Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-07-20
CRIMES IN OLD INNS.
OLD WORLD OUT OF TIE WY TRAPS
FOR UNWhRY TRAVELLERS.
An Experience In an Inn on the
Spanish Frontier-ResOrts In Rural
France Where Theft and Murder
and Worse Awaited the Victims.

and Worse Awaited the Victims.
From q worldwide traveller come
these stories of evil ruins abroad, Of
dark nights, evil companions and lone
liness. He says;
II sometimes think of a night l
spent in an inn on the Spanish from
tier, In a little seaside village surround
ed by a thick pine forest. l was ac-
commodated with bed in a large
room in which another traveller was
/ lying. He was laxative, as most
southern Frenchmen are, and curious
as to my business, circumstances and
future movements. | told him q story
of my financial troubles which seemed
to me to have saved my life. He was
restless during the night and kept 60
ing to the window. | could not go to
sleep while lie was moving about.
in the end we both fell asleep, He
had given me his name IL name with
which year or two later the whole of
France was ringing. He was tried for
double murder, perpetrated under cir
cumstances of peculiar atrocity, and
with such Il motive Of petty robbery
that the opinion was he must have
had long familiarity with crime. The
murder for which he was convicted
was carried out to gain possession Of
ECO, and people believed none but
hardened criminal would nerve himself
to murder for gain so paltry.
"Such was my companion In q lonely
inn. where my disappearance would
have aroused neither curiosity nor
suspicion. How he would have dis
posed of me could imagine from the
crime for which he was convicted. He
Travelled with large trunk. l some
times think ii was the one afterward
seized at the cloakroOm of station
on the Cherbourg line containing the
body of his latest victim. | think all
that saved me from sepulture within
it was the cunning with which | had
concealed the fact l was in possession
that night of a considerable sum.
1T was with similar cunning that
my brother and myself avoided like
danger Mt Rotterdam. We were lads
of ten and twelve respectively, on our
way home 10 England from our school
in Wiesbaden. AS the ship did not
start until the day following our ar
rival, we had been obliged to pass the
Il. 10. d,1n
ed us TO Il miserable tavern in a slum
off the Bompjes. where we paid for the |
best room.
LAS the time for retiring came our /
villainous looking landlord conducted
us to a dark closet and told us TO
sleep there We have fallen into a 4
trap | said TO my brother, and so it
seemed when later we heard stcaltly /
step on the staircase Then we began
to talk in German. and the gist of our
was: What would become
of us the next day If the money eX-
pcctcd from our parents did not arrive:
We cOlorcd the story Of distress. and
cur being awake saved us In
stead of the tale overheard. We heard
the step rrtreating. and, remaining
awake till laOrning, we were not mo-
tested
prom what | have since heard of
this class of house in Rotterdam and
] have no doubt that we
had a narrow escape
France too. is dotted with houses
where murder and theft Turk behind
the mask of treachcry. In the forest
If Chatcnay. three miles from Macon,
vOu may see the ruins of church con-
,ecrated to st. John Not far from
his" writes Raoul Glabert, "a scoun-
lrcl had built Il house for the accom-
notation Of travellers. In this house
10 murdered all who came to lodge
The monster used the flesh of his vic
inns for nourishment.
"a man came there with his wife and
sked shelter Having rested. his wife.
,rying into Il closet. discovered heap
4 human remains At this the trav-
lcrs grew pale and made for the road.
The innkeepcr tried TO stop them, but
error lent speed. so they were able to
scape to the town. where they Inform
d Prince Otl:on of the discovery. \
.reat number Of men set out. the mon
ter was found in his den. and no less
han forty-ci, ut human heads We're dis
ovcrcd, remains Of travellers whom !,
ad murdered and devoured. He WAS
IA .god back TO town. tied TO q beam
a cellar and burned to death.
Il myself" says Glabcrt. was pres ,
mt ut his execution"
From other chronicles Of this period ,
seems TO have been looked
pom by innkccpefs as II prerequisite OF
leir profession This story Is in its
'ay more horrible than Hamilton
ides' fiction, for in his evil inn only
Ie teeth and hair of the victims were
)veted by the two sisters of Cologne. /,
The French inn Of most sinister rcpu- =
ltion Is st;ll standing In mountain
ass in Auvergne This is known to
istory as the Murderers' inn. The inn
death trap Rooms assigned to
'avelers have windows barred with :.
on. In an Clubhouse is the furnace
/ which bodies Of victims were dis
Dsed Of. Hundreds of lonely travel
s, belated in this inaccessible spot, =,
I'VE been plundered and murdered
North American.
Selling Goods In Lisbon.
Around Lisbon are certain entrances,
lnnrallY m..lnWaNs of tLn old Wnlls I