The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-02-26
The DEMON ELY.

| and asked and answered questions in III
| cheerful and chatty manner character
| istic of the man. He had remarked OF
the beauty of the day. admired the morn
ng-glories that lay in purple and whit
along the garden wall. and wished him
self in the country TO enjoy the sunshine
Certainly he had seemed to &c withou
sorrow and in the happiest Of moods
Now to find him next morning at o'clock
stretched on a disordered bed with al
ugly hole in his head was both 4 shocl
and decided mystery.
What were his reasons? How did i
happen? Van SAINT was IS. and bache
Tor His profession brought him an am
pie income. his mind and body we're &C
cupied in work. he had no vices beyond
occasionally playing game OF poker, ant
his health was, generally speaking, ex
cellent
On the morning of the CHASTITY discover,
he had come in at about in the morn
| ing, closing the door SO softly that non.
of the other occupants OF the house had
noticed him save one. At the head OF
the stairs one of the boarders who had
| Just returned from a dance was retiring
| He was examining his watch and saw il
| was o'clock.
He said to himself: Vans been out
with the boys" and. lying down. thought
| no more of il. He told his story the next
day, thus fixing the time of Van SAINT
arrival at the house.
| The body when found was dressed in
a linen nightdress and the face was
| slightly wrinkled and distorted A 52-cal-
| iber revolver lay on the thick carpet
| with one chamber empty. The mans
breast was blackened with powder. the
| nightdresS burned slightly where the bull
| let had entered and the sheet stained
darkly with blood.
| There was no letter left behind to tell
| why Van SAINT had taken his own life
| The bed was set in an alcove OF the room
and was shut off from stting-room and
/ lounging-room by heavy portieres OF q
| dark-green color. Beside the bed was a
small table. and on the table was a lamp
and quantity Of books.
| Thre was something significant in this
to a keen observer. 1t meant either that
VanSant was used to reading in bed or
| sat up and read when ne was restless at
night. AS a clue to his suicide it limited
of Insomnia.
He had never been known to complain
of sieeplessness, but then he was a sin
gularly reticent man. Frank and open
as his nature was, he never mentioned
himself outside of the barest of common
places. You would soon expect the
sphynx to tell the story of it's life as for
Van SAINT TO become confidential.
"Cherchez la femme suggested Gym
ical boarder. But the rest secuted the
idea. Van SAINT had no pictures of wo-
men on his walls save that of his mother,
a gray-haired old lady, long since dead,
whose photograph he would take down
and pore over when life grew sad. and I'M
der whose influence he would dream him
self boy again, with all his hopes in
bud that had proved but ashes on his
lips.
Not that Van SAINTS life had held no
romance. y man as generous and vital
as he, with sufficient good looks and ac-
complishments, rare speaking voice and
a nimble Wit, it was natural that he
should attract and be attracted in turn
by women.
But genial as he was, no one ever asked
him why he had never married. Per-
haps a certain indefinable freshness or
shadow of reserve lay in the mans eyes.
Once or twiSe one of his friends had been
almost tempted to inquire, but Van SAINT
seemed to anticipate the intention and
CONCEALED perceptibly in manner.
But lifeless he lay, there in the room
which had been his sole home for many
long years; and various were the reasons
given for his sudden departure. = urned
scrap of paper, found at the foot of the
portieres. seemed to confirm the woman
theory. 1t was charred down to few
lines. which were written in a high-slant-
that could be made out, even under a mi
croscope, was: You are the only man
who ever touched my heart. l looked
for your letter this" and there the
blackened edges blotted out the rest. Mel
Their envelope or remaining sheet of paper
afforded any more light as to Van SAINTS
correspondent.
Neither picture. trinket nor lock of hair
was found in mis- belongings. And as he
fa arIN- of
man to others. there was grave doubts as
10 this chaTred scrap of paper having
anything TO do with his untimely taking
off. Many theories We're advanced as to
his suicide and much fancy INDUCED in
by the men and women of his acquaint-
ance. in an endeavor to account for Van
SAINTS death.
The real facts were as follows: Van
SAINT had been reading that more men
suicided at about the age of IS than at
any other time. 1t gave him a morbid
thrill. II had been playing poker until .
o'clock at one OF the clubs on the morn
ing of his death. He had left the game
winner to the extent OF few dollars, and
in a great disgust at himself on the
way home he had soliloluized to him
self. What's the use? What is II all
about? What's the good of anything?
etc. Arrived at the house. he had dis
ROBBED and gone to bed. But he could not
sleep. Finally he did drop off in an un-
easy slumber, but a fly at earliest dawn
awakened him.
This fly was one Of half dozen which
made early morning sleep torment TO
Van SAINT. When pursued ny could IS
cape To some darkenod conner OF the
room and wait until the unfortunate vic
tim went back 20 bed. and then they
would swoop down again at him.
Re had finally killed all but one Of
these annoying insects. but this one was
apparently a veritable demon
on that fatal morning it had come down
and awakened Van SAINT several times
flying back TO n dark space above the
heavy porticres whenever Van SAINT got
up and pursued IT,
His revolver lay on the table. and once.
livid with rage. and half crazed FOR sleep.
the man had fourished the weapon and
cursed his tiny toTmentor. The next in
slant he had held the revolver 10 hs
breast and muttered peevishly. 1T would
lie easy enough to settle the whole bus
mess with pull Of this trigger.
Unfortunately for himself. the revolver.
being 4 double-action one. responded tn
his unintentional pressure Of tho trigger.
The hammer raised and fell, The cartridge
exploded and Van SAINT was a dead man.
The charred bit Of paper had been a
piece Of a sweetheart's letter sent him
twenty years before. he had made q
taper of il II look for p lost key behind
the screen ard portieres- IL was err
rfrely irrelevant Ia the catastrophe.
The ay. which had just started towards
the bed. few back alarmed By the r.
port. and settled on the portisrs rod Ia
ter it descended TO thu pulseiess form
and slipped at 4 purple splosch on the
counterpane- Then ii rose heavily ard
huzzed back 10 rs hiding place Some one
Of the women had heard sho5 in The
early morning hours and had saiyerinEly
ino1.ired about II rs soon a. day broke
No one connected II with Van SAINT until
they had called. raped and eventually