina
they stopped at the inn. From Birnle
he proceeded on his journey west, seol
ing { o pick up the trail. He got trace G
the man "a dozen times, but tine woma
had not been c After three or fou
weeks he came back TO Birnley with tn
firm belief that tho wife had been mui
dered there.
There was n river flowing throug
the town and q millpond below. III
first move made was to drag this pond
The work was thoroughly done, anC
though all anticipated that a skeleto
would DO found. nothing Of that natuI
was discovered. There was found, how
ever, a satchel containing female al
parel. This had been weighted wit
bricks and was lying at the bottom
the pond. When the satchel was foun'
Cummings felt sure no was ON tho rigi
track. and the rear yard Of the inn We
explored. Men dug into the ground
80 different spots. but after a Ion
lay's work it became certain that NJ