Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-11-08

between MIN anu an EngllS0 SOiuler,
and he was ordered off the grounds. AS
he stopped to argue the matter he was
run into the guardhouse to give him a
lesson. The prison held four or five
soldiers at the time, but Chilka sat
down in corner and refused to notice
any of them. They turned from him
to their cards, but after half an hour
suddenly saw that he was missing
There was but one window, and that
was barred. There was but one door,
and that had not been opened. The
alarm was given, and an officer came
in to investigate. 1t was little he could
discover. The peddler had vanished,
and yet had he been cockroach there
was no crevice he could have used to
escape. The door had been locked,
with sentry on the outside, and the
window had not been tampered with.
When the officer made his report he
was reprimanded. To square himself
he fell back on the soldier prisoners.
Before the affair ended a good many
officers were badly mixed up. 1t could
not be disputed that Chilka had been
locked up. 1t could not be disputed that
he had vanished soon after. No one
could say how he had gone, and that
was the stick Of it. To say that he
had melted into shadow and floated
through the keyhole was ridiculing the
matter. He was finally reported as
having escaped, and it was generally
believed that the other prisoners had
somehow aided him. Next day the
Hindoo was arrested in the city for
having passed bogus coin and was
taken to the city Jail to await trial.
at the cantonment, nothing was taken
away from him. When taken to the
city Jail, he was carefully searched and
his pockets emptied. Aside from the
fetiches | have mentioned. he had with
him n fiat stone about the size of an
American silver dollar The color was
pale pink, and it was framed III silver
and worn around his neck. This stone
he had not shown to the soldiers, but
the prisoners in the guardhouse re-
memDered his having it in his hands
and gazing at it intently as he sat by
himself He begged hard to be per-
fnitted to retain this charm, but 1t was
taken away with the other articles.
Chilka remained In jail overnight
and was then brought into court for
examination. He denied knowing that
the coin was worthless, but as several
others like 1t were found in his pockets
he was remanded to Jail to await trial.
He asked for the pink stone, explain
ing that 1t was a charm against fever,
and 1t was given him. The story Of
the mans escape from the guardhouse
had reached the jailer, and though he
laughed at 1t he at the same time
locked the prisoner up in cell by him
self When his supper was carried In,
the Hindoo was staring at the stone.
Two hours later he was missing from
the cell 1t was so utterly impossible
for the man to have left the prison
that the officials stood confounded.
Search was made for hours, and then
the watchman in that corridor was put
under arrest 1t was asserted that un-
less he had unlocked the cell and two
corridor doors Chilka could not have
escaped. He made an indignant denial,
and the singular incident was the talk
of the town ana was published In the
newspapers. The affair would have
died out In a week but for the recap
ture of the Hindoo two or three days
later. He was seen and recognized in
"A village about 20 miles away and was
arrested and returned to jail. He
would make no explanations. He was
offered a sum Of money and his free
dom If he would bctray the guard, but
he was silent. No Importance was at
tached to the pink stone, but 1t was
taken away from him when he was
locked up.
For two days the man was quiet and
sullen. Then he began to shout and
scream and rave, and to quiet him the
stone was restored. AS soon as it was
placed In his hands the fellow was like
n lamb. 1t was given him about
o'clock In the afternoon. The corridor
In which he was confined contained
eight cells, and In each cell except his
there were two prisoners. There was
barred window at one end of the
corridor and an iron door at the other.
A guard sat at this door and had con-
troll of the lever unlocking all the cells.
He was own brother to the sheriff, and
his integrity could not be impugned.
His orders were to look into Chilka's
cell every hour, and at o'clock he
looked in and found the man apparent
ly asleep. At g O'Clock he looked In. to