The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1903-08-21
Beyond the
Pale Of the
Lowe. By II. A.
BRUCE
By II. A.
BRUCE
Copyright, 1908, BY 7. c. Mcclure

When the news was brought to me,
Jasper MathiesOn, that l had inherited
a goodly sum from Miss Rebecca Aims
worth, | could not help breathing a
sigh of relief. Death had at last loosed
my tongue, enabling me to make public
the facts concerning mystery of years
long ago.
One May morning some thirty years
ago Henry Ainsworth, the wealthy an
,tiquary, was found foully done to
death in his bed. There were living in
the house at the time three persons be-
sides the victim Rebecca Ainsworth,
the antiquary's maiden sister, Il spin
ster of fifty years; an old butler and a
maid servant As professional de-
tective my first care was to interrogate
these carefully
Neither of the servants had heard
sound on the night of the murder. Both
had retired at IL o'clock, about an
hour after the master of the house had
sought his couch, and both had slept
peacefully until o'clock, when they
had been awakened by a Shrek from
Miss Alnsworth.
That lady testified that she and her
brother had remained in the library
until 10 o'clock. At that hour her broth
er babe her good night. and they went
TO their rooms. Miss Ainsworth further
Informed me that she had slept I'M
til nearly @ o'clock, when, as was her
custom, she dressed and went to knock
on her brothers door, for he also was
an early riser. Rapping two or three
times and receiving no reply, she open
ed the door and was 50 alarmed at
what she saw that she uttered the cry
which startled the servants.
Mr.. Ainsworth had been stabbed by
dagger, one of a set of oriental weap-
ons he had collected while on tour of
the east. The murderer must have
been in the library to have obtained it,
and TO the library we accordingly went.
1t was a high, oak paneled chamber,
only called a library by courtesy
There were Il few books in evidence,
but most of the space was filled with
wonderful and curious objects. On a
snail table in an alcove were several
skulls labeled and ticketed, marking
every stage in evolution, from the era
mum of Patagonian to that of ia
nous scholar. The oaken walls were
covered with weapons, primitive, me-
diRval and modern. Ranged under q
| lofty mantel stood four baskets con-
tanning mummies from Egypt. I'm
! ages from Hindoo, Aztec, Burmese and
Chinese temples were scattered about
the room.
What especially impressed me was
an image about four feet and a half
| high, apparently of some dull bronze
marble. Its hands We're folded placid
| ~ on its breast, but the features form
ed terrible contrast to the repOse of
the figure. The eyes were wide open
and bore an expression Of intense hate.
The upper lip was raised in a snarling
| fashion, disclosing fanglike teeth. The
nostrils were dilated. One could not
repress a shudder while gazing on this
silent statue.
!
was not really a statue, as l had sup
posed, but Detrified man, the body of
| an old Hindoo fakir unearthed by her
brother while engaged on some excava-
lions in India. The antiquary had
told her that he had Struggled it out Of
the country, as the natives venerated
it as a god and had threatened his life
| If he disturbed it.
Wilkie Collins story of 1.-THE Moon
stone" flashed into my mind as l heard
this At once formed the theory that
| possibly some superstitious Hindoo had
murdered the antiquary, the object
being to recover the petriRed man and
take him back to India.
An interesting piece of information
was volunteered by Miss Ainsworth,
who told me that about 8 o'clock the
morning after the murder she had en-
tered the library and had observed a
smear Of blood on the mouth of the i'm
age. Neither of the two windows In the
library had been found open, and the
door was shut as usual
At Miss Ainsworth's solicitation u
consented to sleep in the house. After
dinner in the evening made my way
to the library, where l enjoyed per-
fecto and spent two hours examining
the curios.
was about to go to my room when
was startled by hearing low. hiss
ing noise like long drawn sigh. The
| 30, m o.
and at once conceived the idea that
this was hollow and that man might
be hidden In It, | tried to move the
pedestal, but could not. The thought OF
secret entrance into the room then
occurred to me, and l tapped all over
the panneling, but everything sound
ed true. Baffled, stood in the center
of the room and gazed slowly around.
While not superstitious, l confess
experienced an uneasy feeling as l
stood In that silent chamber. was con-
WINGED that the key to the riddle Of
Henry Ainsworth's death was conceal
ed in the room, and decided that 1t
was my duty to spend the night there
and to keep wide awake.
! lighted fresh cigar picked up
book oddly enough Mrs. Groves
might Side of Nature'D and composed
myself to read EnthraHing as the vol
ume was soon found my interest In 1t
tagging. Yet l did not fall asleep
my nerves were too keenly on edge. to
admit of slumber. How long l sat mo
tionless do not know. What do
know is that l was thinking deeply
and that my head was bowed as Is my
custom when perplexed. 1t may have
been few minutes, 1t may have been