The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-07-27
4 MYSTERY
|OLVED
[Orisinal1

purchased q dwelling house on what is
called the north side. A house thai
had stood on the same lot had beel,
burned in the great fire of 1871. the
one l bought having been built two
years later.
| made the acquaintance OF Lloyd
Churchill the names in this story are
all assumed a steady. religious young
man, and | invited him to dine with
me. Churchill. understood, had lost
his sweetheart, Aline Haight, during
the Chicago fire, she having been
among the missing after that great
contlagration. ! noticed during the
dinner that Churchill was very much
depressed and later, When we we're
alone together, he told me thai the
house which had stood on the ground
now lived on had belonged to David
Piggott, the only man lie had feared as
a riva! for the love OF Aline Haght.
From what Churchill told me / gather
ed that Piggott was q wild fellow. and
Miss Haight was mild feminine type
of "Dr. Jehyll and Mr.. HYDE" now
impressed by the piety of Churchill
and now led away by the reckless
pleasure loving Piggott. There was
a mystery connected With Miss
Haights disappearance in this-that
Picgott was also among the missing
after the fire.
Churchill never married. He died
in 1895, being With him at the time
of his DEATH for l lad become much
attached to him.
81 am going to .Aline,' he said IL
have always believed that she and
Piggott We're together on that terrible
night, that lc held her for the time
being under his influence. but that she
died true to me-
A few years after Churchill's death
there were number of burglaries in
Chicago, especially in my neighbour
hood. and l never went to bed without
fearing for what valuablcs kept in
the house. Among other things l had a
great deal of OLD silver and jewels that
had come to me by Inheritance FROM
different branches of my mily. Since
l had no use for either determined to
have a vaU.s made in my cellar for
their keeping. One morning Went
down there to pick out a place for my
vault. In q recess so dark that was
obliged to use candle examined the
wall closely and noticed Il line forming
a rectan2le about five feet high by
three feet wide. | tapped the Wall
within this rectangle, and instead OF
giving the sound of stone it gave the
sound of iron Thinking it might be a
door, looked for a keyhole, but found
none. Procuring hammer. | tapped
upon different places till, striking a GER
tain spot, there was d click, and what
really turned out to be 4 door sprung
outward about an inch. With m, fin
gers pulled it open.
What was beyond I could not see,
for all was as dark as Erebus. Tho
dank, musty smell was certainly unin-
viting. | held the candle inside ant.
caught q confused view OF what made
NE start away from the opening, and /
didn't pause before | haf' reached the
other end Of the cellar But curiosity
soon got the better of terror, and |
went back. This time | bent my heaG
and entered the space that lay beyond
the door.
1t Was Il handsomely furnished apart
ment, though the hangings We're drop
ping TO pieces and the carpets eaten
! away in spots. In the center was q
table, on Which We're dishes and traces
OF a supper, though only traces, for
every crumb had been consumed On /,
divan lay the skeleton of two women
| in the costume of young persons They
were locked in each others arms. ca
| the floor was the skeleton of a man
and i'll an easy chair that of another.
l staggered to the doorway and re
covered my equanimity in the cellar
Then again my curiosity drove me
back
On the table lay folded piece of pa
per which had evidently been torn
from the hack of letter. On it was
! written:
Monday morning, Oct O. 1871.
! we. two young girls and two young
men. came here last night Something
has occurred to bar the opening of our
door, and we are imprisoned
DAVID PIGGOTT,
| ARTHUR HUNT,
| AIINE HAIGHT,
| EDITH TURNER.
stood successfully before each skel
eton to examine it. In the hand of one
of the girls noticed that the bony fin
gers clasped a piece of paper. | took il
out and Oh it read:
Lloyd-If you ever get this it is to tell
you that have yielded to temptation. but
| | die sure that If could live it would be
| always for you and the good, spurning the
| evil. ALINE.
| accounted for the causes leading to
| this singular scene in this wise:
Piggott must have been full of those
| absurdities that we often find in youth
The fitting up of this place which was
| doubtless more fascinating because ii