The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-03-30
THE MYSTERY SOLVED.
By STANLEY GIBSON.

business. the firm Ia whose employ |
was undertook the erection Of a gentle
man s mansion. and 1 was sent to ex-
ecute the ornamental work. The vii
lage. near to which the mansion was
built, was Oh the shore Of an estuary
Of the Bay OF MorecOmOe. not far from
the market town. whose name | need
not give. As my work would keep me
| from home several weeks. a good lodg
ing was a most desirable thing; but al
the [ tried TO get accommodation In a
private house, failed. and was forced
to lodge IN the village inn, the Lord
admiral
Among those who were in the habit
OF frequeuting the aforesaid hostelry
was man of singular habits aud odd
temper His home was about a mile
from the village, on the side Of lane
! leading to a couple Of farms. His
house. like himself, was a queer-one
Originally il had been built for the
storage of corn, the produce OF fields
at a distance from the farmstead.
Son chow it had ceased to be needed
for that purpose, 50 its owner turned
it into a dwelling house, and as such
il was now occupied by the aforesaid
strange man. 1t was divided into three
apartments on the ground floor, one of
which, a very large one, was set apart
ard used as 4 kind Of museum, its Oc
cupaut being d stutfer Of birds and
duadrupeds, When be had no work
If this sort for other persons, be work
ed for stock. and this large room was
his warehouse.
He was q man Of ill-temper ard loose
| habits. and for some time had borne a
dubious character " hen people were
asked why he was suspected, they
could hot give satisfactory reply
He lives" they would say, without
! doing work equal to ms expenditure
| which looks BAD. As I got to know
| him. | found that he had al uuiami
| able temper: was mOrOse. sGur, and at
times passionate He was also fond
Of display, given to betting, and, like
an such, led a loose, uneven life, of
Jener lettering about than at work.
| So [ did not wonder that we'll mean
ing people did not ike him.
He mostly cameo on wet nights to the
| Lord Admiral. As we became acqualn-
ted. he invited me 70 look over his col
lection OF birds anG quadrupeds
vas pleased with what saw. He had
indeed, good collection. and, as we'll
as I could Judge, had done his work
well. lie had also q good assortment
of but critics aud moths, and III cor
Der, close to the ceiling, had what he
called a butterfly breeding box, which
be sad belonged to his son, Young
| man ofmy own age, also given TO bird
stutflng amusements.
Bat ! YVES most taken m with twC
animals which differed from the rest
| One was a beautiful dog. ana the other
A lusu- patuTue-a lamb. with the rIdl
ment1 of fifth leg, and some other
abnormal characteristics which | have
forgotten. The old man said he mac
stuffed both for their original owpers
who had. somehow failed to take then
away. They were placed at one eud
of the room, one 10 each corner, away
frouIthe window and close to the wall
where. excep. IN strong daylight, they
could not be easily seen. The connec
ton Of these particulars with my story
| viii be seen III the sequel
| | had been in tue village about SIX
weeks, when the neighbOrhood wa,
aroused and alarmed enc morning by
the report Of the robbery OF jeweler :
shopin the market town already refer
ed to, that had been effected during
the preceding night. Much valuable
| property had been taken. This rob
Dery had been effected in such way
as led to the belief that gang Of prac
tisea thieves bad done it. The pre-
yailing question was, DO the Tobber,
live among Us, OF have they come from
a distance z" This query was still go
ing from mouth TO month. when We
were startled, astounded, indeed, by {
| report Of a second robbery Of the prem
Ises. and on the night following 10y he
breaking into and purlolnlng OF "a pro
vision warehouse IN our own village
| Were writing fiction. | would not
have made the robbers pay SO soon {
| second visit to the jewelers., as suct
au act would have been deemed pre-
| poster1us; but ! am relating What real
| IL occurred, and so am forced to say
what [ have said. The jeweler hac
been so taken up by efforts TO find on
the thieves and regain his first loss
that he had not placed addltIOna
guard over what was left; besides, b,
was sure. he said.that thieves woult
not think Of revIslung him for ions
time. As for the provision dealer, b,
said in my hearing that ne had no feaI
his place being entered, as be believed
robbers would not care TO touch pro
pprtv so bulky and of such infeuO
value as his. But he hat- TecSUuel
without hIs host. for he had lost d hn'
ham, large lot Of tea, q deal of spices
4 few boxes Of cigars, and Indeed 4 POI
ton of most Of what he dealt IN. Iht
excitement and alarm oCcasloued b,
these robberies were great and wide
spread.
Two patches Of detectives. one from
Lancaster and one from Kendall. camt
to our village to see what they coult
! find out. They were not short OF ques
tions. minded; but they took care
what sort of questions they answered
1t vas easy 10 see that one Of then
aims was TO make il appear that they
believed the robJers came from a dis
tance. in order to put the thieves of
| their guard; for their own opinion was
the opposite of this.
| N0eveut, however, serious, can keeT
hold of peoples minds Beyond a Ger
tain time; and taese robberIes were be
XII ming TO give place to some othel
subject. when the next act in the dra-
ma began to be played. 1t was on
Friday afternoon. about mouth afTe
the robberies. The day was wet aul
wild; and. as ny work was the outaoo
carving of stones which had been plac
ed in the rough, I was unable to 20 ol
With IT, and so had to return to IN,
fIa4 rot .l,y.ra1.