Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-03-26
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Night With a Mystery

Haynes, living in Il village about forty
miles out of London, disappeared one
afternoon and could not be traced. She
owned and was living in large Stone
house built u hundred years before she
bought it, and only a portion of it
was habitable.
Here was woman known by sight
at least to four-fifths of the townspeo-
pie. She lived ON the best street. 1t
did not seem that she could have walk
ed a block without meeting a friend.
She was in her sitting room at 2
O'clock in. the afternoon. An hour later
she was missing. She had not dressed
for the street-had not left the room. so
far rs the maid could say. Scotland
Yard men worked at the mystic. for
six months before they gave up in
despair.
Six months after the widows disap-
pearance the house was for rent, al
though stories We're already current
that it was haunted. The place was
first taken by Il grocer who was
known TO everybody as a hard headed
man with plenty of nerve, and yet aft
er six weeks residence in the house he
moved out. He had leased it for a
year. 1 do not know what he may
have told others, but he informed me,
under promise of secrecy, that he be-
lieved the house to be haunted.
1t was no use to ridicule his state
ments, for he was serious and earnest.
The fact of his moving out proved
that.
1t was q year before any one else
took the house, and it was then vacat-
ed for good. Everybody now firmly
believed in the stories of a ghost, and,
though it was offered rent free to poor
people, no one would move into it.
When it was put up at auction sale,
there was only one bid, and so no sale
was effected.
While ready to admit that half be-
lieved in 1.-THE curse" 1 can truthfulIy
declare that the stories reaching me
from time to time regarding the house
excited my contempt. For several
months before my opportunity came 1
was anxious to pass night there and
see what would occur. House and
grounds had long been abandoned to
tramps, but yet on certain occasions
these tramps had made queer state
ments about what had happened there.
The windows had been broken, the
doors torn away, and the once fine old
mansion was a bad wreck when l in
spected it one afternoon.
The only two doors left intact were
the sliding doors separating the par
lors. The others had been used for fuel
In the fireplaces. 1 told no one of my
intentions, but at 10 o'clock that night,
armed with n revolver, candle and
matches, 1 returned to the house and
sat down on the floor in n corner of the
back parlor. There was a doorway
between this room and the dining room
and one between that and the kitchen.
1t was a warm night in summer, with
never Il breath of wind. 1t was as
| quiet as Il graveyard in the house and
about the grounds. You must not
| think me boastful when tell you that
| / was not even Shaky. / was some
what excited, but not at all nervous.
In the first place, believed that all the
stories had been grossly exaggerated,
and, in the next, l was of the opinion
that some practical joker had a hand
in the business If there was anything
| in it.
From 10 to 1 O'Clock nothing hap
peIieu - HOlnIuS eACepl Lly SOlnS 10
sleep. 1 heard the town clock strike
II, and heard the first quarter chime.
l didn't feel sleepy, and yet 1 dropped
off, and about a minute after 1 awoke
| the clock struck 1. The sounds of foot
steps awoke me. Some one came up
the graveled walk from the gate, pass
ed around to the kitchen door and en-
tered. 1t was a shuffiing. dragging
| step. 1t passed across the kitchen,
| passed across the dining room, and l
| firmly expected to see a person in the
| doorway. 1t was not so dark but that
1 could have made out even rat. No
one appeared. 1 crept on hands and
knees to the doorway. No one could
| be seen.
While l crouched there the step went
away from me across the room and
into the kitchen TO the back door. I
followed on tiptoe clear to the back
door. / stood in the doorway while
the footsteps passed down the graveled
walk and were lost at the gate.
Whose footsteps? You tell!
/ returned to the parlor and sat
down. In about ten minutes some one
slowly descended the front stairs
There were no front doors. 1 rose up,
tiptoed into the front parlor and thence
into the hallway. Nothing was to be
seen. After a minute the footballs
echoed down the hall leading to the
dining room. 1 followed after. 1 seem
ed to be almost over them. Had there
been person l should have bumped
against him. Down the hall, through
the dining room, across the kitchen and
down the graveled walk to the gate
sounded the footballs.
Thus 1 followed them and saw moth
ing except the gloom of the night. Peo-
pie had told of hearing women weep,
of signs and groars and curses, of sud
den drafts of cold air and the sounds
of blows. 1 heard nothing except the
footballs. I went away not because /
was afraid, but because had found
cut all that l could.