The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1898-07-08
A SUPERNATURAL WONDER.
Morgue Keeper Tells OF START
ling Experience.

ling Experience.
Grizzled old "Bill" Clark, the head
morgue-keeper at 20 Adams street,
Chicago. has been SO many years en-
gagged In the care of the dead he al
most feels moro 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 grain of unbe-
lief In any of the venerable morgue-
keepers entire accuracy Of recollection
and truth Of narrative. "Old Bill was
never known to tell lie in all his life
and he cherishes his reputation for
veracity as the very apple Of his eye.
The other night he told strange
tale about the headless peregrinations
OF the body OF Marie Grignovitz, which
the police found floating in box in the
Chicago river just north Of the forks.
The corps was that Of girl of is or
Whereabouts and, though 1t was manned
and hacked with knives, traces Of its
unusual beauty remained perceptible
TO the most unobservant of the hun
dreds who were attracted by the curlos-
lty 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 difficulties OF identified
ton. Officials despaired and even the
most ardent Of new-fledged 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 route
unknown then and eq Tally undiscov-
cred now, the head appeared at the
morgue, exciting the wonder Of all and
the superstitious fears OF thousands
81 never did know how that head
came to rejoin it's body, and l don't
buppOSc cNcl Will, Sdlu Jidlh, UuL
what do know is just this | was on
guard at the old morgue that night.
There might have been three or four
bodies on the slabs, 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 l sort of made myself
comfortable in tilted chair and, with
bit of pipe, and leaned back, think
ing.
ut may be my eyes closed for just a
second or so, but, anyway, a quick rush
Of fresh air and the shutting Of the
door sent me on to my feet with a
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 I heard bell
tolling midnight. Then stepped back
In doors, feeling bit queer, somehow.
turned up the lights and the first
thing l 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
II she had become spirit of air.
We'll, now, needn't assure you this
took my breath away completely. All
TIE 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
telephones in those days and l could
10 nothing by leaving the morgue, so
sat down in my chair again, feeling
little shivery. I'd been there about
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.
didn't dare raise my eyes, but the tail
Of my glance fell on the floor and
saw stalk past me the wet, naked feet
Of woman Then I sank down in my
chair and closed my eyes with my
hands"
The old man stopped and with great
ieliberation filled his pipe from can
vas sack.
"Well?" queried his youngest audi
tor.
WELL" said Clark, slowly, lust then
the 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 head she
had lost, with its long yellow hair al
iabbled in blood. The lips were parted
and the white teeth were clenched up.
Oh bit Of parchment. 1t had red let
ters on it, printed in English capitals
which said:
This Is the Head of Marie Grignovit;
Traitor
"And we never found out single
thing more about the matter" conclud
ed Clark. Nor could we persuade hin
to add word more to what he hat
said.
Much in Little.
/ 1t is impossible to run at an altitud,
, Of 1900 feet above the sea.
The finest shops In a Chinese cit,
, are those devoted to the sale Of collins
1t cost 10000 for coal to take tn,
British cruiser Powerful out to China
! An English wooden manufacturer ha
begun making clothes from old ropes
:. Five ounces and half OF grapes ar,
required to make one glass Of goo,
wine.
A veritable curiosity exists in Swift
,erland in the shape Of telegraph lin
. with stone poles.
Chocolate Is still used in the inter
> !or OF South America for a currency
: IS are cocoanuts and eggs.
: In New England patent oil Is va
/ porized and the gas used with an In
,andescent mantle for lighting purposes
!. The reservoir being suspended at tn
;. :op of the lamp with feed pipe. which
a extends in close proximity to the naul
A 10 transform the oil into gas.