The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-04-01
i5Cclt0lleUMS
NJ MURDERER.

eggs lOr supper IlaI evening, ana as
she seemed disinciined to venture out,
| offered to 60 for them. We were all
alone in the house for father and
mother had gone to the country for a
! few days, and Tom, of course, was
away at the office.
When | opened the door to go out l
| found All Sin, our Chinese washerlaau,
standing on the door mat. lie could
speak no English, so | did not waste
any words on MIN, but just motioned
| to him to 90 upstairs; he would fad
| Nellie, thought, and she could give
him the clothes. ] did not want the
| bother of going back. | did not call
out to tell Nellie he was going up;
| did not think it necessary.
| must have been gone about three
quarters Of an hour, tor the little dairy
where we got the fresh eggs was four
long blocks away, and stayed awhile
talking TO the young girl who waited
on me. 1t was getting dusk when i
reached our door, and remember be-
ing surprised hen ! looked up at the
transom to see that the hal! lamp was
unlighted-Nel!ie had such a horror
Of darkness. | was even more sur
prised when opened the door to see
All Sin disappear down the passage
and enter the kitchen-the kitchen,
dining room and Toms room are the
only rooms on the first floor. Did |
only imagine it, or was there some
thing furtive in the Monaghan move
mfnts?
thought. Nellie has told him to go
in there to get the soiled kitchen tow
els "
LIGHTED the hall lamp, left the eggs
on the table and ran up the stairs.
When / reached the landing saw
something which made me SO faint
that had TO lean against tie banister
flor support.
So that you will quite understand
the position in which | found myself,
| will describe our upper hall and the
situation of the rooms. Directly oP-
posite the landing was q window over
looking the back yard; the bedroom
Nellie and | occupied together was on
the lett side, the door opening near
the head of the stairs. The hail was
fioored with white marb!e-a curious
fancy Of my fathers. In front of each
door was a thick woolly red mat
Now, all the rooms were closed, and
trickiing from under the doors of our
room was thin red stream, which
formed great pool aud which, though
it had seemed SC dark downstairs, was
here quite discernibie in the half light
which came from the hail window.
IN flash | saw it Ell. The China
man had killed my sister; it was her
life blood which trickled from the
door and lay in that CHASTITY pool on
the white marble. | gathered my
skirts to step over it and enter our
room and verify my awful fears, when
heard a stealthy, mutlied football on
the stairs. In the horror of my dis
covery had forgotten that the China
man was still in the house. In a
moment he would be upon me, and /
would share the terrible fate Of my sis
ter. who must be dead, for who could
| lose all that blood and live? Being
sure, then, that she was beyond my
aid, felt that | must try, if possible,
| to save my own life. But how? Out
side Of the hail window was Il wide
stone shelfonwhichw we kept pot plants.
near it was stationary ladder which
| the workmen used to ascend when the
roof needed repairing.
lsprang lightly over the horrible
pool, ran noiseiessly across the hall.
| and was on the window sill getting
out when the Mongolian's head APP
peared above the stairs. He saw me,
uttered an inarticUlate, cultural
sound, and swiftly followed me. |
made a spring, reached the ladder and
| climbed TO the roof. l would not de
scend to the yard-the chances of es-
cape were less that way, for the wood
en- fence round the yard was very high
and as the houses on either side were
unoccupied it would be quite possible
for me to be murdered without any
| neighbors hearing my cries, If once
| could reach the fiat roof Of our house
l thought | would be safe, fer the
roofs of the houses in our block We're
| as well known to he as the street. |
was something of tomboy, and on
evenings when the cats made the night
air hideous with their concerts, Tom
and | used to often go on the roofs and
| hunt them, sometimes chasing them
the whole block, he clad in his paju
mas and | in my cycling suit.
1t was, therefore, All easy matter
| for me to climb the ladder, but Just as
| | had crossed the roof and was about
| to drop myself onto the next, which
was lower than ours, the dreaded Gel
estial head again appeared, this time
| lust above the last rung of the ladder.
Oh, if only had the power to hurl
him down before he reached the roof.
| tore at the bricks in the chimney,
but not one would loosen. There was
nothing to be done but to run and to
scrc am in the hope of attracting the
attention of some passer-by on the
street below, but when | opened my
mouth to cry out, no sound would come
from my parched throat. My gymnas-
tic training stood me i'll good stead.
| ran, dropped to the lower roofs,
climbed to the higher ones with the
agility of monkey. But still | would
have had no advantage over my pur-
suer had it not been for my superior
knowledge of the roofs. The China.
man followed me swiftly; though !
dared not look back, could hear his
quick breathing not far behind.
When we got near the end of the
block | lodged my pursuer and
doubled onmy tracks Fora moment
he seemed puzzled; seized the oppor
tuuity, slipped quickly behind him
grasped his pigJaii, ierksd him back
ward; he lost his balance and fell oil
his back. Then l ran to the edge Of
the ;oOI overlooked the street and
screamed; 10 my surprise my voice haC
come back and my scream was hearC