Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-02-17
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
The Subterranean
= = Chamber.
UOr1gInaI.J


Rhine. How old it was. how long it
had been ruin, do not know, and
question if there is any authentic rec
ord. 1t was doubtless built and used
during the dark ages when men were
but half civilized and their treatment
of each other was often as dark as the
age 1t was in n very crumbling con-
dition, and we found it impossible to
touch n stone or n bit of mortar with
out its falling. 1t seemed to me as
walked about amid its broken walls
and. dark corridors that it was a. link
between barbarism and civilization.
After seeing all there was of in
terest above ground one of our num-
Der noticed a door that had not been
opened.
Where does that door lead TOP he
asked the guide.
below
"'Cannot we so down there?'
mot on any account
"'Have you ever been down there?
"'No and / would not go there for
the world
Young fellows that we were. full OF
a desire for adventure. we resolved to
visit the subtcrranean portion of the
castle. We offered the guide different
amounts to permit us to descend, each
time naming larger sum till the bride
amounted to what his regular pay
would be for Il month, Then. but not
till we had all promised to keep the
matter a secret. he yielded. Furnish
ing us with couple of lanterns, he
unfastened the door, and we passed
through.
I'VE found a spiral staircase. which
we descended The walls were wet
and Shiny. and we dared not touch any
thing for fear of its falling and bring
ing more down with it. 1 was in con-
slant dread lest the steps I trod on
should give way. At the bottom we
came to an open space. from which led
a passage.
81 wonder where that leads to?' said
one
Don't know and don't care.
wouldn't go there said another.
1--WE stood hesitatinS for moment,
when the first speaker said:
~ have come here to see, and am
going to see it all
with that he started down the pas
sage. followed by the party.
I'VE had not gone far before we
came TO Il veritabie chamber of hor-
rors In one part was pit full of the
bones of human beings, while. for the
matter of that, bones were scattered
everywhere Picking up one it was n
forearm; another was n foot, another Il
rib, another n skull. On the Shiny
floors. on the dank walls. crawIed YER
min, toads. moies. while from the walls
exuded Shiny moisture. The loRthe-
some things crawled in and out of the
broken walls, among the slowly crum-
bling bones.
But the horror that excited chain
Of thrilling speculatiOns was in u niche
I'm the walls. 1t was human skeleton
held in place by an iron band around
the body. which was in turn chained to
the wall. The flesh having rotted
away. the band had slipped and the
body had partly fallen.
1T was plain that centuries before in
this chamber people were placed to die.
Who were they? What was their Of
Tense? Were they simply enemies of
the feudal lord of the castle, enemies
of the STATE. offenders against the laws
or martyrs to their religious conyic-
the period ef the breaking up of the
Roman empire and the formation of
the new civilization. when the Teutonic
barbarians were being converted to the
new Christian faith? Were they early
Christians sacrificed to superstitions
that were passing away? Was it when
Charlemagne was building up the en-
pire OF western Europe? Did their
burial in this dungeon emanate from
the feudal system when each of the
castles was a fortress.
These questions coursed through
my brain, not on account of their prob
ability, but as fancies excited by the
singular spectacle. But a moment was
spent in their flashing before me.
then I began to think who this MUIR
dered -throng We're. They were most
likely sacrificed during the period next
preceding the decline and fall of the
feudal castles, when the reformation
was sweeping over Europe and the
prisons were full of the followers of
Martin Luther. As 1 looked ut the
skeleton chained in the niche it seemed
that l was for the moment in touch
with that new spiritual birth when the
Christian from being prosecuted be-
came prosecutor. Was he not one of
those men who asserted and maintain
ed their right to think for themselves,
a martyr to the inquisition?
Suddenly while we were gazing, ev-
cry moment becoming more awestruck,
the lights in our lanterns, owing doubt
less TO the noxious vapors, were extin-
guished.
at is impossible. to imagine anything
more terrifying. Whether it was i'm
agination inflamed by terror or a pc
culiar effect on the refina of the eye,
1 could still see the crumbling walls,
the slippery floor, the crawling vermin,
the bones, but, above all. the skeleton
in the niche. The effect must have.
been largely from the imagination. for
the thing seemed to move.