Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1903-10-13

ILL., Souid iiut uelp breathing
sigh of relief. Death had at last looset
my tongue, enabling me to make publ.
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 Il
| death in his bed. There were living il
the house at the time three persons be
sides the Northumberland Ainsworth
the antiquary's maiden sister, a spin
ster of fifty years; an old butler and q
maid servant. As a professional de
tective my first care was to interrogate
these carefully.
Neither of the servants had heard q
sound on the night of the murder. Boil
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 Ainsworth
That lady testified that she and her
| brother had remained In the library
until 10 o'clock. AT that hour her broth,
err babe her good night and they wen,
to their rooms. Miss Ainsworth further
informed ME that she had slept I'M
til nearly 6 O'Clock, when. as was her
custom, she dressed and went to knock
Oh 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 so alarmed at
what she saw that she uttered the cry
which startled the servants.
Mr.. Ainsworth Lad been stabbed by
a dagger, one of 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 high, oak paneled chamber.
only called a library by courtesy.
There We're a few books in evidence.
but most of the space was filled with
wonderful and curious objects. On a
small table in an alcove were several
skulls labeled and tieketed, marking
every stage in evolution, from the era
MUM of Patagonian to that of a IA
nous scholar, The oaken walls were
covered with weapons, primitive, me-
dlaval and modern. Ranged under a
lofty mantel stood four caskets 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. It's hands We're folded placid
ly 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 snarling
fashion, disclosing fanglike teeth. The
nostrils were dilated One could not
repress a shudder while gazing on this
silent statue.
Miss Alnsworth Informed me that 1t
was not really statue, as | had sup
posed, but petrifled man, the body OF
an old Hindoo fakir unearthed by her
brother while engaged on some excava-
tons in India. The antiquary had
told her that he had struggled it out of
the country, as the natives venerated
1t as god and had threatened his life
If he disturbed it.
Wilkie Collins story of 1.-THE Moon
stone flashed into my mind as I heard
this. At once formed the theory that
possibly some superstitious Hindoo had
murdered the antiquary, the object
being to recover the petrifed man and
take him back to India.
An interesting piece of information
was volunteered by Miss Ainsworth,
who told me that about o'clock the
morning after the murder she had en-
tered the library and had observed
smear Of blood on the mouth of the inn
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 /
consented to sleep in the house. After
dinner in the evening l made my way
to the library. where 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
sound seemed to come from the image,
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
ta& t4ox
occurred to me, and tapped all over
the panneling, but everything sound
ed true. Baffled, l stood in the center
of the room and gazed slowly around
While not superstitious, confess !
experienced an uneasy feeling as /
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 I decided that it
was my duty TO spend the night there
and to keep wide awake.
/ lighted fresh cigar, picked up a
book oddly enough Mrs Groves
might Side of Nature"} and composed
myself to read. Enthralling as the vol
ume was / soon found my interest in it
tagging. Yet | did not fall asleep
my nerves were TOO keenly Oh edge to
admit of slumber. How long I sat me
tionless l do not know. What I do
know is that I 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
an hour. when was startled by a
sound Of some one grinding his teeth
Instantly looked M.