The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-08-03
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! THE DEATH CHAMBER.
A Strange but True Tale.
By Frederick R. Guernsey.
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By Frederick R. Guernsey.

There used to be, perhaps it still
stands, an old hacienda house down in
the state of Guerrero which, for many
years, held an evil repute as place of
sudden and inexplicable death.
The state is now undergoing the
process SO familiar in Mexico, known
as Opening up" by railway construc-
ton. Few people used to go down into
that region Of heat and mystery; few
came up from it to the capital city,
for intercourse was difficult, matter
of stage riding over mountain roads
literally strewn with rocks, or else, in
the lower country, deep with dust in
the autumn and winter and, later on as
the rainy season advanced, there was
m.3 mud up to the bellies of the
horses. To many parts of the state
one had to go on horse, or, better, ON
mule back. There is no beast as safe
as mule, except for the fallen rider,
to whom the unholy hybrid, before
boiling, stops to administer a parting
kick.
The house 1 have mentioned was on
large tropical estate devoted to sugar
cane, out of which much aguardiente
was made, and to various hot country
products of local consumption, for the
bad roads placed a prohibitory charge
on transportation. You approached the
house through great fields green with
the cane, over road which, though a
private way, was none of the best, and
finally you reached an avenue of orange
and pepper trees and saw near at hand
the low, one story white stone house
and the plantation buildings, stables,
sugar mill, poems quarters, etc. Back
of the house rose a fringe of lofty
palms, whose clash during gale was
as of the sails of windmills allowed to
run at will. The house seemed so calm
and cool and wholly delightful! The
traveller, weary of the long ride, gazed
with delight on the whiteness, palm
Swallowed. 1t was an oasis of comfort
in a desert of binding sunshine. 1t
gave promise Of rest for man and beast,
of cool water and rural plenty.
| Such was the hacienda of Valverde.
The saints in heaven know that 1t was
a pleasant looking place. Don Diego
Prado and Maria Naranjo, his wife,
were quiet, hospitable couple of 40
and 40 years respectively, with sever
al children grown to a companionable
age, which means much in such a soli-
tary place.
Travellers were welcome at Waiver
de; they brought the news of the outer
world, and months after their depart
ure their peculiarities of face and fig
ure, dress and gesture, even their
quaintnesses of speech, were subjects
for conversation over the dinner table,
or when the family gathered in the
inner patio for an evening chat, the
master of the house TRANQUILITY smok-
ing-a large, good natured man, quiet
for lack of themes to set his tongue
a-going. Maria Naranjo was voluble,
fond of company, and enthusiastically
hospitable; SO much so that Don Diego
used to say that she would welcome
blind mule gone astray on the roads.
There were several guestrooms, usu-
ally furnished with the proper and
decent simplicity Of the hot country,
cot beds with just the canvas to lie
on, thick 'frazadas'' for the cool nights,
as 1t Is often very chilly in the TERRA
calienta after the sun goes down and
night advances, a chair or two,
bureau and a small German looking
glass warranted to make one wish he
had never contemplated his features
therein. One could hardly use the
glass for shaving without danger Of
cutting off an ear. The floors of broad
red tiles, unglazed; the walls white
washed so you could see, even with the
feeble light of a candle, If there was
a scorpion crawling about, suggesting
how inscrutable are the DEGREES of
Allah who embOdies one intelligence
in horrid, creeping thing, and anoth-
er in that strange biped, man, that Is
as god walking the earth, and, as
we all know, always and everywhere
the glory and justification of the i'm
mense time given to his evolution.
The room of honor for distinguished
people was a large one with two iron
grated windows looking out on large
courtyard and door which you closed
at night, and then placed across 1t, the
ends resting in each it's hole, a great
beam for perfect security against In
truders. There were at least six chairs
of Austrian bent wood, light colored,
two Of them comfortable "mecedores,"
or rocking chairs, and there was even
sofa of the sametmaterial, one Of the
finest products of human ingenuity.
The bed was masterpiece Of brass,
with great canopy surmounted by
some sort Of carved crown. as II de-
signed for an emperor happening by
and asking lodging for the night The
bed foundation, as it were, was com
posed of boards painted green and laid
across the frame And there was a
mattress, very thin and hard, as Is
proper in tropical regions, IL you en-
ploy so essentially strange a thing at
all. A faded but ample rug was
stretched at one side of the bed so that
aristocratic feet need not touch the
vulgar brick tiles on getting into bed
at night or on arising in the morning,
when the yellow sunlight filed the
room, from the big patio. The room
was pleasant, and one would not mag
inc 1t had had so sinister history.
Withinpsix years three people had. oc-
cupied 1t and had been found dead in
the morning, and no. one could say
what had extinguished- the lamp Of