The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-11-27

a tin hat box, into which IL had evidently
been bundled I'm rough haste; near one
end OF the cord was running loop. and
at the other was stone weighing five
pounds, firmly secured. When the loop
was slipped on TO the nail head in the
window, and the stone projected violent
ly outwards, / found that the cord was
exactly OF a length 10 bring back the
stone with tremendous thud on the
shattered window. Nor was that all; Tor
ia turning out "A drawer came upon
another long cord 10 which was attached
a heavy-hnndled carving fork. What This
was designed for I could NOT at irst di-
yius. TN a subsequent search locked
drawer revealed NJ sweeny's sliritcd-
away hat. crushed out of ali shape, and
having iwo holes in its crown, which cN-
actly matched The Two prongs of the
heavy fork. which had simply been drop
ped down on IL with unerrng force, stuck
into Il, and borne it off into the darkness,
10 the horror OF the wearer. Other con-
triVanceS / discovered. the Use Of which
/ could not conjecture. bot these two
chiefly interested nae. and when i showed
them 10 Mrs. M Mllwraith, she had no hes
itation I'm allowing me 20 take the cum
ming dissemblcr with me. Mrs Anson,
now hammering loudly at the back door.
was admitted by me, and nearly tore my
eyes out in return for my activity. 1 got
her 90 the Office IN a cab. where she was
al once locked mp; anu then 4 had the
most difficult part or my TASK 10 begin
namely. the tracing OF the missing jew
el 1 fully expected To have FOUND the
trinket among Mrs. Anson's magpie-like
stores, but / did not. IL was only when l
found that she had been i'm tho habit OF
visiting some poor friend In the Cross
causeway that / came on the real clue.
The friend there / soon ascertained was
a drunken husband, "A blind man, who
nevertheless had been able TO ind his
way 10 a pawnbrokers with the stolen
jewel. SO I took him too. and plainly i.-
formed him Oh the way 10 the Ofhcc that
tile jewel had not been = present 60 his
wife, as he insisted. but was stolen. ,.ld
that he would probably be saved the
trouble OF journeying 10 the public-house
for many a month 10 come.
Only one mystery remained unsolved-
namely, the spirit-rappers i'm the cellar.
/ went out TO look after them, and after
some investigation CHANGED 10 hammer
tile whisky barrel with my fist. when IL
gave out such "A hollow sound that 1 In
sisted 10 it's owner that IL could not be
full OF good spirits. as he alleged, but
must be nearly empty. TO prove IL, |
moved the barrel single-handed, hat u
did not come away from the wall without
an Ominous cracking, and when We look
ed behind We found some of the bricks
CtSlOnFcd, ana running through Autiu n
tin pipe which had broken off in moving
the barrel. TO move round TO the next
villa did not take many minutes, more
especially when Mr. MIlwraith had
proved that his barrel Of whiskey was
nearly empty The coachman in the next
villa insisted that the cellar had not been
entered since he came 20 the house, and
that the key was lost: but we broke in the
door. and found ample evidence that 1t
had been entered but lately i'm keg or
two OF SIR. NJ Ilwraith's whiskey, and the
tap by which IL had been run off still
protruding from the disiointed bricks.
took the coachman with me, and
found the key OF the cellar in his pock-
ct when I got TO the office. 10 appeared
that he had not only been liberal i'm giving
bottles OF whiskey 20 his friends. but had
actually arranged TO sell quantity TO q
dealer at a cheap rate. say ying very truly
that Il was illicit"
Mr.. M'Ilwraith looked exceeding sheep
ish at the trial. and appeared TO enjoy
the incessant laughter least OF anyone
present Mrs. Anson. tlfe cunning adj
venturess, and her blind husband got
each nine months Imprisonment. while
the coachman--the real spirit rapper-
got off with six
MSweeny got back his hat. and used
10 be sympatheticaly asked II the rain
didn't get in at the two holes left by the
claws OF the demon spirit that bore IL
away. or course. the violent blow on
the back from the invisible iron fist was
nothing but thud from a five pound
stone let down on him by the ingenious
medium, Mrs. Anson, from above.
THE END.