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

find the cell empty. There had been
no movement to alarm him, and the
other prisoners had heard nothing.
Before unlocking the cell the guard
called in the iailer, and never was Off
cial SO dumfounded. The Hindoo had
vanished. But how could he have gone
In the flesh? There was the guard and
there We're II prisoners to back him
up, and, though the jailer was hard
headed man, he was forced to believe
In the supernatural.
This third queer escape caused no end
Of talk. Europeans who reside in India
see SO many strange things that they
become tainted with superstition. There
We're n few who shook their heads and
limited that the jailer knew more than
he dared tell, meaning that Chilka had
dealt with him, but the great major
ity put it down that the pink stone
was the fetch which had caused all
the trouble. In order to clear them
selves Of ridicule the officials deter
mined that Chilka should be recap
tured at any cost, and messengers were
sent in every direction, and a large re-
ward was offered. In about ten days he
was found 100 miles away. The first
move of his captors was to take the
pink stone away from him. He was
brought back to Haidarabad and jailed,
and he was offered various sums of
money if he would give up the secret
of his escape. Not n word of explana-
ton would he make, and for four days
he refused to eat or drink. He begged
for the pink stone, and it was finally
decided to give it to him. The stone
had been taken to lapidaries and jew
elers, but no one had been able to give
1t name or to recall having ever seen
one like it.
When the charm was turned over to
Chilka, he wept for joy and called for
food. He was now taken to a corridor
in which were four cells and all empty.
The only window was boarded up, two
guards We're stationed at the door,
and cell each side of the Hndoo was
occupied by guard. The jailer him
self was the guard on the inner side
of the door. The charm was passed
over to Chilka just at supper time He
ate his food and lay down on the straw
as If to sleep. At quarter past the
jailer looked into the cell, and the man
was there. SO ct half past and quar-
ter to z. At o'clock he was gone.
Smile If you will, but the Hindoo had
taken his departure out of an iron
cell, with four guards at hand, and
not the slightest trace of him could be
found. The guards in the cells had
heard no more ca his part His cell
door remained locked, and there was
the impress of his form on the straw
You can't say those four men were
fools. You can't deny in the face of all
the talk and newspaper articles and
affidavits that he vanished on the diff
ferent occasions as | have related. In
deed, the public investigations called
out doctors, guards. soldiers and at
torneys, and they were not men who
could be ridiculed. Chilka simply van
ished as spirit. The stone was the
charm which accomplished it. He was
never found after his last escape. The
authorities didn't want to find him.
He was not only a spirit of evil, but
his escapes had bad moral influence
on the Hindoo community. You may
turn and twist the matter as you will,
but you can't get over facts, and the
main fact in the case was that the
fellow could dissolve his earthly body
into nothingness.