Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-01-05
THE GRAVES ODOR.

FNO NCAO ACAAfG5 III q SOhHAO VI CuSy
chairs on the veranda one evening after
dinner, Stanfeld and l, when my friend
sent the glowing stump Of his cheroot
pirouetting down the steps, and, turn
ing in his chair, said abruptly:
"Do you know, Dick, man was shot
once just where you're sitting?"
Naturally was startled, and, instead
of replying to Stanfeld's remark,
glanced uneasily down the long, ghost
ly veranda, of which the outer edge lay
in bright moonlight, while the inner
portion was wrapped in the dense
shadow Of the partly drawn bamboo
jalousies.
81 know the feeling, said Stanfeld,
noting my uneasiness Il never sit here
of an evening without getting creepy
sensation all over me. The servants say
the old bungalow is haunted, and I
shouldn't wonder if they are right
Anyhow, if it isn't it ought to be, for
the story connected with it is an unoan
ny one altogether. See that hole in the
jalousies there on your right?"
tDo you mean that oblong slit just
above the balustrade? Pom my word,
against the moonlight, it looks for all
the world like malignant eyel"
$50 it is, said Stanfeld, with a
slight shiver. 1T was through that
hole Judge Robertson, my predecessor,
was shot. "
"Ah, I've heard there was a strange
story connected with his death, but 1
know none of the particulars. Suppose
you light another weed and talk me out
Of this creepy fit.
'Talk you into a worse one, more
like, retorted Stanfeld, striking a
fusee. 'Ill wager you never heard a
weirder story. But you shall have the
facts and then judge for yourself.
With that he settled himself in his
chair, and after putting refectively at
his cheroot for some seconds went on to
tell me the story of the shot through
the jalousies:
Robertson, you must know, was an
Eton boy, like myself. We were chums
in fact, in the old days. and that is how
came to know of peculiar tradition,
If may so name it, that is said to have
been in his family for centuries.
II don't know whether you believe
in death warnings, Dick, but it seems
that for hundreds Of years no Robertson
has ever died without first having a dis
tinct premnnition of his approaching
end, and, what is more remarkable still,
the warning always comes in the form
of an odor, an earthly smell-the smell
of new dug grave.
swell, about week before his death,
when he was on his way to take up his
appointment here, in fact, Robertson
passed through Malariabad, where /
was at that time stationed as collector,
and OF course put him up for the night
After dinner we were sitting smoking,
just as you and are new, when pres
emily he says:
Stanfeld, says he, there's dew
ilish queer smell about. Been having
any digging done on the premises2'
"'No, said l. I haven't, and for the
life Of me can't smell anything ex-
oept these Dindiguls we're smoking
Perhaps that's what it is. then,
said be doubtfuliy, and for half an
hour or so the subject was dropped.
''Just as we were making a move for
bed, however, he suddenly grips my
hand, and, Stanfield, says he hoarse-
ly, for Gods sake tell me that your
people have been digging somewhere
near or that there's been a shower. |
can't get that earthly smell ont of my
uostrils It's like standing over new
made grave.
"Just week later, to a day, / was
at work in my Office one morning when
a peon brought in a telegram. Dick
that telegram brought tho news that
Robertson had been shot dead by his
own butler at O'Clock the evening be-
fore r.
"By his own butlerr' exclaimed
horrifed; for while Stanfleld was relat-
ing this tragic tale | had heard the
voice of his butler giving orders to the
table boys in the dining room at our
back
Eyes, by his own butler, i" resumed
Stanfield, land on the very spot where
you sit Indeed, consulting his watch
cit happened just at this time, for it's
now O'clock to the minute. 2
But, ] cried. glancing apprehen-
sively at the eyelike aperture in the
jalousies. why by his butler? For
heavens sake explain y
81 will, continued Stanfield, tbut
first | must bark back a bit and tell you
that the telegram ordered me to proceed
at once to this station as Robertson s
successor. Well, did SO. and almost
my first duty as judge was to try the
poor fellows murderer. y
"The butler?'
1.-The butler, and that brings me to
the explanation you asked for moment
ago Robertson, it appears, had had a
case before him in which a native was
charged with maltreating his wife. a
mere child barely II years of age, il
such brutal manner as to cause heS
death. Gases of that kind are far from